Wicked Marrionettes, Salzburg

Although the Salzburg Marionette Theater is anything but scary, you’ll have to admit that the witch from  Hansel and Gretel is a little scary. I recently learned, however, that the way to keep witches away is to put a pile of corn near you doorway.  When a witch flies over corn, she is obliged to stop and count every kernel before she can go on.  And I never thought why I pile corn in a centerpiece for Halloween decor!

I visited the Salzburg Marionette Theater and was fortunate to be invited on a backstage tour when Ken and I toured Austria several years ago. If you thought marionettes were just for kids, you should take a look at the operas presented by this theater.

Salzburg Marionette Theater

The top photo is the property of Vera Marie Badertscher and the bottom photo is used with permission of the Salzburg Marionette Theater.

This look at a Salzburg Marionette, my offering for Travel Photo Thursday, is part of two weeks of mysteries and scary things as we approach Halloween. You can see more Travel Photo Thursday offerings at Budget Travelers Sandbox.

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Storm clouds at end of day, Indian Market

Destination: Santa Fe Indian Market

Held the third weekend in August every year, the Santa Fe Indian Market celebrated its 90th birthday in 2011. Over at the Tahoma Blog, I wrote about Geronima Cruz Montoya, an artist who was six years old when the Market started, grew up to be an artist and teacher, and still paints and  exhibits at Indian Market.  The Santa Fe Indian Market is the largest and most prestigious showing of American Indian art held anywhere in the world.  It is a great place to get an introduction to the many different cultures and styles of art that we have across this continent.

Today I’d like to give you some tips for enjoying Indian Market. It is not too early to plan for next year, is it?

1. Avoid high-priced hotels and rent an apartment from HomeAway or VRBO.  And rent early.  The apartment we found, big enough for at least four people, had a view to die for from the balcony and was decorated to the max with Southwestern art.

"Our" Home Away Apartment

The fully equipped kitchen and the comfy beds guaranteed a cozy home away from home that was perfect for those moments when we were not busy with Market activities. This apartment is close to the Plaza (allegedly walking distance, but save your feet for walking up and down the rows of booths. Drive and park near the Plaza.) This condo was reasonably priced–not hiked up just for the special event. ($158 per night, including taxes.)

2. Because we had an apartment, we did not have to worry about shoehorning into the Santa Fe restaurants. We visited the nearby Sunflower Market and Albertson’s and for under $100, fed three people most meals for four days. Yes, they have fantastic restaurants in Santa Fe, and if you want to try them out, I recommend coming early or staying after the Market,  because getting in during the busy market time is quite a challenge.

3. Believe it or not, perusing the art of the 1100 artists, and watching some great entertainment at the Market is FREE. But if you have never been before, you might want to spring for $50 to go to the Preview showing on Friday night when the prizes are announced. The admission charge includes membership into SWAIA, (Southwest Association for Indian Arts) the sponsoring organization.

See pictures of some of the art available in this post at Tahoma Blog.

4. Pick up a guide to the Market on Friday so you can plan ahead, and particularly so you can see where you want to park. There are plenty of parking places near the Plaza, but they generally cost $10 a day. With some, you can show your receipt and come back in depending on availability. We like the one directly behind the Cathedral, entered from Paseo de Peralta.

5. The market runs from 7:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday morning until 5:00 pm.  If you come a few days early, you can take advantage of tie-ins at galleries throughout town (there are hundreds) and at the wonderful museums like the Wheelwright, the Indian Arts and Culture Museum, or the Folk Arts Museum on Museum Hill a few miles away from the center of town or the New Mexico Museum of Art on the Plaza, or the Georgia O’Keefe and other museums near the Plaza.

Entrance to Adobe Gallery on Canyon Road

Speaking of tie-ins at galleries, Adobe Gallery is currently running an exhibit of paintings by Quincy Tahoma and held a reception for Charnell and me on opening night of the show–Thursday before the Market weekend.

The Tahoma paintings at Adobe Gallery

6. Wear comfy shoes and carry a lightweight bag to gather any items you can’t resist buying.  Don’t forget your camera. Vendors sell water and coffee and other essentials to keep body together, but expect to take breaks whenever you have a chance to sit down. Restaurants around the Plaza, including those in the historic La Fonda, a former Harvey Hotel are open during the Market.

