From the travel file - Bergen

Bergen, Norway

My sister sent me brown cheese for Christmas. We had been surprised by it as a regular menu option on our trip to Norway this past summer and quickly went from, "what the heck is this? to "yum, I like this!" She found a source and had it mailed to me. What a treat!

The shop in the photo was in Bergen. I had to bide my time to get a clear view without tourists cluttering my image!

Happy weekend, kids!

Living Root Bridges

Living Root Bridges, Mawlynnong, Meghalaya, India

The last time I went back to India, my brother James took me to Mawlynnong to see a few of the Living Root bridges created over the years by weaving the roots of trees until they cross a river forming a bridge. It was an amazing sight to see. Here are a few links for more information: 

National Geographic: Living Root Bridges

BBC: India's Amazing Living Root Bridges

On the road - murals in Norway

Oslo, Norway

I've been on a trains, boats and bus adventure in Norway resting my eyes with the sight of beautiful mountains, waterfalls and the enjoying the deliciousness of crisp, cool air. I arrived back to the stressful watch and wait to see what Hurricane Florence brings our way and it's hard to get in the mood to post fun travel shots when I am glued to endless news updates and trying to figure out if I am hunkering down or making a dash inland.

Meanwhile here are a few fun Norwegian mural and graffiti spots I discovered in my travels. Most are from Oslo with a few from Bergen. More to come after things settle down and we can think of something beside wind speed.

Stay safe and dry my friends!

On the road - Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO

MO Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO

I love Botanical Gardens and St. Louis has a great one. What a treat. The heat let up a bit and we enjoyed the day. It is an extensive garden so we caught the trolley to experience the entire property in a short visit. They had a lovely Japanese garden and a Ottoman garden. We had lunch in the cafe and tried not to trip on June brides. I believe we spotted close to ten weddings during the course of our visit to St. Louis!

On the road - Portland

Oregon  

I didn't blow away! I had complicated travel plans lined up for October that had been tossed into the air by Hurricane Matthew's evacuation surprise. Instead of going directly to Portland, Oregon from a conference in Atlanta as planned, I had been in Augusta, back to Charleston and then scrambling to figure out if I could still change flights and pull off my trip west. I did! My goal was for a quick trip with my son out to visit my daughter in Portland. 

The crazy thing is that we landed there for one gloriously sunny day before tropical storm alerts were warning for the west coast. I have never set myself up to be a storm chaser. We made the most of our sunny day stopping at waterfalls along the Columbia river gorge. It is such a contrast to our lowcountry scenery I was in heaven with cool mist on my face. We had lunch at the pFriem Family Brewery and wandered the cute little Hood River town.

The rest of the visit was rain sprinkled but didn't hamper our pleasure. I love Portland's quirky neighborhoods and my daughter had all the best brunch and lunch spots lined up. I traveled lightly and left my big camera at home so have a few cell phone photos to share this time. We enjoyed the Art Museum and visits to the discounted Columbia and Adidas shops as well as IKEA. There is nothing better for me than to hear my two grown children laughing and enjoying each other's company.

The storm was hitting the worst the night I had a 3 a.m. airport cab arriving but I didn't have any trouble getting home. Thanks to the coastal Boeing locations we now have a non-stop Seattle to Charleston flight which is grand. I have one more lazy day to recover and then back to reality. I hope everyone has recovered from the storms on both coasts.

On the road - Ontario, Canada

Perry siblings minus one, Ontario, Canada

The main reason for my recent trip to Canada was to join the gathering of the Perry clan to recognize the occasion of my father's 90th birthday. He has been in failing health and suffering from Alzheimer's disease. I am so appreciative for the family members living close by and his wife Dianne who have cared for him so lovingly while others of us live far away. The top picture is of my siblings minus my brother Jim who is in India.

We had a birthday reception in the nursing home he moved to after a recent hospitalization. It melted my heart that he did indeed recognize me and certainly seemed aware that the event was in his honor. We ended the day with a feast at my brother Roger's home and gathered for our traditional group shot. I got to see a wealth of relatives in a very short visit.

On the road - Kingston, Ontario

Thousand Island Lakes, Canada

Can you imagine living here? Your friends could sail over to pay a visit. The Thousand Island lake area was just as beautiful as I had imagined. Wow.

From Toronto we took the Megabus to Kingston and met my sister Barbra and her family at sunset at a restaurant at Fort Henry overlooking the water. We had a day to completely play tourist in town - took the (free!) ferry to Wolfe Island for lunch, visited Sir John A MacDonald's home, drove through Queen's University campus and the Royal Military College.

