ARCHIVES: ART / LITERARY

FOLLOWING MONET’S IMPRESSIONS OF ÉTRETAT: Normandy
I had always dreamed of seeing the scenes Claude Monet portrayed on the canvases with my own eyes. The natural beauty itself is one reason. But the yearning to see through the master’s secrets of colors, brush strokes and representation was even stronger. Normandy was one of the ideal areas to pursue my impressionistic dream.

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF CHENNAI AND AREA TREASURES: Tamil Nadu, India
Our mixed experiences of landmark churches, ancient temples, ashrams, specialty crafts of various areas, and pocket of French flavour, was made even more incredible with the hospitality of friendly localsa. I concur with Rick’s succinct summation, “India just keeps getting better.”

ELIZABETHAN LONDON: England
Some cities have grown continuously through the ages. They're like onions, layer on layer of skin which you can unpeel all the way back to the foundations. Rome is like that, for instance, or Venice. But London was scarred forever by one single disruptive event – the Great Fire which laid the city waste in 1666.

DRESDEN CHURCHES, SURVIVORS OF WWII: Germany
Rising from the Heap of World War II destruction in Dresden, Germany, are three magnificent churches. The subject of the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse-Five describes walking amongst the ruins as if walking on the moon. Recently, I visited three of these Dresden churches, survivors of the World War II destruction.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST: Before James Bond, There was The Man in Lincoln’s Nose
Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest remains one of the most entertaining motion pictures of all time. It pops up repeatedly on lists of Greatest American Movies and thanks largely to Turner Classic Movies, is possibly the most televised of all Hitchcock films. Odd then, that one of his most famous pictures started as a vague notion about a guy hanging from Abraham Lincoln’s nose.

THE PETRIE MUSEUM - EVERYDAY LIFE OF ANCIENT EGYPT: London, England
To get the sand of Ancient Egypt right between your toes, you'll need to visit the Petrie Museum. Sir Flinders Petrie was the first professor of Egyptology in the UK, and is considered one of the founders of scientific archaeology. He'd been appalled by the destruction of ancient artefacts, and was concerned to save what he could.

THE TRADITION, THE JOY AND THE JAZZ CONTINUE: At The Umbria Jazz Festival, Italy
The morning light strikes the 13th Century Italian city of Perugia, not like a symphonic chord, but rather like a series of soft notes, slowly turning the grey cobblestones pink and gold as the Umbrian sun rises over the ancient buildings. The jazz arrives in a similar fashion.

ENGLAND: A Literary Stay In London
London, city of Shakespeare, has an illustrious literary history. If you’re taking a trip to England’s capital on the trail of your favourite writers, you might like to stay in a hotel with some kind of literary connection. There are several of these to be discovered if you know where to look.

THE SURREAL LIFE: Catalonia, Spain
A house with a dragon’s back. Lantern-lit trees with eerie faces. Turrets made of giant eggs. It may sound like a fairy tale kingdom, but it all actually exists in Catalonia. The seemingly unreal certainly abounds in the capital city of Barcelona and surrounding communities.

DISCOVERING A TREASURE IN ST. THOMAS: The Virgin Islands
Climbing the 99 steps towards Black Beard’s Castle in the center of Charlote Amalie, the capital of St. Thomas, my eyes met with an unexpected sign: World Amber Museum and a tiny arrow underneath. Naturally, my curiosity was aroused and I followed the arrow to find out what it was all about.

WHEN I PAINT MY MASTERPIECE: Rome, Italy
I have heard that Fausto delle Chiaie displays his work every day in Rome’s Piazza Augusto Imperatore, between Emperor Augustus’ Mausoleum and the Ara Pacis Museum, and I have come to seek him out. He turns and looks quizzically at me.

A “DO-IT-YOURSELF” ANGELS AND DEMONS TOUR OF ROME: Italy
The success of the movie Angels and Demons has had a major impact on sightseeing in Rome. The cost usually exceeds €50 per person. Alternatively, you can take the two-day “do-it-yourself” tour and visit all of the movie locations.

