Tapas Garden

As I love to travel and have been spending extensive time in Florida, I feel that the least I could do is comment on it. The Clearwater, FL area is beautiful and well-traveled by tourists. Beautiful beaches (though not as white or pristine as Florida’s northwest beaches) run along the Gulf coast boasting bright green water and soft sand. Though I have my favorite beaches and parks in the area, I want to focus on something that I know quite well, food. I have a passion for food and am quite picky about not only the food but the ambiance, the air, that the restaurant provides. A recent find of mine (that does appear on the top spots in the Clearwater/Indian Shores area) deserves some dialogue.

The Tapas Garden and Wine Bar at Indian Rocks Beach is an interesting mix of Florida and Latin flavor. When I hear tapas, I think of the tapas I ate in Spain, jamon and olives. These are quite simple options and that is what I like about cold tapas. Though marinated olives were an option at Tapas Garden the ham was not which is slightly upsetting because there is little better than Spanish or even Italian hams and salami. The food that I could order however was good. In true Spanish fashion I ordered paella. It was good but too salty for my general taste. Though I opted away from the standard seafood paella mine was filled with chicken, vegetables, and chorizo. The chorizo really added the necessary flavor and for a split moment I felt the warm Spanish sun on my face—well, I was also sitting outside on the patio.

I was eating at a pleasant table facing the street. Though loud trucks distracted me from time to time from my enjoyment (especially when one of them was backing up—beep, beep, beep) I liked the light breeze, the sun, and the feeling of vineyards enveloping me. The restaurant also has a seating area on the side which is the garden seating. It appeared nice when I walked through and a little more peaceful but not as interesting for people watching. I would opt for the front patio unless quiet or romantic accommodations were necessary.

Tapas Garden blended American tastes by adding a pizza (with a thinker crust) to the menu, the local Cuban population by including the infamous Cuban sandwich, and several of the classic dishes of Spain. I liked the food for its vibrant flavor, characteristic of Spanish food, and the comfort of sitting on their patio. However I believe that the accommodations for diverse palettes limit its ability to be a true tapas restaurant and also the pastel colored floral décor was disappointing for I like the punch of the beautiful bright blues and yellows and oranges of a cliché Spanish restaurant.

Timbuktu

Timbuktu was for a long time thought legendary. Its reputation of immensely rich city fed myths in Western Europe and explorers tried their luck to find it. Located in the middle of the Western Africa, it would be discovered by Europeans centuries after its decline. Few accounts related to the city till the eighteen century and as a result the imaginations of the people were easily misled by them and their rarity, contributing to bolster its status as a mysterious place. I am afraid that this article will not be as detailed as I wished it could as sources on Timbuktu remain sparse at least on internet.

Timbuktu was founded by the nomadic Tuareg as early as the 10th century as a seasonal settlement. Roaming the desert during the wet months, in summer they stayed near the flood plains of the Inner Niger Delta. In the eleventh century merchants set up the various markets and built permanent dwellings in the town, establishing the site as a meeting place for people traveling by camel. They also introduced Islam and reading, through the Qur'an. With the rise of the Ghana Empire, several Trans Saharan trade routes had been established. Salt from Mediterranean Africa was traded with West-African gold and ivory, and large numbers of slaves. Halfway through the eleventh century, however, new goldmines near Bure made for an eastward shift of the trade routes. This development made Timbuktu a prosperous city where goods from camels were loaded on boats on the Niger. Muslim scholars from Walata fled to Timbuktu and solidified the position of Islam. Timbuktu had become a center of Islamic learning, with its Sankore University and 180 Quranic schools. In 1324 Timbuktu was peacefully annexed by king Musa I, returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca. The city now part of the Mali Empire, king Musa I ordered the construction of a royal palace and, together with his following of hundreds of Muslim scholars, built the learning center of Djingarey Ber in 1327.
By 1375, Timbuktu appeared in the Catalan Atlas, showing that it was, by then, a commercial center linked to the North-African cities and had caught Europe's eye.

With the power of the Mali Empire waning in the first half of the 15th century, Maghsharan Tuareg took control of the city in 1433-1434. Thirty years later however, the rising Songhay Empire expanded, absorbing Timbuktu in 1468-1469 and lead the city to its golden age. With the capital of the empire being Gao, Timbuktu enjoyed a relatively autonomous position. Merchants from numerous other cities of North Africa gathered there to buy gold and slaves in exchange for the Saharan salt of Taghaza and for North African cloth and horses. Leadership of the Empire stayed in the Askia dynasty until 1591, although internal fights led to a decline of prosperity in the city. The city's capture on August 17, 1591 by an army sent by the Saadi ruler of Morocco, Ahmad I al-Mansur, and led by pasha Mahmud B. Zarqun in search of gold mines, brought the end of an era of relative autonomy. Intellectually, and to a large extent economically, Timbuktu now entered a long period of decline. In 1593, Saadi cited 'disloyalty' as the reason for arresting, and subsequently killing or exiling many of Timbuktu's scholars. The ultimate decline continued, with the increasing trans-atlantic traderoutes (transporting African slaves, including leaders and scholars of Timbuktu) marginalising Timbuktu's role. While initially controlling the Morocco - Timbuktu traderoutes, the grip of the Moroccans on the city began losing its strength in the period until 1780, and in the early 19th century the Empire didn't succeed in protecting the city against invasions and the subsequent short occupations of the Tuareg (1800), Fula (1813) and Tukular 1840. It is uncertain whether the Tukular were still in control, or if the Tuaregs had once again regained power, when the French arrived.

