Destination: Ireland

Museum: Derrynane House

By Dr. Jessica Voigts

Exploring History at Derrynane House, County Kerry, Ireland

Derrynane Garden hydrangea, Photo by Jessie Voigts

Imagine Ireland in a time of great change, both political and religious. There was great social inequality as well as religious persecution. In times like these, great men arise. And indeed, the story of Daniel O’Connell is an example of the times and a personality coming together to create great social change.

Daniel O’Connell was a lawyer who was horrified by the violence of war (he even escaped France during the revolution) and worked to change the laws in Ireland to include Emancipation for Catholics. He achieved this in 1829, when the British government granted emancipation for Catholics. O’Connell was the first Catholic to sit in the House of Commons (1830). He then worked on creating an Irish government for Ireland. He was imprisoned by the British government for conspiracy, and spent 3 months in prison. When he was released, he rode in a HUGE triumphal chariot through Dublin, and was elated at the crowds supporting him. Can you picture this small man, full of personality and charisma, on his chariot triumphant, amidst thousands of supporters?

On the advice of his doctor to help his poor health, he traveled to Italy in 1847 and died there at the age of 71. His body was returned to Ireland and buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. In his life, he’d been an incredible lawyer, campaigned for Catholic emancipation, created the Catholic Association, and won elections in the British House of Commons for County Clare (and changed the laws so that Catholics could hold office) and for the position of Lord Mayor of Dublin. His nickname is “The Liberator” for his great contributions to justice and social change.

So – the juicy dirt that history books don’t always tell…
O’Connell and his wife Mary (his 3rd cousin, but a love match) had 11 children, 7 of which survived (and all four surviving sons sat in Parliament). O’Connell’s favorite place in the world was his uncle’s house, Derrynane House, in Caherdaniel, County Kerry. While his uncle still lived, though, his wife didn’t go there AT ALL. O’Connell went there as often as he could, for he found great solace in being there, and companionship with his uncle. Once his uncle died, the family moved in and settled there, familial problems obviously taken care of.

Derrynane house, home of "The Liberator" Daniel O'Connor, photo by Jessie Voigts

I’d read about O’Connell before we headed to Ireland, but it wasn’t enough for me – I wanted to learn more. Luckily, Derrynane House was located just a few miles from our rental home in Ireland.

Now, Derrynane House is a public museum situated on 120 hectares, right on the Ring of Kerry. It is run by Ireland’s OPW, Office of Public Works. Derrynane House is open from April through November, and there is a small charge to enter (or you can use your Heritage Ireland card, which has discounts at a plethora of historic spots). While you can’t take photos inside, you can definitely take them outside – of the slate grey house, the vast gardens in which O’Connell took so much pride, and of the beach.

Derrynane beach from Abbey island, Photo by Jessie Voigts

Yes, Derrynane Beach is a locals’ favorite – free, with swimmers, fishermen, and surfers visible daily. If you head to Derrynane Beach at low tide, you can walk across to Abbey Island, where there’s an old and very scenic cemetery that is still used today. But I digress. Head inside, and several things strike you at once – how large and elegant some of the rooms seem; how tiny the beds, dueling gloves, and clothing are; how it is filled with books and awards and gifts from admirers; and the aforementioned chariot. There’s also O’Connell’s death bed, shipped back from Italy and installed in his bedroom. You can walk right up to it, and surprise – it is so much shorter than beds are now.

The chariot is installed in a special carriage house, next to a highly recommended AV presentation about the life of The Liberator. Once you get a glimpse of the life of this diminutive man, and his outsize deeds (and chariot), you’ll find yourself even more interested in Irish history – it’s come alive, here on your visit to Derrynane House.

For more information, hours, and prices, please see the web site of Derrynane House.

Note: Jessie says “We were given a media pass by the Office of Public Works to visit Derrynane House. Thank you!” All photos in this post were taken by Jessie Voigts and her property. Please respect her copyright.