Sign for Bookstore and Cafe

7. As a book lover, you’ll also want to make a stop at Collected Works, just three short blocks from the Plaza take the street that runs past the Baskins Robbins store on the SW corner of the Plaza and turn left on Galisteo Street. But save your appetite for the delicious pastries, coffees and teas served in the Bookstore’s Cafe.

Collected Works Bookstore Cafe Area

Here’s a slide show overview of a few of the treats for the eye at Santa Fe’s 90th Indian Market–pottery, painting, fiber art, jewelry, costumes, and skateboarding(?), ending with the rainbow that led to this pot of gold.

Most of the photos in this post were taken by Ken Badertscher or Vera Marie Badertscher. Charnell Havens is the photographer that captured the beautiful rainbow. All rights reserved on all photos. Please ask before copying.

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Destination: Iran (Persia, 12th Century)

Book: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald (1917)

Iranian Memorial to Omar el-Khayyam

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam*, a rather slim book with its ivory slip cover and front embossed with green, red and gold twining roses held an honored position in my parent’s living room.  Inside, in my father’s distinctive sweeping handwriting, a front page bore a dedication to The Duchesss, his form of address for my mother when they were courting back in the 1930′s.  The book was gilt edged and illustrated with dreamy watercolors of beautiful and exotic scenes of women in filmy gowns and men in turbans and gowns surrounded by lush gardens. Other illustrations show white palaces, or royal rooms that set a little girl dreaming.

This was my first introduction to the Middle East. My father, who liked to quote poetry, recited lines from Omar Khayyam so often that they are still stuck in my head.

Edmund Dulac illustration of Quatrain XI

A book of verses underneath the bough,

A jug of wine, a loaf of bread– and thou

Beside me singing in the wilderness–

Oh, wilderness were Paradise enow.

Unfortunately, when my mother died, the book disappeared from her meager possessions and I only recently bought a used copy. There was a lot I had not remembered about the book–which contains four versions of the translation as Fitzgerald continued to tinker– but the opening seemed very familiar:

Illustration by Edmund Dulac, Quatrain I

Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night

Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:

And Lo! the Hutner of the East has caught

The Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light.

Although the verses seem transparent and could be understood by a young person, some are a bit sobering.

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,

Before we too into the Dust descend;

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,

Sans Wine, sands Song, sans Singer, and–sans End.

It was many years before I would learn about the paradoxes and ambiguities of the poetry– that all that talk about wine might be contradictory to the beliefs of a Muslim country and might not even mean wine; that the beloved might be another man, or a young boy instead of the ravishing beauty pictured in the illustration.  But most importantly, that the philosophy of “live it up for tomorrow we die” would be anathema to the conservative Muslims who rule in Iran today. And indeed Omar got into some trouble in his own lifetime, for lines like this:

And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,

Whereunder crawling coop’d we live and die,

Lift not your hands to IT for help–for It

As impotently rolls as you or I.

Poetry, I learned later in life, fuels the thought of many countries in the Middle East–particularly Iran, but also in other countries, as I saw in the book The Calligrapher’s Secret–in Syria. And the two books I am currently reading, Dining with Al Qaeda and  the soon to be released Saved by Beauty, demonstrate WHY poetry might be so beloved.  Poetry, with all its circular, formal locution, its ambiguity and symbolism reflects the general pattern of communication in the Middle East.  Perhaps the West might communicate better with those countries if we learned to think like poets.

Because of an accident of attention paid by a then-famous English poet, Khayyam became known and even famous in the Western world. But as you will see when I talk about Saved by Beauty, there are much better-known poets in the Middle East, and now I’m eager to read them, too. It is difficult to translate poetry, and difficult to read meaning into a translation of an ancient language, but Fitzgerald gave us something of beauty, anyhow. But we owe thanks to Khayym for singing verses in the twelfth century that still resonate with us today. As my father was found of reciting:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

[*The Amazon link in the first paragraph shows the edition that my parents owned. There are many other editions to choose from, and your local bookseller may have something less expensive. However, I will be grateful if you follow my link any time you are going to shop at Amazon.]