Historic descriptions of the city had been around since Leo Africanus' account in the first half of the 16th century, and they prompted several European individuals and organizations to make great efforts to discover Timbuktu and its fabled riches. In 1788 a group of titled Englishmen formed the African Association with the goal of finding the city and charting the course of the Niger River. The earliest of their sponsored explorers was a young Scottish adventurer named Mungo Park, who made two trips in search of the Niger River and Timbuktu (departing first in 1795 and then in 1805). It is believed that Park was the first Westerner to have reached the city, but he died in modern day Nigeria without having the chance to report his findings. In 1824, the Paris-based Société de Géographie offered a 10,000 franc prize to the first non-Muslim to reach the town and return with information about it. The Briton Gordon Laing arrived in August 1826 but was killed the following month by local Muslims who were fearful of European intervention.  The Frenchman René Caillié arrived in 1828 traveling alone disguised as a Muslim; he was able to safely return and claim the prize. Robert Adams, an African-American sailor, claimed to have visited the city in 1811 as a slave after his ship wrecked off the African coast. He later gave an account to the British consul in Tangier, Morocco in 1813. He published his account in an 1816 book, The Narrative of Robert Adams, a Barbary Captive  (still in print as of 2006), but doubts remain about the veracity of his account.

After the scramble for Africa had been formalized in the Berlin Conference, land between the 14th meridian and Miltou, Chad would become French territory, bound in the south by a line running from Say, Niger to Baroua. Although the Timbuktu region was now French in name, the principle of effectivity needed France to actually hold power in those areas assigned, e.g. by signing agreements with local chiefs, setting up a government and making use of the area economically, before the claim would be definitive. On December 28, 1893, the city, by then long past its prime, was annexed by a small group of French, led by lieutenant Boiteux. Timbuktu was now a colony of France. During World War II, several legions were recruited in French Soudan, with some coming from Timbuktu, to help general Charles de Gaulle fight Nazi-occupied France and southern Vichy France. After World War II, the French government granted the colony more and more freedom. After a period as part of the short-lived Mali Federation, the Republic of Mali was proclaimed on September 22, 1960. After a November 19, 1968, a new constitution was created in 1974, making Mali a single-party state. By then, the canal linking the city with the Niger River had already been filled with sand from the encroaching desert. Severe droughts hit the Sahel region in 1973 and 1985, decimating the Tuareg population around Timbuktu who relied on goat herding. The Niger's water level dropped, postponing the arrival of food transport and trading vessels. The crisis drove many of the inhabitants of Tombouctou Region to Algeria and Libya. Those who stayed relied on humanitarian organisations such as UNICEF for food and water.

Nowadays, Timbuktu is also considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site – this has been so since 1988. As such, Timbuktu holds many wonders and pleasures to the culturally attuned. On a visit to Timbuktu, one can visit museums and an institute dedicated to the preservation of ancient manuscripts and book artisans. Its legend started when Mansa Musa, then the ruler of Timbuktu during the 14th century, went to Mecca on a pilgrimage. It is said that on the way to Mecca, he stopped over in Egypt where he behaved extravagantly by throwing gold around. It is said that he spread around enough gold that the Egyptian currency back then devalued. What happened then was not surprising – rumors started to fly around that there was this city deep within the heart of Africa wherein there was more gold than one can imagine - roofs and streets made with gold, and so on. In the end, its history and image in the popular culture makes it a prized destination for travellers looking for adventure in the desert with a mysterious touch.

-Croissant

Dawson City

Dawson City will be the first city that I will write about. I will mainly detail the current state of the city and what made it famous and why it is not the case anymore.

Dawson City owes its existence to the discovery of gold fields in its area. In August 1896, a certain Robert Henderson was prospecting in the area. He met on his way back a group of men led by George Carmack and invited them to have a look. Carmack and his companions discovered what they called “Bonanza” creek and went to claim it in the town of Forty Miles.  This news provoked the birth of the city of Dawson at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. By June 1897 the new town had a population of some 4,000, by June the following year the population had grown to over 25,000. Word of the Klondike gold discovery hit San Francisco and Seattle in July of 1897, prompting people to this new gold field in the Canadian North West. All that winter they had been arriving in Dawson, but it wasn’t until the spring of 1898, when several hundred boats and scows of all description and size left Lake Bennett, as soon as the ice went out of the lake all heading for the Klondike goldfields some 600 mile away down north on the Yukon river. Many of them had a disastrous trip wrecking their boats in the White Horse Rapids, or the Five finger rapids, losing everything, many lost their lives. By mid-summer the new town of Dawson City had a population of some 30,000 people. Everyone looking for an opportunity to stake a claim and go back home with their pockets full of gold.

The Klondike gold rush was characterised by a sudden start and a short span. In addition, the travel that the prospector, people from all walks of life who had left their original activities behind them, had to do was exhausting. Boats of all kinds sailed north out of western port cities (Seattle, Portland), nearly bursting with people, gear and pack animals. This journey was the most challenging and time-consuming aspect of the gold rush. Stampeders were physically unprepared and poorly equipped for the severe northern climate and terrain. Some died and many abandoned the journey. Travellers did not always fare better in the summer. Stampeders struggled in rain, fog, boulders, and bogs. Without its covering of snow and ice, the trail to the summit led over giant boulders over which people literally crawled. For instance, to move one outfit over Chilkoot pass, stampeders packed and cached their goods up to forty times and hiked up to 1,000 miles. The terrain on the last four miles of the trail was too rough for pack animals. Discarded supplies littered the trail as stampeders cast unnecessary items aside. Many took three months to move their goods from Dyea to the summit. Most stampeders felt disappointed when they reached Dawson. Local miners had claimed all the gold-bearing creeks up to a year earlier. Without gold "for the taking," late arrivals milled about town. Many went home. Some found jobs in and around Dawson. People made good wages working another miner’s claim, or in saloons, hotels, and other support positions. Others looked for gold on nearby creeks but rarely found any. The irony of the gold rush was that after risking their lives and fortunes on the journey, most stampeders never struck it rich. About 40,000 people reached the Klondike, only four of every ten who tried.