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Boggy field, Culloden, Scotland

Destination: Scotland

Inspiration: Museum at Culloden Visitor’s Center

By Dr. Jessie Voigts

Imagine the moors of the Scottish Highlands – it’s a rainy, misty day, with a bit of a chill in the air. The sunken bogs are wreathed in fog, and human noise is eerily absent – just a raven’s caw in the air. You almost feel as if you’ve stepped back in time – maybe you have?

You’re at Culloden, the site of the battle that changed the course of Scottish, British – well, truly, world history. On April 16, 1746, the Jacobite army fought the British army, to reclaim the throne of Britain for Bonnie Prince Charlie. It was an incredibly uneven battle – the Jacobites weren’t fully prepared, were starving and cold. A surprise night attack plan failed, and in the day, the exhausted Jacobite soldiers surged to their death.

Culloden tower, Scottland

As the National Trust for Scotland web site says:

Towards one o’clock, the Jacobite artillery opened fire on government soldiers. The government responded with their own cannon, and the Battle of Culloden began.

Bombarded by cannon shot and mortar bombs, the Jacobite clans held back, waiting for the order to attack. At last they moved forwards, through hail, smoke, murderous gunfire and grapeshot. Around eighty paces from their enemy they started to fire their muskets and charged. Some fought ferociously. Others never reached their goal. The government troops had finally worked out bayonet tactics to challenge the dreaded Highland charge and broadsword. The Jacobites lost momentum, wavered, then fled.

Hardly an hour had passed between the first shots and the final flight of the Prince’s army. “Although a short battle by European standards, it was an exceptionally bloody one.

Before we headed to Scotland, I taught our daughter the history of Scotland, the political and personal struggles, the way that the conquering English (and earlier, the Vikings, Romans, Dál Riatans from Ireland) changed everything. She was fascinated, and wherever we were in Scotland, she wondered what happened in history there.

One of the best places to learn about and experience Scottish History is the Culloden Visitor Centre, located just south of Inverness, Scotland.

Opened in 2007, the Culloden Visitor Centre is run by the National Trust for Scotland. It’s a low-slung building made of local stones, and doesn’t impact the landscape as much as enhance it.

Once inside the visitor centre, we learned the small details of history – the spent and flattened bullets, found on the moors decades later; clothing; maps showing troop movements; weapons; an interactive battlefield map; costumed troops wandering the halls; voices and videos.

Leanach Cottage Scotland

And then…we went outside. We took along the personal audios available from the desk at the door. We walked into the misty rain, along clear paths through the battlefield. We saw Leanach Cottage – an original cottage, still on the battlefield hundreds of years later. I was surprised by the closeness of the sheep, grazing in the farmland nearby.

We wandered the paths, avoided slugs stretched out, listened to history, and FELT the spirit of Culloden, surrounding us. I teared up at the Clan grave markers, gazed at the wet marsh off the path (wondering HOW those soldiers were able to fight there), and honored those that had fought so hard for their country and beliefs. Our daughter stretched her time out, going back to certain parts of the long battlefield, looking off into the hills while listening hard. She did NOT want to leave. We closed the place down, the very last ones to leave – and we had a difficult time exiting. Culloden had a firm hold on our souls.

Clan Fraser Marker, Culloden Scotland

Jessie Voigts, of Wandering Educators, is a regular Contributor to A Traveler’s Library, bringing us cultural inspirations for travel.

All of the photos in this post are the property of Jessie Voigts. Please do not use without permission.

Note from Vera Marie: I have frequently been inspired by a museum to look more deeply into a place. For instance, when I went to Ireland, I was inspired by the  Blascaod Centre in Dún Chaoin (Dunquin) on the Dingle Peninsula and learned about the people of the Blasket Islands.  Have you visited a museum that enriched your travel? Please share, so we can visit, too.

