TOSCA’S (AND HARE’S) ROME PART 2
IT IS PERHAPS coincidental that my copy of Hare’s Walks in Rome was published in 1905, only five years after the premiere of Puccini’s Tosca at Rome’s Teatro Costanzi on … Continue reading
TOSCA’S (AND HARE’S) ROME PART 1
MY COPY OF Augustus J.C. Hare’s Walks in Rome is its Seventeenth Edition, published in 1905. Even in 2018 it’s still a charming guidebook for visiting the eternal city. And … Continue reading
BRAZILIAN CULTURE—SENHOR TUCANO, SCULPTURE, AND MORE PART 2
THE FOLLOWING IMAGES and commentary on Brazilian sculpture come from Artista da escultura Brasileira. The Art of Brazilian Sculptors. Die Brasilianische Bildhauerkunst introduced yesterday here at SimanaitisSays. Bruno Giorgi is … Continue reading
BRAZILIAN CULTURE—SENHOR TUCANO, OTHER SCULPTURE, AND MORE PART 1
TODAY’S PRINCIPAL THEME is Brazilian culture. Indeed, it’s tomorrow’s theme as well in Part 2. There’s timeliness, in reporting on a terrible fire that recently destroyed Brazil’s Museu Nacional. There’s … Continue reading
HAVE A NICE DAY—IN 1947
HISTORY AND a few clues are to be found in this Touristic Guide to Nice, likely used by an officer or solder not long after World War II. The little … Continue reading
VACATIONING IN EUROPE—1909 STYLE
THE IDEA of a European vacation in 1909 was different from one today. There was no jet lag. No carefully sized carryons. But it did call for suitable planning. My … Continue reading
NEW ZEALAND REVISITED—50 YEARS ON
OLD GUIDEBOOKS can function as time capsules, especially for places visited well after the book’s publication. I recall using old Baedekers to get around Europe in early-retirement adventures following business … Continue reading
PREPARING FOR A SOUTH SEAS ADVENTURE, 50 YEARS AGO
THE WISDOM of old guidebooks is often found charming and occasionally even timely by today’s travelers. Donald Sea Briggs certainly had a way with words in his Briggs South Seas … Continue reading
WHEN IS THAT?
OUR ENGLISH language has the word “today.” For the day immediately prior, we have “yesterday.” And for the day immediately following, there’s “tomorrow.” From there on, passages of time in … Continue reading
FUNICULÌ, FUNICULÀ!
THE NEAPOLITAN ditty Funiculì, Funiculà celebrated the 1880 opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius. Today here at SimanaitisSays, I celebrate this steep form of rail transportation based on … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 