THE WHEEL IN JAPAN
THE WORD 車, KURUMA, vehicle, appears in the ancient historical chronicle Nihon shoki, 720 A.D. However, as noted in The Wheel: A Japanese History, “In China, whose influence on the … Continue reading
AROUND THE WORLD IN ONE-HUNDRED-THIRTY-SEVEN DAYS PART 2
THE RMS FRANCONIA CIRCLED the world in 1929. Yesterday’s Part 1 got us from New York to Monaco. Today we complete the circumnavigation, with even a couple of interesting variations, … Continue reading
AROUND THE WORLD IN ONE-HUNDRED-THIRTY-SEVEN DAYS PART 1
MOST TRAVEL BOOKS are written after the fact. But this one is an enticement, not memorabilia. The enticement is unabashed: “The Cunard Line and Thos. Cook & Son, pioneers extraordinaire … Continue reading
TOURING TUDOR ENGLAND—WITH PROFESSOR EVA TAYLOR AND GOOGLE MAPS PART 2
WHAT FUN EXPLORING the British Isles with maps dating from 1627! Well, yes, 20th-century Tudor authority Professor Eva G.R. Taylor helps too. And so do 21st-century Google Maps. Here in … Continue reading
TOURING TUDOR ENGLAND—WITH PROFESSOR EVA TAYLOR AND GOOGLE MAPS PART 1
LET’S OPEN WITH a timeline: Around 1540, King Henry VIII commanded Library Keeper and Antiquary John Leland to ride horseback throughout the realm to recover books and manuscripts scattered, stolen, … Continue reading
AN AMERICAN CHILD’S YEAR IN EUROPE
“WHEN I WAS a little girl of six,” author Louise A Wallace has Ruth write in 1914, “father and mother decided to take my brother and me, and spend one … Continue reading
SEEKING HEALTH IN 1897 CALIFORNIA
I BOUGHT MY Two Health-Seekers in Southern California because it was particularly bright for a book published in 1897. Plus, who’s not to like seeking health in Southern California, even … Continue reading
TOURING NORTHERN ITALIAN LAKES WITH GABRIEL FAURE (BUT WITHOUT THE ACUTE ACCENT)
GABRIEL FAURE WAS a French writer. He is not to be confused (at least now that I’ve researched matters…) with Gabriel Fauré a French composer. I was attracted to Gabriel … Continue reading
NORTH KOREA TRIPPIN’
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL CAN be enlightening and entertaining. To wit, Michael Palin’s North Korea Journal. British polymath Palin is a member of the Monty Python comedy group and is also a … Continue reading
ON SPEAKING M.L.E.
REBECCA MEAD WRITES “Schoolchildren in the British capital have developed a dialect, Multicultural London English—and my American-born son is learning it.” This, from The New Yorker, February 6, 2022. It’s … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 