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Baddeck Nova Scotia scene

Destination: Nova Scotia

Book: Island: The Complete Stories (hardcover 2000, paperback Vintage copy from Random House in 2002), by Alistair MacLeod

For a relatively small province of Canada, and one without major urban centers, Nova Scotia contributes quite a bit to the literary life of the country. More than a dozen small publishing companies serve the province.  Canada’s most acclaimed writer, Alistair MacLeod grew up and went to school on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia and supposedly still summers near Inverness.

My sister and I  spent the night in Baddeck, maybe 35 miles or so from Inverness. I will not kid you, we had a strong temptation to jettison our plans to tour Alexander Graham Bell Museum and our drive around the coast to go drop in on MacLeod. But we will respect his privacy.

Besides, the Alexander Graham Bell Museum turned out to be fascinating.  Here’s a fuzzy picture of the hydrofoil boat he invented and another of the outside of the museum.

Hydrofoil invented by Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell Museum--he liked tetrahedron and they are used in the building.

Besides Baddeck, along the scenic route called the Cabot Trail, proved to be one of the most fascinating stops so far.  We were simply in awe of the forests lining the highway and the long vistas that looked untouched by civilization. Just green, green, green (light, dark and medium) border by cerulean blue of Bras d-Or a enormous sprawling lake that covers 1/4 of Cape Breton Island. We could easily believe we were back in the pre-European contact days with the M’ikmaq (Mikmaw), the first inhabitant.

Along the road to Baddeck we had stopped at the Glooskop Heritage Center to learn about those people, and you can learn more about that stop at my other home, the Quincy Tahoma Blog. We also visited Kejimkujuk, a National Park that preserves lands once lived in by the M’ikmaq people.

Canoers at Kejimkujuk Park in Nova Scotia

So many different people came to Nova Scotia after the M’ikmaq. Alexander Graham Bell moved to Baddeck because it reminded him of his native Scotland. We noticed that side roads in the southern part of Cape Breton Island all seemed to start with Mac–MacGregor, MacInnis, MacSomething or Other. So it was not a big surprise, but a wonderful happenstance to find a Ceilidh (pronoucned Kay-lee) –a Celtic Music “jam”–at the Catholic Church hall. Some may want to go to nightclubs and five star restaurants, but give us the Catholic Church hall with hand-knitted potholders and baby sweaters for sale on the side, and a reunion of Campbells there to listen to a singer/guitarist named Donnie Campbell, and fiddler Anita MacDonald.

Donnie Campbell and Anita MacDonald introduced at Ceilidh

It is this kind of culture–the real people of Nova Scotia that MacLeod writes about in his beautifully crafted short stories. He is one of the best known writers of Canada, and if you have not read him yet, be warned. You’re going to want to go to Nova Scotia once you get acquainted.

The tourism office of Nova Scotia assisted with this trip and arranged for my lodging for six nights. Several of the attractions listed gave us complimentary admission.

The book title is linked to Amazon for your convenience. If you click through to Amazon and purchase anything at all, I get a few cents which helps support A Traveler’s Library. Thanks.

The Photographs used here are my property. Please do not reuse without permission.

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Book: A Volume of Friendship: The Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Isabella Greenway 1904-1953, Edited by Kristie Miller and Robert H. McGinnis

Roosevelt Cottage at Campobello

“It has been such lovely weather that just to be alive was all one wanted….”  Eleanor Roosevelt in letter to Isabella Greenway in August, 1906. Isabella Greenway was the first female member of Congress form Arizona and built The Arizona Inn in Tucson which is still going strong.

When my sister and I decided to travel on a road trip in Nova Scotia, we looked at the map for our route, and noticed that Campobello Island sits on the Maine/Canada border. Canada and the U.S. have created an International Park at the old Roosevelt compound. I have long been entranced with Campobello, so glowingly mentioned in Eleanor Roosevelt’s letters, and we are both interested in politics and former Presidents, so we decided to make a slight detour to Campobello on our way to Nova Scotia. I had met Kristie Miller, the editor of the book, A Volume of Friendship, and have read three of her books. I went back to this one to remind me of Eleanor’s exact words.