Disclaimer: The photo of Khayyam’s tomb comes from Flickr and I encourage you to follow the link to the work of Elias Pirasteh and learn more about him and about the poet. The photographs of illustrations from the 1937 edition by Edmund Dulac are from the Crossett Library of Bennington College (Flickr, Creative Commons).

Do you remember your own first impression of the countries of the Middle East? Have you read any of the poets of those countries?

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Paris from the Heart Unboxed

NOTICE: I will give this collection (which is priced at $45.00) to one reader chosen at random from those who comment on this post. American Resident, Over 18. (By  Friday April

Destination: Paris, France

Book: Paris from the Heart: Ultimate Walking Tours to Fun, Fashion and Freedom (November 2010) by Jan Dolphin

This beautiful little collection of travel guidebooks to Paris, Paris From the Heart, has been sitting on my shelf since last fall, when the author, Jan Dolphin, sent it to me. I looked at it from time to time, but didn’t know if I really would write about it, since I don’t generally do guidebooks at A Traveler’s Library.  However, I decided to do yet another France on Friday today and tell you about a very different kind of guide to Paris.

The first way in which this guide is different, is that it has one general and five location-specific, separate, thin, paperback books. I love looking at the package. The author, an interior designer, has assembled this package with true artistic flair. All six books enclosed in a cardboard jacket, sport antique posters, gorgeous photography, and charming hand-drawn maps.

Luxumbourg Garden The Thinkers

When I was looking at guidebooks for my trip to Paris, I bemoaned the fact that they generally are too large to lug around, pull out when you stop for a croissant aux chocolate. (Diversion: I recently learned from Alexandra, hostess at Chez Sven, the green B & B in Cape Cod, that chocolate crosssants originated with a traditional after school snack of a bar of chocolate between two slices of white bread. fin de diversion)

Since I would only be covering a small area of Paris, I only needed in-depth guides to one arrondissement (neighborhood) at a time, so I thought perhaps the Paris from the Heart collection would have served my purpose.
In addition to an Introduction booklet with essentials like packing tips and a little vocabulary, the Paris from the Heart collection covers walking tours of the Left Bank, the Right Bank, a walk along the Seine, Montmarte, and Day Trips–the essentials for a first time trip to Paris, so in theory, you could carry  just the booklets you need for the day.
In reality, while this quirky guide might make an interesting travel companion, it will not substitute for a more detailed guide and accurate maps. Dolphin starts by telling us how she first became enamored with Paris.

The sapphire blue bottle

Evening in Paris perfume newspaper advertisement

Dolphin’s Proustian memory experience begins not with a pastry, but with the aroma of Evening of Paris perfume in its exotic sapphire-blue bottle. (Diversion: As a child, I wanted to buy one of those beautiful blue bottles as a present for my mother every Christmas. And I yearned to be all grown up and glamorous enough to wear a perfume with such a sophisticated ambiance. Although the blue of that bottle has always been my favorite color, I later realized that truly exotic perfumes are not generally available at the drugstore in downtown Killbuck, Ohio. fin de diversion) This initial trip down memory lane, sets the stage for the author’s presentation of her Paris.

The beauty and charm of such an intensely personal guide falls down if you want or need information about something the author has not chosen as HER personal favorite. She loves art, shopping, antique buildings. Her enthusiasm is underscored by liberal use of superlatives and exclamation marks. But she also invites you to create your own journal as you go. Each book leaves many lined blank pages  where you can personalize the book.

I think it would be interesting for a first-time visitor to follow one or more of these suggested routes through Paris, and make liberal notes about the things she saw and experienced. A book gains value when someone writes in it, and what a lovely gift that would be from mother to daughter or granddaughter.

Cobblestone street in Latin Quarter

Anyone who yearns for a romantic Paris will enjoy looking at these beautiful little books. However, if you have your own ideas about what you want to see, or if you like to wander undirected and make your own discoveries, you definitely will need a supplemental guidebook for your travel library.

