Gibraltar

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Tacked on to our first quick trip to Spain from Portugal. Just a few years after Spain re-opened surface access to the peninsula. Stayed in San Roque the evening before where the B&B caretaker, an elderly lady assured us the car was safe parked on the street...and had a shotgun to back up the assurance. Next day, for morning coffee joined locals for their day-starting brandy. (people here pronounced the soft "ch" ..like they do in Panama.. reinforcing my... mini-theory that mother-language countries have regions which speak just like certain places overseas: Canaries/Venezuela, Western Ireland/St. Paul, Piemonte/Santa Fe; Lima/Castilla; Northern England/Maryland.)

Gibraltar fascinating for the truly impregnable fortress it has proven itself for centuries...a guarantor of free passage of shipping from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean...except for German vessels in the past century on a couple of occasions.

November 15, 1990

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Gibraltar - El Peñon

India - New Delhi, American "Theme Nights" at Major Hotels

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One of several "Theme Nights" at major hotels in New Delhi featuring US Army Band (..playing "theme" - related music) and performers direct from NY and the Caribbean the US...all organized by Master Impresario Don Miguel.....at no cost to the US government. Never before, never since, has the capital of India been so treated.

February 28, 1989

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American "Theme Nights" at Major Hotels

Philippines - Manila Bay

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Ethnic Chinese --- in the Philippines since before Magellan --- doing their centuries-old, morning stretching exercises which am respecting more now that I have joined a certain age cohort. Then out to Corregidor in Manila Bay...so few tourists that day, to visit the site of America's most devastating loss of WWII. (This was 25 years ago, so perhaps there are more visitors now...?). Battery emplacements which could not withstand Japanese naval barrages. McCarthur's headquarters deep in a tunnel until forced to slip out, eventually to Australia, to plan his return. Back on land, at the Pacific War Memorial, thousands and thousands of names of the fallen. The Philippines...and Singapore, and China, and Germany, and Poland, and Russia....bear physical testimony to the most horrific war in recorded history.....and so little of it to be found in the United States. I wonder if most Americans know what VFW stands for when passing by clapboard meeting houses in America's small towns.

January 9, 1990

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Philippines - Manila Bay

Malaysia - Malacca

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Steeped in sea-trading history....hub of the Straits of Malacca. Established by Malay Sultan with commercial ties to China...inviting many of them to settle and trade in the port (..Chinese temple and graveyard). Succession of European rulers...Portuguese (small colony of descendants still there!), Dutch and finally the British who then shifted this commercial hub to their new city of Singapore, early 19th Century. Later, Savoring the pungent durian fruit...definitely a... sensory experience.

December 7, 1986

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Malaysia - Malacca

Australia - Riding on the Indian-Pacific

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Crossing Australia, from Sydney to Perth, bridging the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Some 3,500 miles from the verdant southeast of the continent, along its southern underbelly, to the verdant southeast... crossing vast, arid plains where not a tree grows , Nullarbor the largest( Latin for "no tree", of course). Traveled when the moon was full, revealing unforgettable views even at night. Arrived in time to tour Fremantle ( Perth's port city) as it prepared for the America's Cup.

November 29, 1986

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Riding the India-Pacific

USA - Florida, Tarpon Springs, Stafford House

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A classic entrepreneur of the 19th century, Stafford ventured out West from Boston to "make his fortune"...heavily involved with railways and property speculation. Later in life came to Florida, sensing its "wintering" potential (owned property that extended from Tarpon Springs to Jacksonville once). the house is a meticulously restored turn of the century "Florida House"....verandas surrounding the structure, bottom and top floors, all wood interiors, high... ceilings. Dining room, living (stand-up piano), fireplace (?!), and a Doctor's reception room ( Stafford's sister who practised there was one of the country's first female physicians.) Upstairs, bedrooms with beds and chairs of the period....and indoor plumbing! A Florida gem, more authentic than anything to be found in Disney World.

March 4, 2015

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Florida - Tarpon Springs, Stafford House

Vietnam - Hanoi, Red River Cruise

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River Boat excursion down the Red River.to a smallish pagoda that dates back to the formation of Vietnam, about 1,000 years ago. When it pulled away from China's grasp...

On the way back, a good view of the Hanoi Bridge, the target of innumerable bombing raids by American aircraft in the Vietnamese War. ( BTW: The U.S. is now negotiating access to the Cam Rhan Bay naval base, in the country's center...built by the U.S. during the war, taken over by Communist... government in 1975...and ,now, about to welcome back U.S. naval warships!!!!). To keep the country out of China's grasp. Vietnam is a millennium-long case study in "realpolitik" , to say the least.

July 11, 2004

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Vietnam - Hanoi, Red River Cruise