THE ICON PAINTER: Greece
The success of the movie Angels and Demons has had a major impact on sightseeing in Rome. The cost usually exceeds €50 per person. Alternatively, you can take the two-day “do-it-yourself” tour and visit all of the movie locations.

CASAPUEBLO: Punta Ballena, Uruguay
Carlos Paez Vilaró, the artist, spent thirty years developing his unique home/hotel/museum/studio from a shack into Casapueblo, the massive, rambling, white-domed creation it is today. As in his paintings, there are no straight lines in this unique cliff-hugging structure.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: Extraordinary Career Of Fiction’s Most Famous Consulting Detective
Throughout generations loyal fans have followed the career of the fictional amateur detective Sherlock Holmes, thrilled at his ability of solving criminal cases through his adept sleuthing."Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot”, was the cry heard in the exploits of Sherlock Holmes.

WRITING-ON-STONE PROVINCIAL PARK: Alberta Canada
"The Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park" situates as the earth splits, cracking the dusty plains open to reveal layers of ancient geography—sandstone scrubbed by rain and wind and glacier and who knows what violent or persistent acts of nature.

IN SEARCH OF THE BRONTE SPIRIT - Haworth, England
I came to Haworth, as many do, in search of ghosts. I came, in the words of Virginia Woolf, "as though [I were] to meet some long-separated friend, who might have changed in the interval—so clear an image of Haworth had [I] from print and picture."

THE STONE-SHAPERS OF MAHABALIPURAM: Tamil Nadu, India
Mamallapuram is all about sculpture, old and new; history and mythology as is the old bespectacled guide in a crisp white veshti, who has been standing at the very spot at the gateway of the town for the past 31 years, heralding tourists with his trademark “I can show you Mamallapuram. Want a guide?

MAS A TIERRA - ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND: The Chiliean Juan Ferandez Archipelago
In 1705 a Scottish sailor Alexander Selkrik was shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean. The story of the hardships endured by this mariner inspired the writer Daniel Defoe to write the classic novel Robinson Crusoe, which we are all familiar. In 1966, the Chilean government named the location Robinson Crusoe Island.

CHANGING THE ARTISTIC FACE OF MOSCOW: Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli
Moscow has its own chief sculptor who has changed the architectural layout of the Russian capital. His name is Zurab Tsereteli. Whether or not he has made Moscow more beautiful only spoilt it are heated debates that will last for ever.

AGATHA CHRISTIE - SETTING THE SCENE IN DEVON: Devon, England
It's hard to imagine Devon as the inspiration for murder. This rural county, the fourth largest in England, is better known to most for its rolling hills and Devonshire cream teas. But no fewer than fifteen of Agatha Christie's crime novels are set in Devon, or have specific connections with the county.

SEARCHING FOR SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH: Scotland
The Scottish highlands are rugged mountains, thick forests and lush green glens. Overcast skies, cold blustery winds and thick mists add a haunting quality to the region. In this environment, the supernatural doesn’t seem so outlandish – it is almost expected.

THE KING OF RAGTIME - SCOTT JOPLIN: St. Louis, Missouri USA
The only home where Scott Joplin ever lived that still stands is a humble yet handsome, brick, walk-up flat on Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis. It is open as a state historic site, serving both as a tribute to Joplin and perhaps the nation’s most significant monument to this truly American musical genre.

A TREK TO THE TOP OF DENMARK: Northern Denmark
Two seas meet with a vengeance at the northern tip of Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula. “You’ll see huge sand dunes, two seas that come together, and incredible art.” What a sales pitch. My daughter Paula and I couldn’t resist.

VISITING JANE AUSTIN’S HAUNTS: Hampshire, England
Hampshire is a truly remarkable corner of the English countryside with historic towns, boasting rich cultural heritage and small picture-postcard villages. The most famous person from Hampshire is undoubtedly the writer, Jane Austen, (Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; Northanger Abbey). Jane was born in the small hamlet of Steventon in 1775.