Photos: Most of the pictures here are from my own trip to Paris, and if you would like to reproduce them, please ask me about rights. The two Evening in Paris pictures are linked to the web pages from which they came.

How do you use a guidebook? Do you want one that gives you a specific route, or one that describes many places so that you can map out your own walk? Personalized guide or more matter of fact? (Some people had already commented before I added the offer to giveaway my collection–they are eligible. See Notice at top of post.)

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Check the credit cards in your wallet.  If you happen to have any card from Bank of America, it is your ticket to a museum somewhere in the United States. Their Museums on Us^® program includes  150 museums offering  free admission the first full weekend of a month. The next opportunities are April 2-3 and May 7-8. And what would travel be without museums?

To take advantage of Museums on Us offerings in 85 cities  all you need is your B of A  or Merrill Lynch credit or debit card and a photo i.d. Naturally the deal does not include fund raisers, special exhibits or other ticketed shows, and it is only good for the person holding the card. Any family members who do not have a card will have to pay regular admission.

I checked out their Arizona offerings, and was pleased that the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block is included.  The Historic Block is a unique historical preservation addition to the urban art museum. The art museum  stands in Tucson’s historic center–inside the area once bounded by Spanish Presidio walls–and it was able to preserve five houses of various periods. The oldest, Casa Cordova, a Sonoran row-house, is similiar to the earlier structures built inside the Presidio walls.  My personal favorite is the J. Knox Corbett house, an early 20th century home furnished with period pieces from the American craftsman period.

Another Arizona museum that caught my eye is the new Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. I have not been there yet, but was fascinated by the collectionof 1600 musical instruments at the Munich Municipal Museum (Stadsmuseum) in Germany, so I know this  Phoenix museum will be terrific.

Other museums on the list that I have visited in the past, or am longing to see:

Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque New Mexico. Fantastic introduction to pueblo life along the Rio Grande.  I have linked here to my article at Wandering Educators.

Palm Springs Art Museum

Living Desert Museum, also in Palm Springs.

The Autry National Center of the American West, in Los Angeles. Have not been there yet, but I want to find out if they have any paintings by Quincy Tahoma.

Scripps Institute’s Birch Aquarium in La Jolla . I never miss an opportunity to go there , particularly when I’m taking kids on a trip. LOVE those seahorses!

Legion of Honor Museum, in San Francisco. Baroque building houses the wonderful art collection.

Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, you can match wits with computers, and test out all kinds of whiz-bang discoveries. Turns adults into children and gives children something to think about.

Winterthur in Delaware. I have written about Winterthur and the house and gardens there, so naturally I’ll recommend that one highly.

Chicago Institute of Art, in my favorite museum town. Its extensive collection of impressionist painters, plus representative art from just about any period you can think of can keep you saying “Just one more room” all day.

Shedd Aquarium, also Chicago. When you go have lunch in the dining room, surrounded by windows looking out on the lake. It seemed a little odd and perhaps ungrateful having fish for lunch after the pleasure my grand daughter and I had taken at watching their antics in the tanks, but we gulped it down anyhow.  Don’t miss the aquatic shows with dolphins, or otters, or a whale or two.

Henry Ford Museum, Detroit. I fondly remember a trip to Detroit when our children were young and we visited the Henry Ford Museum. Painless history lessons, particularly if you have a hot-wheels crazy boy in the family, or a Nascar or sports car fanatic dad.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. How wonderful to see the premier American Museum of art, on Bank of America’s list of freebie weekends.  I spent two days there on my last trip to NYC, and did not even scratch the surface. Egypt? Enter a tomb and look around. Picasso? rooms full. Knight’s armor? A whole gallery. A great view of Central Park and upper Manhattan? Go to the snack bar on the roof.

Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, shows off  American Indian arts, and other historic artifacts and arts as well. (Including several Quincy Tahoma paintings.)

Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa,  has a large Indian arts collection, too. But the museum housed in the former mansion of the founder of Phillips petroleum also shows off European art from his collection.  The house and surrounding gardens are part of the attraction.