The next day we took the boat tour of the Thousand Island lakes (oh my!), caught an afternoon theater performance, a delicious Indian dinner and back to her lakeside home for kayak ride at dusk. We squeezed a lot into our brief visit.

On the road - Toronto

Toronto Harbour, Ontario

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I headed up to Canada for the gathering of the Perry clan for my father's 90th birthday. Seven of my eight siblings were in attendance and I got to see many of my relatives. I started my journey meeting up with my sister Shirley from Edmonton in Toronto and we made the most of our brief stay.

First off I was able to pay for my hotel with Marriott points. Yipee! I never feel like I really get anything from collecting points but this time I did. Go Marriott Courtyard! I am now a fan. We took the zippy train directly from the airport to Union Station and walked up Yonge St. to our hotel. Can't get better than that. We had one full day so we bought tickets for the Hop on Hop Off bus and hit the touristy highlights. I went to college in Toronto but haven't had a chance to run around for many, many years.

We made stops at Casaloma, ate lunch at the top of the CN tower, took the harbour tour around Toronto Island, checked out Kensington Market, checked out the Tattoo exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum and the next morning had lunch at the distillery district before catching our Megabus to Kingston.

On the road - Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana, Cuba

I tend to travel modestly and don't always dedicate my travel budget to high-end hotels so when I got around to reviewing my Cuba itinerary and looked up the hotel I was to stay at in Havana the historical significance blew me away. Wow. We were booked to stay at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba where important heads of state, movie stars, revolutionaries and gangsters had stayed. I was so excited I could hardly stand it. 

After we learned what room we were to stay in (we stayed in the room Walt Disney had used), and had our welcome mojito, it was amazing to wander and absorb the history of the place. Everything was still there - walls full of black and white pictures from meetings and events, the Lansky brother's roulette wheel, Peter Frampton's guitar (?) laying out in the open with a sign asking us not to touch it. Two cannons are still in the yard. The bar on the patio was open twenty four hours a day and members of the Bueno Vista Social club play on certain nights of the week. The place was swarming - with busloads of US tourists arriving one after another. The breakfast buffet in the basement was like a United Nations of trying to please every nationality. Large patios opened to the wind blowing through the royal palms from the ocean. What a grand spot. 

The decision to build a luxury hotel was taken in the late 1920s. The American firms McKim, Mead & White and Purdy & Henderson Co., tasked with the planning and construction, completed the palatial edifice in 14 months.
The hotel exhibits an eclectic architectural style, reflecting Art Deco, Arabic references, features of Hispano-Moorish architecture, and both neo-classical and neo-colonial elements. There are even details from the centuries-old Californian style. The resulting unique example of so many schools of architecture is the most unusual and interesting hotel in the Caribbean region.

The HOTEL NACIONAL DE CUBA was opened on the night of 30 December 1930. The party to celebrate the opening, attended by leading lights of the time, was held in the ballroom.

October 1933: the hotel was bombarded, following the stationing there of officers of the army elite of the deposed president Gerardo Machado, in a revolt by lower-raking officers - Batista among them - in protest at the privileges of high office. Guests of the hotel in this decade included: Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan), Edward VIII (prince of Wales), Jack Dempsey, Tom Mix, José Mujica, Buster Keaton, Emilio Roig, Amadeo Barletta, Rita Montaner, José Raúl Capablanca, Tito Guizart, Trío Matamoros, Ñico Saquito, Errol Flynn, and the mobsters Santos Traficante (father) and Meyer Lansky. The last-mentioned arranged with Batista the future business of the casinos.

On the road: Miami, Wynwood Walls

Wynwood Walls, Miami, Florida

I am taking you off the Charleston peninsula again for a field trip to Miami's mural district Wynwood Walls. When I travel with my daughter she usually does the background research and leads the way but I had seen friends Pamela and Brandon post so many pictures of this location that I was determined to get there. We had a stop in Miami as we made our way to Cuba and made the most of our time there.

The Wynwood Walls was conceived by the renowned community revitalizer and placemaker, the late Tony Goldman in 2009. He was looking for something big to transform the warehouse district of Wynwood, and he arrived at a simple idea: "Wynwood's large stock of warehouse buildings, all with no windows, would be my giant canvases to bring to them the greatest street art ever seen in one place." Starting with the 25th–26th Street complex of six separate buildings, his goal was to create a center where people could gravitate to and explore, and to develop the area's pedestrian potential.

Needless to say I danced around the neighborhood with my mouth open in awe and my camera clicking. I only saw a very small portion of the mural district in my limited time. What a wonderful, colorful place that now has coffee shops, art galleries and restaurants.