As for the city of Dawson itself, although this boom town was destroyed by fire on Thanksgiving 1897, it became by 1898 the “Paris of the north”: the biggest city west of Winnipeg and north of San Francisco, with all the amenities of the outside world only 286 km (165 miles) south of the Arctic Circle,. On June 13, 1898, Yukon Territory was formed out of the western part of the Northwest Territories encompassing the Yukon River water shed. The Yukon was governed by Ottawa, with a Commissioner who had his headquarters in Dawson which was now the capital of the new Yukon Territory. Dawson offered entertainments in its elaborate theatres, hotels, saloons and dance halls. Moreover, fine stores were selling all the things that were available in the stores in the rest of Canada and the United States, including the latest fashions from Paris. Four major religious orders erected churches, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Roman Catholic. By 1900 Dawson had electricity, water and sewer, and telephone, and in 1901 was connected by a telegraph system to the rest of the world. However the golden age of Dawson City was short and when gold was found on the beaches of Nome Alaska, in 1899, it was estimated that by spring 8,000 left Dawson for Nome. In 1900 Dawson had a population of 5,400.

By 1903, more than $96 million in gold had been taken out of the creeks. Ten years after the discovery of gold, the rush was over. There were a few millionaires and many who left with unfulfilled dreams. The Klondike Gold Rush is remembered as the greatest adventure of them all. It was a brief, exciting period of history that continues to live through memory and existing reminders of the gold rush period in Dawson City, Whitehorse, Skagway and places in between. By 1960, there were 350 permanent residents and tourism had become a growing focus for Yukoners. The Yukon and Canadian governments realized that Dawson City provided a priceless heritage that should be preserved. Dawson was declared a National Historic Site and the National Parks Service was placed in charge of the restoration of significant Dawson buildings and gold mining sites.

Today Dawson city has been reconverted as a touristic attraction that largely take profit from its history. It is thus possible to visit the house of writer Jack London, who started his career as a gold prospector and ended up writing short stories about his adventures proving that the Klondike gold rush spawned more than dream of gold and riches. It is also possible to come to the first modern licensed gambling casino in Canada: Diamond Teeth Gertie. Gold Prospecting is still going around and it is possible for the neophytes to try out their luck in one of the free claims available such as Claims 6. Dawson City seems to host a lot of events, ranging from the dog sledge race to French Can-Can spectacle, all along the year which is given its size quite unexpected. Dawson City has been saved from History thanks to its interesting past and the desire from the Canadian government to development its attractiveness to tourism. Not to be forgotten is also the spirit of adventure that it conveys thanks to its remote location, the reason of its existence and its beautiful landscapes and faunas which extend on an immense surface.

-Croissant

A journey of a thousand miles always starts with a single step..

I have not written in a long time yet, it is not because I do not wish to do so anymore but rather because of time. A few months ago, I had the idea to write about various cities in the world. The reason behind the selection was that they were mostly lost in the middle of nowhere but held once, a certain status or at least they did and still have to me.  

Some of them have a historical value, others have been the goal of some expeditions while most of them have an inspiring name. I do not really aim to make a specific point about them. It is just that they hold an interesting significance to me and I probably wonder deep down why some cities stay in the sunshine while others are forgotten like these ones.

My list of cities includes:

Timbuktu, which was for long time thought as legendary

Zanzibar, a haven for slave trade and departure point of famed explorer D. Livingstone

Archangelsk, a lost city in the north

Vladivostok at the end of the Transiberian

Dawson City, starting point of the Klondike Gold Rush

Samarqand, a very old city and main stage on the Silk Road

Ushuaia, at the edge of South America

I hope to be able to finish this project in a not too far future!

-Croissant

San Francisco, 2nd Part

The second part of my article on San Francisco focuses more on its museums and POIs. As I said earlier, the city is quite large and as a result a lot of the museums and other interesting parts of the city are located miles away from each other; indeed, unlike Washington where everything is nearly concentrated around the Mall, San Francisco requires that the tourist, or visitor, to benefit from a certain endurance.

During my long treks in the city, I came across the Palace of Fine Arts, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific exhibition and reconverted later into a theatre. I thought that given its name, it would be one of the arts museums of San Francisco and, curious, I instead entered in the Exploratorium: a museum dedicated to the kids and explaining different laws about nature. I was a tad disappointed at first but it is a lot of fun for the kids and I found myself watching for minutes a video of a marble guiding games.

The DeYoung was the first “big” museum I went in, and with big museum comes the big crowd. It was even bigger as it was one of the first of an exhibition about the masterpieces from the musée d’Orsay in Paris.  long queue was to be passed and bearing with the manners of a lot of old ladies that pretended to be heavily involved in the art world was another worry. The rooms allocated to the exhibition did not leave a lot of space for a true appreciation of the works and it was even reduced by the sheer amount of people that were cramping them. On the other hand its restaurant offered a menu à la carte and in French (s’il vous plait!) which was really fitting to the eyes of any Americans going to a museum. The park, nearby, were exhibiting some sculpture that were abstract and thus open to any interpretation. The museum is located in a national park, the Golden Gate Park, and as a result in a green environment which is rather pleasant.