National Constitution Center, Philadelphia. That title doesn’t exactly conjure up a lively happening place. But it is–lively and happening. From contemporary demonstrations of the meaning of each of the amendments to the Constitution, to a diorama that shows what it was like to be a constitutuional convention delegate as the document was being forged, you will not be bored for a moment.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville.  I don’t love country music, so why did I love this museum? Well, it is put together in such an interesting way that even I got involved in the story of how country music evolved. And you gotta love Elvis’ solid gold Cadillac, don’t you?

But go to the Bank of America Museums on Us site to see the entire list of museums and start your trip planning. You will no doubt find a museum to tour near you.

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Destination: Kazakhstan

Book: Apples Are From Kazakhstan, The Land That Disappeared by Christoher Robbins (Originally published in 2008, NEW release in paperback, September 2010)

The title sounds like a gross exaggeration. Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared. And the book is packed with outrageous statements like that. More tulips than Holland. The original home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. A country larger than all of Western Europe and five times larger than Texas, yet a country made to “disappear” by the Russians and then the Soviet Union. The home of a race of warrior women known as Amazons. A country with a quarter of the planet’s oil reserves.

But in this book, British writer Christopher Robbins sets out to explore and shows the reader that those claims are actually true.  Well, maybe not King Arthur, who is a chimerical myth floating between France and England. But even the Arthur myth’s origin in Kazakhstan has some pretty good evidence. Read a terrific interview with Robbins at this British book site.

When the author talks to people about Kazakhstan, they generally are aware only of the satire of the comic Sacha Baron Cohen, who created the ridiculous Kazhak, Borat. And those people generally believe that the comic “invented a country.”

It would be hard to invent a country more intriguing than the real Kazakhstan. I first became aware of Kazakhstan when I was asked to speak to a group of women visiting Tucson to learn about grass roots politics.  Like many of the states that separated from the former Soviet Union, this “stan” was struggling to form a democratic tradition that worked.

Tucson has an active city sister program with Almaty, the major city of Kazakhstan.  A friend of mine who is a nurse, also accompanied a medical team to consult with health care officials in the country.

From her, and from the women politicians, I learned about the physical beauty of the land and its tremendous potential as a tourism destination and an economic driver.

Robbins writes:

Modern Kazakhstan occupies a region of Central Asia that is not only a lacuna in the knowledge of the West, but has also been shrouded in mystery form the beginning of time….Herodotus wrote of impenetrable deserts and impassable mountains wreathed in eternal mists and of a tribe of fearsome female warriors known as Amazons.

It was so unknown that Alexander the Great never conquered the territory and the intrepid Marco Polo saw its mountains, but did not cross them.

This re-creation of the author’s travels in Kazakhstan never disappoints as he meets trendy young people, a traditional trainer of eagles, and even is invited to travel with the President of the country.

He adds meat to the impressions and character sketches with research in history, the economy and the natural world of the country.

Anyone who reads this book surely will want to visit. Kazakhstan appeals not only because it is terra incognita, but also, unlike the few other unknown places on the planet, it is safe and welcoming to guests. Disclaimer: I would not want to go there in the winter! The high steppes and the mountains guarantee freezing weather, plenty of snow and hardship for a people who have learned to cope with both natural challenges and the man-made faux pas of the Soviets who tried to turn sparse soil of grazing land into cotton farms and nearly destroyed the fourth largest lakes in the world. A city that once was a fishing port on the edge of the Aral Sea is now 45 miles from the shore. (Just as one example of Stalin-era planning gone horribly awry.)

But lest you think the country is too challenging to attract tourists, it has its good seasons, and a great variety of geography and climate.  Although severe budget problems have dismantled the Tucson sister city program, the friendships created over the years have meant that contacts continue with Almaty.  For instance, the Tucson Boys Chorus made the long trek to entertain there, and just in the last year, the Tucson group sent a sculpture by a local artist, Mark Rossi, to Almaty.

The women who I met several years ago, said “If you are a travel writer, you should visit Kazakhstan. We have many things for people to see.”  I think she was right. I would like to know more. My knowledge is greater having read this book, but still, I would like to see.

The publishers provided the book for this review, and the photo of the beautiful red apple, while not a giant Kazakh apple, came from Flickr and you can learn more by clicking on the picture.

