Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Category Archives: Just Trippin’

THE CHANNEL BY EUROSTAR AND EUROTUNNEL SHUTTLE

IT WAS a dream of Napoleon III. Winston Churchill advocated it. And likely Hitler would have tried using it: A tunneled link between continental Europe and the British Isles. I’ve … Continue reading

July 24, 2017 · 6 Comments

BRITISH NARROWBOATS

ONE OF my life’s regrets (there are only a few) is that Wife Dottie and I never took a narrowboat holiday on British canals. The nearest we came to this … Continue reading

July 14, 2017 · 2 Comments

TOURING THE WORLD’S LETTUCE CAPITAL

EL CENTRO, once renowned as the Lettuce Capital of the World, is in California’s Imperial Valley, about 115 miles east of San Diego and 15 miles north of the Mexican … Continue reading

June 24, 2017 · 8 Comments

A GUY’S STUFF, PART 2

IL VITTORIALE, Gabriele D’Annunzio’s villa along the shore of Lago di Garda in northern Italy, is opulent to the extreme in design and furnishing. Here I continue yesterday’s tour of … Continue reading

June 13, 2017 · 1 Comment

THIS GUY HAD STUFF! PART 1

GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO was an Italian poet, patriot, soldier, aviator, hypochondriac, scoundrel, libertine, thrill-seeking meglomaniac, womanizer, proto-fascist and, some say, even worse. Il Vittoriale degli italiani, loosely, the shrine of Italian … Continue reading

June 12, 2017 · 1 Comment

THEY’LL HAVE MANHATTAN; I’LL HAVE PHOENIX, OMAHA, CHICAGO, SALT LAKE CITY…

The New York Times, May 28, 2017, celebrated “the celestial eye candy known as Manhattanhenge” with a usual fervor directed to those living immediately east of the Hudson River. Despite … Continue reading

May 31, 2017 · 1 Comment

TRAVEL ADVICE

THIS WEEK’S U.S. foray into the world scene prompts me to follow along, armchair style, by way of my Baedeker’s Handbooks for Travellers. I rather doubt that these books would … Continue reading

May 20, 2017 · 2 Comments

ICONIC SOUNDS

WHAT SINGLE SOUND best characterizes your home city or country? For the latter, national anthems are easy choices, but not what I have in mind. This quest, by the way, … Continue reading

April 26, 2017 · 3 Comments

LANGUAGE TRIPPIN’, GOOFINESS AN OPTION

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL has several advantages over reality these days: No TSA hassles, no visas, no returning worries because of mixups of ethnicity or origin. What’s more, if the guidebook is … Continue reading

April 7, 2017 · Leave a comment

DANTE’S INFERNO, A DESTINATION GUIDE

WASHINGTON, D.C. PRONOUNCEMENTS concerning the defunding of Meals on Wheels and of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities are having an … Continue reading

March 18, 2017 · 1 Comment