In 1916, Isabella writes to Eleanor: “I picture you on your enchanted island.”

Dining Room of cottage near Roosevelts

My sister Paula and I knew that this trip was too short to do justice to the island. After all, the Roosevelts uprooted their household and moved all their children (eventually five), along with servants and all they needed to exist nearly every summer. My sister and I were only going to spend the night.

I was growing accustomed to managing quite a small army on moves from Washington to Hyde Park and to Campobello and back.  Eleanor Roosevelt in This is My Story, her autobiography.

At first they were staying with Franklin’s mother in her long-time summer home (purchased in 1883 when Franklin was one year old).

Eventually, “Mama” bought a 34-room “cottage” on 5 acres for Eleanor and Franklin and their “chicks.” Eleanor was delighted.

Franklin and I love our house. The view is too lovely, the sailing glorious, the weather deliciously cool, but of course, people, there simply are none.  Eleanor to Isabella, 1909

View from back of Roosevelt Cottage

The “no people” is a slight exaggeration, since the extensive Roosevelt family and friends tended to come and stay for weeks. But still, the isolation must have been a relief from their otherwise busy political life in Albany New York, New York City, and later Washington D.C.

The letters to Isabella Greenway in this book unveil a different Eleanor Roosevelt than the famous dynamo of later days. When Isabella and Eleanor wrote, they were young girls, and Eleanor was very shy and not at all interested in public life. Isabella Greenway was an enthusiastic, energetic young woman, who was soon to marry and have two children. However, her husband, Bob contracted tuberculosis and they settled on a ranch on the Arizona/New Mexico border.  After her first husband died, Isabella married John Greenway. Both her husbands had served in Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.  Tragically, Greenway died after only two years of marriage.

Isabella went on to become a politician–the first female member of Congress from Arizona–and Eleanor and Isabella shared their political interests as avidly as they once had shared gossip about friends and news about their young children.

After 1921, when FDR was diagnosed with polio after a swim in the cold Bay of Fundy left him feeling sick, the Roosevelts spent less time on the island. Instead, they went to Warm Springs, Georgia. FDR was elected Governor of New York State and then President of the United States and after he became President, he spent brief periods on the island according to this FDR web site

The Roosevelt home on Campobello Island is now an International Park.

Kristie Miller is a whiz at biography. I first read a book about her female relative, Ruth Hanna McCormick and her latest is Ellen and Edith, Woodrow Wilson’s First Ladies

There is no charge to visit the International Park, which is open most days from 10 am to 6 pm. We found that an hour and a half were adequate to see the Roosevelt cottage, the Hubbard cottage next door and the small museum, plus watch a short film in the visitors center. In nicer weather, we would have walked down to the beach behind the house. Mama Roosevelt’s home, where FDR grew up, is no longer there and most of the mansions and grand hotels have gone. However you can hike in parks and take sea cruises to whale watch. Change to Canadian money before you arrive on the island. There is no bank and the day we were there the sole ATM that took American cards was out of cash.

You should know: these photos are my property. If you are interested in reusing one, do get in touch.  My stay on Campobello Island was partially underwritten by the New Brunswick Tourism office. The book title is linked to Amazon for your convenience. If you click through to Amazon and purchase anything at all, I get a few cents which helps support A Traveler’s Library. Thanks.

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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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Bulletin: Here’s a fabulous mural for North Dakota, created by James Rosenquist for the Plains Museum.

North Dakota Pioneer statue in front of the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck, the state's tallest building at 17 stories.

Destination: North Dakota

Movie: Fargo (1996) Produced by the Coen Brothers

A GUEST POST by Sam Lowe

Author of Mysteries and Legends of Arizona: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained (Mysteries and Legends Series)

North Dakota sunset,uncluttered by smog or skyscrapers

The world's largest buffalo is a concrete giant that looms over Jamestown, North Dakota.

Salem Sue, the world's largest Holstien heifer, is a fiberglass statue at New Salem, North Dakota.