What had you heard about Kazakhstan? Any idea where it is located on your globe? Would you like to go there? Let’s share.

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The Last Judgment

Destination: Rome, Italy

Book: The Last Judgment: Michelangelo and the Death of the Renaissance by James A. Connor (NEW Paperback Edition August, 2010 from Palgrave MacMillan)

Like Michelangelo and The Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King, this book concentrates on one major work of the maestro. Unlike King’s book, The Last Judgment by James A. (Jim) Connor delves more deeply into the religious philosophy of Michelangelo and his time than into the personal life of the painter.

A former Jesuit priest who is now a professor of religion, Connor has written previous books about Kepler and about Galileo that emphasize the theology of the day and its impact on these famous men.

For the book on Michelangelo, he was inspired by the fresco of The Last Judgment on the wall above the altar in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel in Rome. Painted after the famous ceiling of the chapel, the Last Judgment, in Connor’s view, reflects Michelangelo’s growing awareness of his own mortality and concerns about his own sins. He portrays Michelangelo as a deeply religious man, influenced by the conservative reformer Savonarola, by the ungodliness of many of the Popes who commissioned work by Michelangelo, and by the Catholic Reformation that was gaining traction in the mid 15th century.

While the discussion of theology sometimes went over my head, Connor does present the ideas of the day through real people, making it more interesting than a pure theological discussion. I  enjoyed being introduced to many of the painter’s close friends–and enemies–through references to biographies written shortly after he died, letters and transcripts of conversations.

Sistine Chapel

As for the subtitle of the book, it really deals more with the Catholic Reformation than with the “death of the Renaissance” in my understanding of that term. Connor does present some arguments based in the stylistic changes apparent  between the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Last Judgment.

Connor makes much of the fact that Christ is centered in the picture with major Christian characters revolving around him, rather than the way that the Renaissance tended to picture the hierarchy of God- Christ and Mary-the Apostles and Saints-good people-bad people. The author believes that this arrangement in the Last Judgment reflects Michelangelo’s knowledge of Copernicus and an early portrayal of the earth revolving around the sun.

Apparently that choice was not noticed, or at least did not raise the controversy that erupted over all of the figures, including Christ, being naked. Later Popes had drapes of clothing applied, totally missing Michelangelo’s point that on judgment day, clothing was no longer needed and the nudity presented a way to differentiate between the substantive body of a living being and the soul of the dead.

The book has a tendency to skip around in time, so I found myself flipping back to get oriented. The muddy black and white pictures in the book do not allow the reader to grasp the differences in overall color choices and the chaos of this painting as compared to the Ceiling.  I guess you just have to buy a ticket to Rome. But wait! The Internet to the rescue. See many very good images at Italian Renaissance Art.

I have complained here before about missing the Sistine Chapel on our trip to Rome. Now when I DO get there, I certainly will be more inclined to pay attention to the Last Judgment fresco, as well as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  I like to read about the history of a piece of art. Do you?  Are books about art part of your travel library?

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Famous Roads. From Palmdale our route ducked around Santa Clarita, then headed to the coast on California 128. We drove up the coast a bit on the 101/1 and when the two roads split, we stayed on 101.While we had followed old Route 66 on part of our way over here, we were now following the route of Spanish/Basque explorer Juan Batista de Anza. He led a band of soldiers and families from the Presidio in Tubac south of Tucson to the coast and north to San Francisco bay, and here we were taking some of the same route.

Juan Batista DeAnza did not have such a nice rest area when he camped near here.

Solveng CA

Solvang, where we stopped for lunch. I had always wanted to take a look at this lovely Danish village. I was glad we got to make a brief stop, and hope that some day we can stay a day or two and follow the scents of Danish baked goods into the half-timbered buildings that also house craft shops and hotels.

Art in the Fields As we zipped north on 101 (after a short stretch on U.S. 5) we passed miles and miles of vineyards, fields of leafy vegetables and trucks loaded with garlic.  Approaching Salinas, we saw farm workers gathering around their dented red pick-up truck–but wait–those people are too big to be real.  And sure enough, they were lifelike, but two-dimensional.  As we drove north we saw at least ten more of these depictions of farmers doing various chores. Never found out from whence came this delightful art project.