On our way to Sausalito, we (your croissant and his peanut butter) stopped to admire the shape of one of the icon of the city: the Golden Gate Bridge. A parking has been built in order for the people to stop and enjoy the sight which is quite amazing. Indeed, all the dimensions involved are massive, from the bridge and its arches to the straight that it crosses. In addition, it provides a view on the Pacific which opens any possibility of travel on it. Nonetheless,  the best spot is located on the other side of this parking lot and is known of only few people as it is located in the former military base of Presidio. There, the view is even more grandiose and the travellers can observe the coast, the Golden Gate and a bit of the bay.

Sausalito is a little posh sea town nestled in the bay and close to the golden gate. It offer a stunning view on San Francisco and has the advantage of not being too far from it and yet at a reasonable distance to enjoy a quiet life. Indeed, from what I have seen of the city, the houses and the shops reminds of one of these charming towns on the Riviera: not too touristy but classy, not too pretentious and really pleasant. The atmosphere is nearly village like. We walked along the marina which is big an only filled with boats that could round the world and then went to a sea food restaurant built on a pier: the Spinnaker, the view is even more stunning as people eat directly on the sea and waiting a quarter of minutes to benefit from a table next to the windows would be a crime to avoid: in a word it is a gem.

The museum of the Legion of Honor is another museum of classic arts in San Francisco. It is far from the down town but it location is probably one of the best I have ever seen. It overlook the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay and the Pacific coast all at once. The museum is, unlike the modern building of the DeYoung, a reproduction to the ¾ of the musée de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris and is thus a classic building. It was built to honor the fallen Californian soldiers in the Great War. I was surprised to see a statue, amongst others, of Jeanne d’Arc at the entrance, although that was not the first I noticed in the country. The collections in the museum is classic like the building and does not bear anything special bar a lot of sculptures from Rodin, including the Thinker. However, I enjoyed the porcelain collection and its explanation about the diverse factories built in Europe. The good point about this museum is that there are less people around and everything is quieted which made my visit really enjoyable. The restaurant, also offering an a la carte menu and in French (aussi!), added to the charm of the museum. An exhibition about the Impresionnist (again!) was in preparation and I am pretty sure that when it will open the place will be bustling with people and it will not be as charming as it was when I went.

I, then, decided to walk on the trails on the coast as the weather was exceptional. The environment of San Francisco reminds me of the south of France with its pines and climate. So from the Legion of Honor, I went to Sutro baths via a trail which replaced an old tramway line. The view was needless to say beautiful and several bench were present in order to make the walk the more agreeable possible. Sutro Baths, built in 1896, used to be “an extravagant public bathhouse envisioned and developed by the eccentric one-time mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro.” The place burned down in 1966 and now the ruins offer a picturesque point of view on the ocean. The Cliff House let people sip a glass of champagne while admiring the vista. From there, one can overlook Ocean Beach and its long strip of sand.

My last stop was the infamous prison of Alcatraz. I first went on a boat cruise around the bay and to Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the west. Indeed, it is the place where mainly Chinese immigrants were parked before entering or not the country. It was once hosting a Union base which was never under attack during the Secession war. It is now part of a natural park and a place of relaxation for city-dwellers. The boat then took me to the island of Alcatraz. The island in the middle of the bay offers a nice point of view. It used to be like Angel Island part of a defense system for San Francisco. The visit of the prison is quiet short and I believe that its reputation makes it more impressive when it was just a little prison in an old fortress based on a little rock. I believe that the prisoners incarcerated in the prison were its biggest “achievement” and apart from some quotes from Al Capone and others, not much is said about them. Their cells are presented as such with some little commentary but no real history is provided, it is rather anecdotic. To be fair though, an audio guide and movies were completing the visit, things that I did not have the luxury to  hear and watch..On the other hand, the trip on the boat and the islands themselves offered plenty of opportunity for any photograph.

My experiences in San Francisco tended to tell me that it is a quite complete city compared to the others I have visited. Not as urban as New York, but really enjoyable and much more outdoor activities orientated if less “intellectual”, I think that it is a fair trade-off and I believe it is an advantageous one compared to New York if it is smartly balanced.

-C

San Francisco, part I

This is my first article on San Francisco as I have done a few things there.  This was the last step of my short journey in America. Labelled as a liberal city compared to the rest of the country, I felt that I could some nice day there. In addition, it is in California and thus I could expect some sunshine. I was surprised by the wind force in the city even though it is not surprising at all given the nature of its location which is create wind streams. In addition, the temperature compared to Boston or New York was chilling especially at night. I was also surprised by the number of beggars that I came across right outside of the BART station (the metro there) on my first day; by the way, I found the commuting system quite neat. As a roommate at my hostel noticed, some of them are quite inventive; before reaching the airport I came across a group of them singing some gospel and it was not too bad. I wonder why they would stay in San Francisco and be freezing at night when they could try to reach a big city down in the south where weather would be more favourable to them.

San Francisco like any American cities that respect itself on the cultural scene boasts a Museum of Modern Arts. It managed to grow to its actual size thanks to the help of generous donations which expanded its post-war and contemporary arts collection with some works from Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and other Robert Rauschenberg which thus increased its renown. This is nothing new in the growth of a museum though. It is nestled in a recent building which classically reflects its vocation of museum of modern arts. It also housed an exhibition about the evolution of California through pictures since the 19th century. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and could not see it, however I like the theme and I think that it is a refreshing theme to be explored as opposed to another exhibition about contemporary artists that people can barely get a grip on their works.

Being a liberal city means that San Francisco owns a certain cultural aura due to its ability to attract more people and let them do what they want. The number of art galleries that I came across was only to be match by New York. I also found that the city was much more Francophile than the others I visited, which was nice to me. The size of the city and the way museum were placed meant that a lot of walking had to be done. I could have taken the different bus lines that cover San Francisco but walking would also be a good occasion to see some different part of it. In addition with the beggars, I also noticed a lot of Asian people either living there or being tourists spending a week in the city, which is probably best explained with the “proximity” of Asia on the other side of the Pacific.

