Travel – Page 5 – Rashaan Alexis Meneses

September 10, 2009

Margaret Drabble’s Top Ten Literary Landscapes

From The Guardian, 9/9/09:

“Walking in the footsteps of great writers, and seeing landscapes and buildings through their eyes is one of the most enjoyable and sustaining of pleasures. Years ago, on a lecture tour in Mississippi, I insisted on seeing the land of Huckleberry Finn and William Faulkner. It was a powerful experience, never to be forgotten. But Britain remains my native landscape, and my top 10 are only a sample of the places I like best.”

1. Stonehenge

Stonehenge has inspired innumerable writers, and although it is one of the best known prehistoric sites in the world it is impossible to pass it without a sense of awe. It has a melancholy grandeur that passing traffic cannot diminish. Hardy and Wordsworth were moved by it, and so am I….

5. Tintagel

Tintagel in Cornwall is a dramatic mythical Arthurian site, and its castle and crags inspired both Tennyson and Hardy. It’s both medieval and Victorian, like the Arthurian legend itself…

10. Haworth

I tend to prefer outdoor landscapes to writers’ houses, but make an exception for the Brontë Parsonage at Haworth, a house in which life was experienced with extraordinary intensity. This place and its churchyard and its surrounding moorland are numinous…

to read them all…

August 5, 2009August 5, 2009

Paradise Found in the City of Angels: Tasty Tips and Sights to See

When Gaspar de Portola, Father Juan Crespi, and their men in 1769 tramped their way through the swamps and wetlands of what we know as Los Angeles, they were greeted with dozens of temblors, fire, and fog. You can find paradise among the urban sprawl in the City of Angels. You just have to know where to look.

Eats:

Figtrees on Venice Boardwalk at Venice Beach
Mimosas and a tasty brunch with the California sun beating down at you while the Pacific breaks on the shore ahead, can life get any better?

At Home in Venice, Los Angeles

Fatburger
So good 2Pac, Ice Cube, and Biggie Smalls have memorialized their burgers. An absolute L.A. gem. To experience the full Angeleno flavor try the West Hollywood spot (7450 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046).

Sawtelle Kitchen in Little Tokyo, West Los Angeles, near UCLA
The best of Japanese meets rustic French cuisine without taxing the wallet. The mussels with linguine in a green curry sauce is unforgettable. They also have a red snapper with an almond crust that I’m still dreaming about. While dining here, you can also check out the original Giant Robot.

giant_robot_1_web

Photo from AmpRadio 97.1 “Shop on the Cheap”

Urth Caffe (original on Melrose in West Hollywood)
Tasty organic fare at the edge of Hollywood. Last visit, while enjoying a savory chicken salad sandwich with Indian curry, a customer who sat nearby, apparently a professional music video dancer, got into a fight on his cell phone with his agent because he didn’t want to share the stage with a famous R&B star. Very low-key LA scene, which can be a really good thing.

Soot Jeep Bull in the heart of Koreatowwn
Hardcore Korean BBQ with charcoal grill! Wear clothes that you won’t mind end up smelling like you’ve come from a campfire. You will want to take a shower after eating here, but the BBQ fare is the best, hands down.

Sights

The Getty Villa off PCH, north of Santa Monica
The museum specializes in antiquities, meaning a little bit of a yawn, but the architecture is breathtaking. Clinging to the Malibu cliffs you feel like you could just float off into the Pacific Ocean. Translation: Elysium at the edge of chaos.

Photo from Jaunted: The Pop Culture Travel Guide’s article “Getty Villa One Hot Ticket”

LACMA or Los Angeles County Museum
Fave museum in LA proper featuring old and new work and a Japanese Pavilion styled as a mini Guggenheim.

The Getty, Los Angeles
This Getty’s perched in Beverly Hills, west of the 405 affording a 180- degree vista of La La Land. It’s nice…but its not the Villa.

And, because you just can’t visit a city without enjoying a sip of their potations:

Tiki Ti
A historic drinking hole in Hollywood, you must designate a driver for this spot, and if your DD plans to have a drink, he/she should not finish it! Deliciously sweet and potent tropical concoctions, this dive bar is famous for knocking you off your feet. Huell Howser of PBS’ California’s Gold frequents this joint. Enjoy yourself, but, seriously, drink responsibly here.

Photo from the Tiki Ti home page.

July 21, 2009July 23, 2009

“Collecting Clouds”: more on Munich & London Pilgrimage

“A cloud collection is more honest than any other collection,” so says Gavin Pretor-Pinney founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society in his breathtaking interactive article from The Guardian’s, “Heavenly Clouds” featuring his new book The Cloud Collector’s Handbook. From the society’s manifesto, “[Clouds] are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.” During the Munich & London pilgrimage, clouds made the sky their canvas.

In the Bavarian Alps, the clouds literally hovered in place and couldn’t be budged for anything. They seemed set in stone, as timeless and immovable as the mountains:

Garmisch

above Garmisch Olympik Stadium

DSCN1543

Above London, the clouds set the pace for the chaotic traffic below. They were constantly on the move, shifting, restless bodies of action and flight:

Underground Station at Piccadilly Square

London Clouds on Thames River Cruise

More on the Munich & London pilgrimage…click here

July 14, 2009July 15, 2009

Munich & London Pilgrimmage

Returning from Munich & London with over eight hundred shots snapped on the camera. A quarter of them still need to be excised. Many of them require rotation and a little touching up.

Nymphenburg Palace-front ground statue

Munich Underground

Trafalgar Square with Double Decker Bus in Background

London Eye from Thames River Cruise

Going Under the Millenium Bridge

Shillings left in my shoes. I forgot to take the coins out after running the security gauntlet at Heathrow. Receipts transacted in German are scattered on my desk along with pages of notes to transcribe and archive. More musings on the literary pilgrimmage to come…

For more photos on Munich & London click here