Ken and Doris Day

Carmel Besides the wind-sculpted cypress trees, the cool morning mist,dramatic cliffs above a sandy beach, we found many reasons to love Carmel. We saw the house that poet Robinson Jeffers built and Ken looked forward to “meeting” Doris Day. Although she still lives there, the closest he got was a movie poster in the lounge of the Cypress Inn, a dog-friendly hotel that Ms. Day owns.

View from Tickled Pink room

We also visited the Tickle Pink Inn, named for a Senator Tickle. Of the many luxurious digs in Carmel, this must have the most amazing views–from every room’s balcony.

After trying Katy’s Place where the tough choices include 16 kinds of Eggs Benedict, we went the next day to The Little Swiss Cafe, with simpler food, but amazing art by André Balyon. André paints gorgeous sky-filled landscapes and realist art, but here he lets his sense of humor out to play.

Spring, by Andre Balyon

Detail of "Spring"

Now, at first glance that is a pretty picture, but play “what is wrong with this picture?” Isn’t that the couple from American Gothic? And its small in this image, but that’s Puss in Boots fishing in the canal. Here’s a closeup to show the grandest joke.

Our Carmel stay was over, but we had one more stop–The Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California.

John Steinbeck and Charlie

Carmel Beach Sunset

Photos of Balyon paintings by Andre Balyon. Please go to his gallery to see his “serious” works, although the humorous ones at Little Swiss Cafe are seriously good. Vera Marie Badertscher took all other photos and I reserve all rights. Ask before you use.

Now, you know how the kids always want to know what you brought them when you come home from a trip? Well we brought you something. Persuade me that you should have a t-shirt from the John Steinbeck Center that says, “There are never enough books.” Runner up gets a bookmark listing all Steinbeck’s books. Hurry! You have only until this coming Friday midnight. Good luck. (Check general contest rules here.)

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City of Buffalo, NY

Destination: Buffalo, New York

Book: City on the Edge by Mark Goldman

My great aunt Maude Bartlett lived in Buffalo with her husband, dearCarlos.  She always referred to him as though his name had three syllables. I never visited Aunt Maude in Buffalo, and Carlos died before I was born.  He was a lawyer for the railroads, back when the railroads were very prosperous, so they lived a solid upper middle class life and Maude belonged to Women’s clubs and Shakespeare societies and hosted teas. DearCarlos died when he was only 42 years old, but Maude continued to live a comfortable life in Buffalo.

She finally moved back to the small town in Ohio where she grew up, and where my Grandmother Vera lived all her life.  Maude and Vera fought constantly. Two sisters were never so different. Apparently great-grandmother had shown  great favoritism to Maude, the older sister, the refined one, the one who played the piano and knew all the best brands of silver and china. But they called each other every day.

When my family moved back to the same town, I sometimes visited her, and as her eyesight failed, she wanted my brother and me to read to her. I dutifully spent summer afternoons one summer reading a book about Alaska to her, but I didn’t like doing it and soon got out of it.

I have always regretted that my self-centered teenage self didn’t have the sense to ask about Buffalo, and what her life was like in that city on Lake Erie. Because of these memories, for our road trip stop in western New York state, I chose to read [amazonify]1591024579::text::::City on the Edge[/amazonify] a history and analysis of Buffalo by Mark Goldman.

I gobbled up the first few chapters about Buffalo’s peak days, when they idolized industry, glorying in giving away lakefront to shipping and manufacturing companies and allowing railroads to split the city. Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of Central Park, was invited to lay out boulevards and parks for Buffalo. Frank Lloyd Wright designed houses for the wealthy. But  industry eventually toppled from its pedestal and crushed the economy of the city along with other rustbelt cities in the northern tier of Midwest states.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

Despite a decade by decade retelling of grim mistakes and economic disaster,the book points out a rich cultural life.  The Albright Art Gallery, later to become the Albright-Knox, starting early in the 20th century, built what is still one of the best modern art collections in the country.  And in music,  Buffalo became known for supporting avant-garde music, and the Buffalo Philharmonic, founded in 1935, performs in a historic hall designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Buffalo also boasts the 2nd oldest Chamber Music Society in the U.S.