The location of San Francisco has been key in its history and development. Indeed, its port activities changed the face of its coast, at least in the city itself. Now that they are less used, they have been reconverted and constitute one of its charms. In fact, walking along its wharves and pier is probably one of the element I enjoyed the most there. Pier 39 is a good example of how it has changed and exploited. Even though, it is an expensive shopping mall for tourists, it somehow remains authentic thanks to its architecture. Amongst its shops, I stumbled on a nice photograhy shop which was quite inspiring when it comes to travel. Ghirardelli Square is another example of such a move: it was built next to the old chocolate factory of the locally famed brand and turned into a green space facing the Bay. Its topography is probably one of its most emblematic characteristic. If it can be tiring to walk to the top of the street, the view is very rewarding and allows access to such place such as Lombard Street and it turns and the Coit Tower  which let people admire a vista from San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge, another of its symbol.

Overall I found the city to be really enjoyable to live as far as I have been able to experience it. Walking around can be pretty tiresome especially with the hills around but the environment is well worth it. It is probably one of the most complete cities after New York in the USA as I do think that, from what I have heard, Los Angeles offers that kind of array of activities.

-C

Washington D.C.: the sanctuary of a culture

The capital of the United States of America is designed accordingly to its status and offers a lot to see and visit. Indeed, it is the sanctuary of the American psyche as many of the museums and monuments illustrate.
I will start my observation with the travel system. If the commuting system at the Logan airport of Boston is quite clearly indicated, it is not what I thought about Dulles airport in Washington DC. Tickets in the metro are not valid for 24h as in New York and Boston but just for a day. Like at Dulles, the indications are not crystal clear as to where one is going. On the other hand, it is clean, spacious and allows going across the city quickly.

The city shelters a lot of free museums, most are located around the National Mall, which have been made possible thanks to the donation of British scientist Mr James Smithson , whose testament helped to create the Smithsonian Institute: “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” Interestingly Smithson never set foot in America.

The first one of them that I visited was the Museum of Air and Space. It reminded me of the museum of Le Bourget near Paris. I guess that every museum about air and space are similar, nevertheless it is a very interesting place explain the history of the planes and what challenges are faced nowadays in space notably. It showcases a lot of planes and for the majority experimental vessels which are sometimes unique. However, it sounds to me as if the USA invented the plane; the USA obviously carried out the bulk of the aeronautical innovations after WWII but before it was not the case and this, to me, not clearly pointed.

I went after at the National Gallery. It is composed of the east and west buildings: one for the classic and modern works and one dedicated to the contemporary art. I would say that this museum is probably on par with the Metropolitan Museum of New York bar a few things. The museum exhibits some splendid collections of Degas and Daumier sculptures that are truly astonishing, as I have rarely seen that kind of compilations in any other museums that I recall. All the art eras displayed are quite complete. In addition, they are enshrined in a beautiful classic building. The contemporary art building is conceived to reflect what it contains too. On second thoughts, the Met seems more complete apart on the contemporary section, not something that I would care a lot for.

The National Museum of the American Indians, recently opened, seemed to be part of the political correctness tendency of the USA to please its minorities. It is not that it should not be done, but the reason makes it sound less genuine that it could be. As a result it is suppose to justify the existence of the native communities across the country. Their main message is to tell people about what is it about being a Native American and that their culture is trying to survive. “It is in my blood so i am a Native American and as a result I cannot ignore it” or “Fishing has been the main activity of my ancestor so I am myself a fisherman...” are the kind of testimony that the visitor can read. The bottom line seems to be pretty much naive as all cultures and peoples fight for “survivance” and succeed in different ways; political correctness is what saved the Native American. It shows that these communities do not adapt and choose to continue their ancestral activities in the face of evolution. Not to say that it is stupid and sound too harsh but as we say in France “c’est la vie!”; adapt or die is what life is probably all about as history teach us. The museum boasts a large collection of presentation of different Indian people but it makes it hard to distinguish all of them.

The Smithsonian Institute Building is a red brick neo gothic castle built in 1847 and is the hub of all the Smithsonian museums. It displays an eclectic collection of objects drawn from various eras which is probably supposed to give an outlook of what the museum of the Smithsonian Institute can offer.

After visiting these museums, I decided to head for the various memorials in town. As the city is not little and that there are many memorials, I could not walk to all of them. I went first to the Jefferson memorial which contains a little museum dedicated to the man and his ideals, although slave-owner against his wishes. The memorial is a classic construction reminding of antic Greek temple which offers a nice view on a water space. The Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial is not too far and is about peace in the world. While trying to reach the Iwo Jima memorial situated in Rosslyn I went wrongly to the national cemetery in Arlington: like any military museum, it is in impeccable order and even though it was not my country I could feel a lot of respect for these fallen men, whatever their allegiances.

On the next day I went to the National American History museum. There were exhibitions about the dresses of the first ladies, about the American flag in Baltimore during the war of 1812, Americans at war and other patriotic subjects such as anti-slavery. It is an interesting museum to get a first glimpse of American History; however the later is much more complex and less heroic and glamorous than told, as it is with any history.

The nearby National Portrait Gallery, did not raise a lot of enthusiasm in me I was not very interested in viewing all the portraits of various political figures of different political eras of the US history exhibited in most of the museum’s rooms. Neither did I particularly appreciate the exhibition on “American” arts.

I finished my tour of the memorial with the World War 1, World War 2, Korea war, Lincoln memorial and Vietnam War memorial where one can see pages of paper left by pupils thanking soldiers long gone for their sacrifice against the “nasty communists” and others. Some European travellers that I came across found it a bit too patriotic but it is a good example of the American patriotism and I do not think that it is something that excessive for a country that has been at war abroad for most of its history.