Sam Lowe

Sam Lowe has been writing about North Dakota and Arizona for more than 45 years.  He has also written six books about travel in Arizona and New Mexico.  He now lives in Phoenix.

Sam Lowe wrote a humor column for years in the Phoenix Gazette, and he still is one of the funniest writers in Arizona. Sam took all the photographs here, and he wouldn’t mind if you used them–but only if you pay him, first. Thanks for the introduction to your home state, Sam.

North Dakota is one of the six states I have not yet spent time in. Never thought there was much reason to go, but that silence is sounding awfully good.  Have you been to North Dakota? Check out what music Kerry Dexter recommends for a road trip stop in North Dakota, and let us know what you think about the state and the music.

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St. Peter Port bus station, Guernsey

DESTINATION: Guernsey, the Channel Islands, Great Britain

BOOK: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008) by Mary Anne Shaeffer and Annie Barrows

A GUEST POST by Anne-Sophie Redisch

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society is a lovely book, written entirely in the form of letters, mostly between the main character Juliet Ashton, a young author in 1940s Britain – and numerous pen friends.

One day, Juliet receives a letter from Dawsey Adams, a Guernsey farmer, who owns a book with Juliet’s name and address written in it, that once belonged to her. And thus begins an engaging correspondence between the two.

Through his letters, Dawsey paints a lively picture of everyday life in German-occupied Guernsey (the Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles occupied during World War II).

Guernsey War Time Street in the German Occupation Museum

Things To Do

He relates stories of meetings in the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a club originally set up as a front by a group of islanders needing to hide a pig from the Nazi occupiers. Oddly, the Germans seemed to tolerate intellectually oriented gatherings. During their meetings, the colourful members of the Society talked and ate – and for a few hours each week, forgot the horrors of the war.

Our protagonist, Juliet, finds herself increasingly drawn in by Dawsey’s depictions of Guernsey life and all its wonderful characters. And one day, to the outspoken dismay of her rich, self-satisfied businessman boyfriend, she sets off for Guernsey. Naturally, her relationship with the smug millionaire is doomed.

The book was written by Mary Anne Shaffer, who after being stranded in Guernsey in 1980, was inspired to write a story set here. During the book’s final phases, she became ill and she left it to her niece to finish work with the editors. Sadly, she died and so, this is her only book. I would have liked to read more by this author. She depicts characters, village life, the atmosphere so brilliantly and I was immediately drawn to Guernsey. (Ed. note: and she writes about her visit in her blog).

Guernsey, St. Peter Port

My daughters and I arrived by sea – and, like Juliet, we first spotted the island, as “the sun broke beneath the clouds and set the cliffs shimmering into silver”. I would have liked to travel in time as well, but a visit to 1946 Guernsey was out of the question. To get an idea of how it might have been, though, we visited the German Occupation Museum, showcasing among other WWII relics and memorabilia, a war-time street in St Peter Port.

Luckily, the quaintly named Guernsey capital hasn’t completely changed. Many of the buildings still stand. The narrow passages, stairways and the cobbled streets are the same. Charming, individual little shops remain. My only gripe with Guernsey turned out to be the traffic. The narrow country lanes aren’t built for the sheer number of cars, too many of them large SUVs. But even so, it wasn’t difficult to shut out the noise and stress of the present-day traffic and picture horse drawn carts and a few 1940s cars rambling across the streets of St Peter Port.

For an even better sense of history, we hopped on a ferry to the neighbouring little island Herm. With gravel roads, it’s completely car free. And completely adorable. In fact, I wonder if Juliet ever went to Herm. She was curious, an explorer. I like to think she did.

Sophie and Cat

Anne-Sophie Redisch is a bilingual writer who loves hopping off a train in a new city. Her two daughters often come along, enlivening the travel experience. She has lived in the USA, New Zealand and Norway, and her work appears regularly in in-flight magazines and various Scandinavian and English media. She blogs at Sophie’s World and tweets as SophieR.