CHARLES DICKENS: A REAL FATHER CHRISTMAS: England
His name is synonymous with Christmas and for many may conjure up visions of plum pudding and a warm fireside. In fact, Charles Dickens probably has more influence on the way we celebrate Christmas today than any single individual (except one). It was Charles Dickens’ Christmas stories that rekindled the joy of Christmas across Britain and America.

A REMEMBRANCE DAY MEMORIAL: Ypres, Belgium
The author of the poignant, well-known poem 'In Flanders Fields' was Lt. Col. John Alexander McCrae, a soldier from Guelph Ontario. And still today, on Remembrance Day, November 11th, this beautiful poem resonates to remind us all of the tragedy of war.

A FORMER SOVIET CITY WITH A EUROPEAN HEART: Riga, Latvia
In 1997, the old town of Riga was made a World Heritage site by Unesco. I explored those neat streets in a cold November afternoon. Old buildings and beautiful monuments stood behind every corner. I crossed the Daugava river to have a look at the wonderful skyline of this city, which impressed me with its sharp and long towers.

BELFAST’S HISTORIC CAVE HILL: Belfast, Ireland
When the first rays of sunlight break through the cold early morning mist, to reveal the uppermost peaks of Belfast’s Cave Hill, it’s easy for me to see why it’s said to have inspired Jonathan Swift to write his most well known novel, Gulliver’s Travels.

WALL POEMS: Leiden, Holland
As I walked in the historic center of Leiden, the Netherlands, I noticed some words written on a wall. It was neither a commercial advertisement nor a street sign. As I stepped closer I had a wonderful surprise: it was a poem. “The poems, which were written in many different languages, are meant to be for everybody” the initiators of this project explained.

TALES OF THE YUKON: The Yukon International Storytelling Festival
After two long hours thumbing for a ride outside the small Alaskan town of Skagway while holding a large cardboard flap reading “Whitehorse”, a small dusty car pulled over. It was the first chapter of my trip to Whitehorse’s annual and nineteenth Yukon storytelling festival.

WASHINGTON IRVING’S SPIRIT IS ALIVE AND WELL: Sleepy Hollow, NY
Literature fans who call New York State home are fortunate. Our country’s first internationally known author “wrote” his legacy in two of Gotham’s most lush spots: the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains. Washington Irving (1783 – 1859) authored two of the most renowned tales in ALL of literature.

IVORY AS ART: Erbach, Germany
In the central German town of Erbach Count Franz I of Erbach brought a new skill to his subjects - the art of ivory carving. In 1783, he founded the Ivory Carvers Guild of Erbach. The town rapidly moved toward prosperity, testimony of which is given by the town itself and the local museums.

TOURING THE THAMES: The Architectural Jewels of London
England's Thames River is one of the most celebrated bodies of water in the world. The section that runs through London and its outskirts has inspired artists for centuries. On my last trip to London, I discovered the reasons for its reputation when I toured the river.

ENGLAND'S PROTESTANT DAUGHTER: Anne Askew
During a recent trip to England, armed with an appropriate amount of knowledge, I toured from Devon and Cornwall, to London and Kent and came face-to-face with many of the English Reformation sites, including sites dedicated to many of the martyrs, both Catholic and Protestant, executed for their beliefs.

THE RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL: Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo
The 10th Anniversary of the annual, three-day Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) was held in mid July 2007 in the Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong, 45 minutes drive outside of Kuching, Sarawak on the northwest coast of the island of Borneo.

PAYING IN WORDS FOR A PRICELESS EXPERIENCE: Avila, Spain
You lie back on the crisp, cool sheets of your king-sized bed. Your room is spacious and elegant: a television, writing desk, and telephone are among the amenities provided. Do you think this type of extravagance is out of the typical student’s budget?

ART IN A TROPICAL GARDEN: Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia
Tucked away on an small acreage just outside of Kuala Lumpur, a Malaysian architect, Hijjas Kasturi and his Australian wife, Angela, have developed a lush garden paradise retreat for artists and writers.