I finished with visiting the Georgetown area and its campus, like Harvard it looks like a British campus only with grey brick instead of the traditional red ones. Not much to say about it except that the area of Georgetown is much more friendly and lively than the centre of the city.

Overall, I noticed that the official status of the city was influencing my perception of it. Apart from the Smithsonian Museums and the various memorials dedicated to the history of the United States of America and the buildings, emblems of its power, or maybe because of that, the city did not feel very much lively in its centre. It felt like a city dedicated to showcase and glorify the attributes of the US nation, and in a certain manner justify its actual stance, behaviour on the international scene, its past. Critical spirit is nearly absent from this glorification and if it is not abnormal it remained slightly annoying to me.

The number of memorials of “recent” nature, as opposed in European countries tends to prove this justification. But every country, notably my own, has a city dedicated to that kind of historical justification and mythology, so how could I blame them for that?  As it happened in Europe, will this trend ends and see a change and maybe an end in the militaristic culture of the USA? Does a historical circle exist? I, for one, believe that it might be possible, however I will be long dead when it happens, as I believe it will take a few generations to happen, if I observe how it happened in Europe.

-C

Boston

My stay in Boston is over after around a day and a half. Even though I spent a lot of time walking around, I feel that I have missed something there. The fact that I did not take a guide did certainly not help as I can not check whether I have miss something important or not. The suggested itinerary offered by the hostel, which was supposed to be done in three days did not suggest more than I could do. I checked what I did with the people backpacking around and they seem to have done the same thing as me. Nevertheless, I still think that somehow I could have done more, maybe my expectations of Boston were too important. Not that I did not like the city because I found it charming and superior in someway to New York, so what happened?

On my first day there, I did not have the time to visit anything as I arrived in the middle of the afternoon. It remained that as the weather was sunny, it was a good occasion to visit the city and scout for my next day. Even though my hostel was in an industrial suburb, called Everett, (or what seemed to be so) of Boston and far from down town, it only took me half an hour to reach any important point of the city. In addition I found that the indications in the metro and bus were quite clear, things that puzzled me in New York from time to time. Moreover, the city was really really clean especially compared to New York and much greener somehow although I did not seem to see more trees in Boston, probably the fact that Boston down town count less skyscrapers. As a result of all this free time to roam around and walking along the harbor of Boston proved to be a good opportunity to be liberal with my camera. Unfortunately my battery died at the critical moment: sunset; gutted, I swore to not let pass this occasion the next day. And I thus went back home with my tail in between my legs, although this walk proved to me that Boston was a pretty city taking full advantage of the sea unlike New York. 


 On my second day, I raced to the Museum of Fines Arts and stayed in for 3 hours, almost as much as in the Metropolitan. I enjoyed an exhibition of Durer and went through the whole museum. What I found odd is that there were not that many people in the museum, it felt a bit empty even on a Sunday afternoon. The cards giving indications on each works sounded a bit stupid sometimes, giving sometimes useless details like " this works shows someone falling like a paratrooper, a type of soldier introduced during WWII". It just sounded a bit odd sometimes. There was also an exhibition on the excavation of an Egyptian tomb. Here again, a lot of superlatives were used in the various description as if it was a world first. I took the opportunity to have a lunch in their garden which proved something wise as the sunshine was warm, fact that surprised me being in Boston. Overall I liked the possibility to see different art from everywhere but I also felt that sometimes there was a lack of coherence between the works exhibited or that the collections shown were too little. Something was definitely missing. Besides, I noticed in Boston that every wing, escalator, wharf or bench were dedicated to someone that died, as if people in America were afraid to die without leaving their names written somewhere. I noticed this tradition in England, only on benches though, but not to that extent. Why would someone have an escalator named after him/her when dead? It might seems nice and respectful but I just could not bring myself to fully find it this way, I found it a tad superficial or probably the fact that it was done on every possible object.

  

 I then decided to go to Harvard. Going there, I discovered that what I thought was downtown was not and I thus understood I had more walking to do. Before going to Harvard, I went to the MIT campus first and then on the banks of the river Charles. The sight of the river filled with white sails, with the financial center in the background was quite breathtaking and I must say that it really made my day. I knew that it would be the spot where I would the sunset. So I set to reach Harvard campus located in a part of Boston ironically called Cambridge although, the campus reminded me more of Oxford...Nothing special to declare about the campus as it looks like as I said earlier like Oxford. Old red brick houses with lots of trees around: a nice place to study and idle when you find yourself with too much time on your hand. As the afternoon was closing to the evening, I decided to ambush the sunset and after monopolizing a bench (un dedicated this time but I spotted a dedicated pedestrian bridge!) for two hours and after much experimentation with my camera and its settings, I could at last take some nice pictures involving boats, a river, a sunset in an urban environment. It proved at least to me rewarding and I thus went home again in the lovely Everett to spend my last night, I planned the next day to go to the Institute of Contemporary Art but it was unsurprisingly closed on Monday.

Granted that I did not go to the Tea Party Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art , the Harvard Art Museum, the Aquarium nor did I went on a boat trip checking the islands around. Would it have changed my overall perception of the city? I don't think so. I enormously enjoyed the city but I felt it was to tiny compared to what I am used to lived there in a pleasant manner, even though if I was offered a good job there I would not decline it either. Maybe it is the provincial side of the "Athens of America" that  turned me off, probably a reflex from people coming from "big cities". Something is simply missing, maybe the buzz of something more speedy? I would not consider myself as a hardcore Parisian but on my first impression of Boston, I found this buzz missing a lot and now slightly frustrating.