Anne-Sophie not only wrote this terrific review–which makes ME want to go to Guernsey–how about you?  But she also supplied the photographs that accompany the review. Be sure to visit her lovely blog, particularly the article linked above about her trip to the Channel Islands. Thanks Sophie!! To show your appreciation for introducing us to the Channel Islands, how about hitting one of those sharing buttons below??

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Destination: Stockholm, Sweden, The Vasa Museum

People entering the enormous, dimly lighted room in Stockholm, stare in awe at the relic of the past looming above them. The towering wooden ship in the center of the building floats in air, rather than in the cold Baltic Sea that was meant to be its home nearly four hundred years ago.

The Vasa Ship Museum in Stockholm, Sweden cradles a sailing ship first launched in 1628. Now, she stands in her custom-built home as though she emerged from a time capsule, which in a way, she did.

The King Needs a Ship

The first King Gustavus had liberated Sweden from Denmark and his grandson, King Gustavus II (Adolphus), intended that this ship would overpower all Sweden’s enemies.

Gustavus II came to the throne in 1611, at the age of 17 and defeated the Danes once again, then waged war on Russia and Poland. But to complete his triumphs, he needed to build a navy. In the early seventeenth century, Sweden had lost twelve ships in quick succession. People began to think the country was jinxed.

Bad omens continued. The King changed orders midway through the construction of the Vasa. The ship designer became too ill to directly oversee the job, and then he died. His successor had no written record of what had gone before. The King was breathing down his neck to finish this job in half the normal time and load the ship with more guns than it could bear. The  ship must be ready to sail to Poland in mid-summer of 1628.

Lagging behind the King’s desired launch date by a month, the shipbuilders finally finished the job in August. Proud of their new assignment, the crewmembers invited their wives and children to ride as far as the islands outside the bay where soldiers would board the ship.

The Launch

On a glorious summer day, as gold ornaments flashed in the sunlight,  and flags and banners waved, small boats towed the great ship from her mooring near the castle, fired a farewell salute, and hundreds of people on the banks watched as she set sail.

Within minutes, a gust of wind dropped over the inland hills and the ship listed. The gun ports, still open from the farewell salute, filled with water. The Vasa slowly disappeared beneath 110 feet of water. She had traveled only 1400 yards.

Although small boats in the harbor picked up most of the 150 people on board, about one-third, among them some women and children,  lay buried with the  ship in the cold waters under Stockholm’s bay for more than 300 years.

A Board of Inquiry showed no malfeasance by the captain or the shipbuilders, and the investigation quietly ended. After all, who could accuse the King? His changes in length of the ship, which meant some patchwork in the hull, his increase of numbers of heavy weapons installed on an unheard of two gun decks, his insistence on speed of construction, all contributed to the tragedy.

The Museum

The Swedish Vasa is the only totally recovered seventeenth century sailing ship in the world. Most of the guns were salvaged in 1664, but complete recovery proved too difficult until 1961.

Granted, what visitors to the Vasa Museum see today has been patched together, polished and painted. But miraculously reborn after 333 years, only 5% of the museum ship Vasa has been replaced. 95% of the original ship survives.

At the Stockholm museum, movies in several languages paint the background of wars and sailing ships, tell the story of her building, her death and her recovery. Details of sailors lives are displayed—trunks of clothing, cooking utensils, mugs for ale, even a backgammon game.

But all the fascinating details pale beside the looming ship,with its towering rigging and colorful decorations. The Vasa’s ropes are coiled, sails folded, everlastingly ready for a battle that she will never join. Now it can be said.In a classic case of management meddling, the King sunk his own ship.

Have you been to Stockholm?  What was your favorite place to visit?

Here’s a nifty blog entry about the Vasa Museum, with great pictures, at Travel Wonders.

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Henry David Thoreau

Destination: Concord, Massachusetts

Site: Henry David Thoreau’s Home

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?“

So wrote American writer Henry David Thoreau one and a half centuries ago. Sounds like a bumper sticker from the present day environmentalists, doesn’t it?  Good old Thoreau continues to prove himself way out in front of the curve.