It would have been wonderful to see the beautiful elm trees that crowded the edges of Buffalo streets before the Dutch Elm disease thinned out those trees. Today, Goldman says, volunteers are replanting trees and restoring the plazas and parks designed by Olmstead.

Blizzard

Yes, I wish I had asked Aunt Maude more about her life in Buffalo, which was at its hey-day when she lived there. But is this a book for road trip travelers? Is Buffalo even a city for travelers? The Buffalo-Niagara Falls web site proclaims “Be Surprised.” And the Albright-Knox Gallery site says “Experience the Unexpected.” As in, ‘you weren’t expecting anything, so whatever you find is going to be better than what you were expecting’?  Warning: unless you really love blizzards, do not visit in the winter.

As for this book,  the danger in writing history is the temptation to use every fact you uncover and City on the Edge is crammed with facts. I also got the feeling that Goldman, a investor and restaurateur when he’s not writing history, also used some of the book to settle some political scores. Let me suggest that you might use it as a reference, if you are going to stop in Buffalo. For more information on Buffalo, Goldman suggests Buffalo Rising, an on-line newspaper.

Music Road tells about three western New York songwriters for our road music to go with the road trip to Buffalo.

Photos by M.H.Baker from Flickr, used under Creative Commons license. Click on a photo to see more of this Buffalo photographer’s work.

So, have you stopped in Buffalo when you were on a road trip to Niagara Falls?  I shared the high culture, but what about the strictly fun stuff?

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Iran - Caged

Destination: Iran

Book: Inge Morath: Iran Additional text by Monika Faber and Azar Nafisi and edited by John P. Jacob. Review copy provided by the publisher, Steidl, Germany.

Traveling alone, Inge Morath (who later would marry Arthur Miller and collaborate on various projects) toured Iran and took photographs for various clients in the United States. She died in 2002, and the Inge Morath Foundation has assembled photographs and records of this trip taken in 1956 for [amazonify]3865216978::text::::Inge Morath: Iran[/amazonify].

Monika Faber, from the Albertina Museum in Vienna, who explains Morath’s techniques in a text, quotes Morath.

I always preferred territories: Iran in the Middle East…Spain and Mexico, Russia and China, countries whose influence extended beyond their borders, ‘mother cultures,’ she wrote.,[...]Most of the time it was literature that raised my enthusiasm for a certain place, visual and popular art that stimulated my eye…”

Iran Marketplace - broom seller

Ah, yes, that sounds familiar doesn’t it?  “Literature than raised my enthusiasm for a certain place”?

The reader is not only treated to a beautiful presentation of the black and white photos of an Iran that does not exist any more, but details such as her letters of assignment and minutiae of the journey that make it easier to understand the circumstances of her travel.

It is difficult to convey the fascination of these photos–a marketplace in a village of sand-blown mud huts, a Zorastrian ceremony inside a home, ordinary people in traditional costumes posing unselfconsciously for the camera. You can look at these photographs for sheer enjoyment, for a history lesson, or if you love photography, as a lesson in technique. You don’t have to be traveling to Iran to enjoy poring over these 320 images.

Iran: Little Girls Weaving Rugs

An interview with Azar Nafisi, author of [amazonify]0812979303::text::::Reading Lolita in Iran[/amazonify] and [amazonify]0812973909::text::::Things I’ve Been Silent About[/amazonify], relates the historical Iran with today’s realities. This afterword and the one by Monika Faber, make this book more satisfying to me–because I like a story–than books with ONLY photographs in them.

The photos shown here are copyright by the Inge Morath Foundation. DO NOT COPY. Shown by courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Some lucky reader of A Traveler’s Library will win a copy of this book (list price $59.95) when we do our next giveaway. I should mention that I frequently put links to Amazon with book titles. It makes in convenient for you to buy the books, but also provides a few cents to A Traveler’s Library. Please use my links when you buy ANYTHING at Amazon. Thanks!

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.