-C

New York, part II

My stay in New York is reaching its end and out of these three weeks that I spent there, here are my thoughts.

As for Manhattan itself, I found it quite windy and that there was a smell of food everywhere thanks to the little stands present in the street selling hotdogs and Co. The weather is really fluctuant and reminds of England. Indeed, it could be very hot and then very cold on the next day. The Tube stations are not always very well designed (i.e. 86st street/Lexington station) because one must go outside in the street in order to reach the other platform, something I did not find very intuitive. In contrast, the possibility to take either an express metro or a metro going to more local stations is a smart idea. I enjoyed a lot walking in Manhattan and all sort of sculptures present in the city. It also boasts some nice places to take a drink sometimes and other mini gardens are present which makes it easier to eat a sandwich in the shade. The geometrical disposition of the town makes it easy to navigate in unlike the European cities but on the other hand, it makes it less charming as a result in my opinion. I went to the top of the Rockefeller Centre at night time; the vista on the 60th+ level on NY is enchanting.

Having lived in Harlem for most of my stay, I had some apprehension with violence and security but finally, I never had to deal with any of these troubles; that said, I do not think that I would live there eternally and I felt a bit out of place as being one of the few white person in suit walking around these streets. Being an area populated mostly by the black community, most of the streets and avenue are renamed with a famous black person; as an example, I was living close to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Malcolm X Avenue. For some reasons, a lot of churches are present. They are not always in a proper church building and can be found in classic buildings. I guess that faith is an important part of the culture of the people residing there. I heard of some masses being packed and that booking was necessary in order to join. Nevertheless, I did not have enough time on my hands to assist to some Gospel choirs. I have also noticed that a lot of crippled people wander in the area either with a single crutch or in a wheelchair. I have absolutely no idea why it is like there and not in the other part of the city I have been in. Apart from the campus of Columbia University which is nearby and the Morningside Park that offers a view toward Central Park, I do not think that there is a lot to see there.

On Sunday, I went to Battery Park again: the heart of Manhattan and its historical area. With its narrow streets and its tall skyscraper, lower Manhattan gives the feeling of being overwhelmed; in addition, as it is the oldest part of NY, the streets do not all benefit from the grid system. These narrow and curvy streets add to this feeling. It also proposes some nice photo opportunities thanks to the perspectives offered by the buildings. The famous Wall Street is also around as is the bronze Merrill Lynch’s bull [ERRATA: the bull symbolize the rising trend of the stock auction as opposed to the bear which symbolize the fading trend, Wall Street traders are strong believers in the bull] ; interestingly enough the parts that have been the more touched are golden and are its head and genitals...classy...From there it is possible to look at Brooklyn and the Queens and their bridges on the East River.

I then proceeded to go to Staten Island from the Lower Manhattan ferry station. The urban architecture doesn’t look like Manhattan or any big city. Actually, it looks like something miles away from the very urban downtown but it makes a good change from time to time to switch to a more suburban environment. However, it looks as if it was stuck in the eighties and I found it a slightly depressing side as not much seemed to happen there. South beach provides a good walk thanks to the wooden boardwalk. It felt a bit surreal to walk there as I was less than an hour away from downtown. To access it, a ferry at Battery Park is available and it is free, it also allows having a stunning view on the statue of the Liberty, Ellis Island and the skyline of Manhattan. My trip was very very windy but it was an excellent opportunity to take pictures. The metro card works also on the island and let people take advantage of the bus network.

 The Upper East Side is a posh area of New York, with all the hype and prestigious shops notably on Madison Avenue and close to the museum mile (including notably the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim, the Frick Collection and the Whitney museum of American Art). It remains a nice area where to wander although the nearby Central Park is a much better option. I went to the Whitney Museum  which the museum for the American Art. It hosted its biennal and a tons of different artists on 5 levels. What marked me the most was this series of picture by Nina Berman about this horribly mutilated 24 years old Marine going back from Iraq and getting married. His would-be wife on the pictures did not seem that joyful which is understandable. It concluded that in the USA the military culture and its consequences were seen as acceptable. The rest of the works exhibited was not really worth it as there was not anything that holding some esthetical value to my eyes.

I also went to the famed MOMA, museum of contemporary art of New York, which current exhibition was on the South African artist William Kentridge, depicting pieces of art denouncing the Apartheid and the cruelty of mankind; it was obviously rather depressing and dark. The MOMA boasts a nice collection of contemporary classic including some Warhol, Lichtenstein, Klein and other figures of the post-war and contemporary period. A gallery dedicated to the history of mundane items design is there and it is interesting to observe that some form of art can be found in these objects. A garden allows people to chill out in the shades of the skyscrapers and offer another example of the NY urban feeling.

Walking toward Central Park can be found the Frick Collection.   This impressive collection of paintings and works from European old masters and renaissance era are nestled in an equally impressive building. Constituted at by Henry Clay Frick , an industrial tycoon from Pittsburgh, who desired to turn his New York residence into a museum after his death. The house was conceived from the start to host art works as the windowed ceiling in the main gallery can show. In addition, the house which is built according to the standard of the nineteenth century possesses an internal garden with a fountain that was added after the death of the magnate, it is however covered up by a windowed ceiling. It is relatively small compared to the other museums around but its collection does not have to blush of its size. It is perhaps why the Frick is one of my favourite museum in New York.