Thoreau, whose Walden Pond also provided us documentation of an early version of staycation (shudder!) wrote, if not travel books, certainly books that invite exploration of a place.

Our Great American Road Trip visited Massachusetts two weeks ago, so when I got this letter in the mail from the Thoreau Farm Trust, I just had to share it with you.

The non-profit organization has rescued the American pioneering environmental writer’s birthplace from destruction.  In keeping with the man’s “green” principles, the house has been restored with sustainability as well as historic values. A neat trick, since the house was built in 1730.

Thoreau House

I  like the idea that instead of being just one more historic house in a state packed with them (Emerson, Alcott, Whittier, Emily Dickinson, Longfellow, etc.), the Trust is creating a place for people to learn about Thoreau’s environmental ideas and learn what they can do to make a “tolerable planet.”

If you would like to keep tabs on the project, learn more details, or support their work, go to the Thoreau Farm Trust web site.

To read more about some of the writers of Thoreau’s day and place, see this article by R. Todd Felton, and his second about New England writers,  and this one about Emily Dickinson.

Did you know that Thoreau’s house was being opened to the public? Will it be on your list of places to go?  Have you read Thoreau? Love him or not?

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On Tuesday, I borrow the phrase Travel Tuesday from Twitter, put down my books and talk about my own travels.

Henry B. Plant Museum

Destination: Tampa, Florida

Attraction: The Tampa Bay Hotel

I have a very bad habit of accumulating stuff.  I don’t just accumulate it–I have to have it where I can see it–preferably reach it at a moment’s notice–because if I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t have it, now would I?

But I don’t  come within a mile-long, terrazzo-tiled , gilded woodwork hallway packed with furniture of those dudes in the Gilded Age. Not only did they stuff their places with stuff, but the stuff was all curlicues and fringes, and inlays and embroidery and painted scenes, and plaques made of woven hair.

I tend to wander around establishments of that era with my mouth hanging open, wanting to ask the original owners, “What WERE you thinking?”

That was my experience at The Tampa Bay Hotel, a railroad resort that Henry Plant, the “King of Florida” built. If it weren’t for Plant, Florida might never have become the tourist magnet that it is today.   Plant made his money from the railroads and steamships, but had to create somewhere for people to GO on those trains and boats, so he built hotels. The rail line runs right by the back  door of the Tampa Bay Hotel and the steamships could pull up close by.

Outside, the hotel stretches for a city block along the water front, corners adorned with minarets and a casino* topped by a dome with the same pointy top as the minarets. The Ottoman look reflects people’s image of Florida in the late 19th century–exotic.

*Casino was a place for performances, kind of a cross between the Roman Coliseum and a theater. It was not a gambling establishment.

Incidentally, before you get any ideas, you cannot stay there any more. Part of it is restored and furnished as it was during the golden days, so that you can ooh and ahh your way through a guided tour of the Henry B. Plant Museum. The rest is used by a college. Good, practical arrangement. One suspects that Henry would approve.

Inside, the style is kind of a “you name it” basketful of French, Egyptian, Greek,  Renaissance–41 trainloads of decor, according to the brochure.  I was with a group of travel writers, and we were hustled through the rooms before we could get explanations. Yes, I can recognize a chair and a table, but the designers of the day spent their time dreaming up unique visual gems that take some explaining 100 years later.

Still, I can see myself swishing into the Writing and Reading Room in my long white gauzy cotton skirt, to sit at the tables in a room flooded with light, and writing “Wish you were here,” to all my envious friends who could not be in this exotic place.  And perhaps I would be fortunate enough to be ensconced in one of the tower rooms with cross ventilation of ocean breezes, where I could hear the clacking of the leaves of palm trees outside. I might not have been able to afford it, though. This luxury suite cost $15 a night!

You can get visitor information at the Henry Plant museum’s web site.

Do you like the style of the gilded age, with its trainloads of tchotchkes?

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