On the other side of the 5th Avenue lies Central Park. It is a little paradise for the joggers and they literally proliferate on the week end. It is also one of the few big green spaces available in New York, let alone Manhattan. It offers some magnificent view on the skyline of New York from the northern side of the city. It features some big water plan like the Jackie Onassis Reservoir, which could be a potential place to sail, and the Harlem See where people can fish. The Conservatory Garden let people relax amongst its plants and hedges. It is possible to play different sports in different parts of the park and to bike/skate on its road during the week end as the later are closed to the cars. I believe that it is an excellent place to relax on a Saturday afternoon, on the other hand, it will not be a very quiet place given the amount of people going there.

With the end of my article is also the end of my stay in the Big Apple and I wish I could stayed longer to explore more of it and its nightlife. I find it very different from the other cities I have been to, notably the European cities and even if less charming, more urban than its older sisters, New York remains a fantastic city to go and live in for anyone enjoying the buzz of a major city. Overall, what ticked me the most was that posh places could be found next to some miserable ones downtown and the state of the streets which could use some renovations.I will be then off soon to Boston and Washington DC..

-C

New York

After a long flight I arrived in New York shattered. Indeed, while crossing the Atlantic with United Airlines was expected to be long, the connection between Washington DC and New York was nearly as lengthy. After hearing American people complaining about the poor quality of the French service, I found that a bit rich! Anyway, after a long trip a bed was all I wanted and I had it so I will not complain too much. It also gave me the opportunity to observe the American people in the airports lobbies and I could not resist but wonder why a huge majority of these respectable American ladies had short hair and were not really feminine as if past 40 they were told to look as unattractive as possible, odd...

The Guggenheim Museum was my first stop in the city and it harboured the Haunted exhibition. It represented a series of pictures representing the past and symbolising melancholy and a haunting feeling due to the past. According to the website, the explanation is that “much of contemporary photography and video seems haunted by the past, by ghostly apparitions that are reanimated in reproductive media, as well as in live performance and the virtual world. By using dated, passé, or quasi-extinct stylistic devices, subject matter, and technologies, this art embodies a melancholic longing for an otherwise irrecuperable past.” This painting somehow touched me more than then rest, probably because it represent a mysterious landscape and that I also like the way the colours are applied. Several exhibitions were present along this one but only the Thannhauser Collection retained my attention. It gathers a collection of classic modern painters including most of the Impressionists yet remains brief, a feat appreciated by your servitor.

I then turned my look on the nearby Metropolitan museum of Arts: a comprehensive museum, rather a supermuseum, which regroups a vast array of artefacts from different civilisations in its permanent exhibitions. Someone could say that it is a clone of the Louvres, however its location and different collection makes it unique and nearly on par with the biggest museum in the world (it felt good to write that!) but makes it probably second to none bar this exception. It possesses galleries about various prime civilisations such as the Oceanic people with a nice collection of mask and the classic antique Greek, Roman and Egyptian galleries which boasts the impressive temple of Dendur from 15 B.C. in one of its room which also offer a view on Central Park. Its collection of classical paintings is also remarkable thanks to the actions of generous donators. It includes most of the Impressionists painters, the Flemish Masters such as Vermeer, the Spanish with Goya, a few English painting of notably Turner and Constable and of course the Italian painters from the Renaissance to later.
On a sidenote, I was happily enthusiast with Arkhip Kuindzhi's Red Sunset on the Dnieper which featured a vivid view over the taiga. Obviously it is only a part of the collections presented by the museum and it is to note that some reconstitution of parlour of various period and style are also present notably in the American Wing. Some American painters, notably Frederick Church through his Heart of the Andes, were talented landscapists.

As for the temporary exhibitions, I decided to avoid the Picasso exhibition because there are simply too many of them around the world and they get boring and mainly because his various styles do not inspire me. Instead, I went to see the art of illumination, which is under represented. It was about the Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry; not to be confused with the later work and masterpiece Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. These illuminations represented “a book of hours—a prayer book made for private use in the intimate devotion to the Virgin Mary that grew popular toward the end of the Middle Ages. In addition, it also includes seven “picture book” cycles that tell stories through a succession of full-page illuminations, with text limited to a few lines in alternating red and blue ink. These sections, which were added by the Limbourg brothers in the later stages of the manuscript’s production, show the artists’ increasingly developed power. The brief texts included on the pages are not devotional, like the texts in a typical book of hours, but rather relate stories from the lives of the saints.” Magnifying glasses were available in order to admire these rare objects and the presentation was quite good; in addition the exhibition was not too long which is always a plus in my book.

After being in museums for so many hours, I decided to walk and ventured quickly through Grand Central Terminal and its vast hall with an astronomical painting on its ceiling. I opted to walk toward Battery Park at the bottom of Manhattan and went to see the site of the 9/11 attacks and the remains of the World Trade Centre filled with cranes and other construction and public works installations, Ground Zero, bound to be replaced by a tower recalling the event, the Statue of the Liberty and Castle Clinton and went back via Broadway.

At Madison square, I noticed the Event Horizon (thanks to luck and observation, as it is not indicated.I thought that I saw most of the statues, six foot two cast iron sculptures, but I obviously missed most of them as I counted six of them instead of the fifteenish as shown of this map...) These sculptures of person are supposed to make people aware of how to deal with the conception of cities and growing urban population. Instead, some people thought they were real person about to commit suicide!


I continued my journey in Manhattan and came across the Flatiron building and last but not least: the famed Time Square which was awfully overcrowded and reminded me of the busy sidewalk of the boulevard Haussman near the Printemps and Galleries Lafayette and Oxford Circus in London, some places that are best to avoid, as a result I quickly looked at the giant boards.

Overall, I walked for around 25km and feel humbled by the sheer size of the Big Apple. At first, I thought that Paris was bigger but then I remembered that it was only Manhattan and not the whole city. On the other hand, I wonder if the other parts of New York are that interesting but I would feel too disappointed as there are always some parts of a city which are less appealing.

-C