BELGIUM AND HOLLAND, C. 1905
I’VE NOT OFTEN VISITED the Low Countries, as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are sometimes called. On the other hand, my infrequent visits have been enhanced by armchair travel provided … Continue reading
FRIENDLY BORDERS
LIZ ALDERMAN’S STORY in The New York Times, August 8, 2016, is titled “Put One Foot Wrong in This Town and You’ve Left the Country.” She was writing about Baarle, … Continue reading
THE MATHEMATICAL BRIDGE, CAMBRIDGE
PLACE YOURSELF AT 52.2022 N, 0.1150E (for armchair travellers, Google Maps will help). Good, you’re now on the River Cam in Cambridge, England, 60 miles north of London. I like … Continue reading
THE VILLAGE OF PETER FRITZ
PETER FRITZ did more than sell insurance in Vienna, Austria. In the 1950s and 1960s, during his spare time Fritz built architectural models. Indeed, he left more than enough structures … Continue reading
JET LAGS I HAVE KNOWN
IN CASE YOU EVER wondered, Joanna Klein explained, “Why Jet Lag Can Feel Worse When You Travel From West to East,” in The New York Times, July 15, 2016. Klein … Continue reading
A DUO OF JULY 4TH CELEBRATIONS
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! I recognize that about half of SimanaitisSays readers live elsewhere around the world. Nevertheless, do join us in celebrating the 240th anniversary of the signing of the … Continue reading
WRY/PPW—WELCOME TO PAPA
THE SIX LETTERS WRY/PPW (and PPW/WRY) identify the world’s shortest commercial flights, Loganair’s hops in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. These flights are between Westray (in airport lingo, WRY) and its neighbor … Continue reading
FROM LENINGRAD WITH LOVE, OR AT LEAST WITH DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM
GUIDEBOOKS CAN provide more than details of locale; they may also offer directions to thought. Certainly my Leningrad Guide, 1930, is such an example. Published within two decades of the … Continue reading
A STATUE FOR PORTO EMPEDOCLE
SEPARATED AT BIRTH: Russian Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and Italian Fascist playwright Luigi Pirandello, right?? It would be difficult to imagine two more politically antithetical individuals of the 20th century. … Continue reading
AN OVERTURE IN BASALT
GEOLOGY AND MUSIC seemed like a strange mix. Until, that is, I learned more about Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 26, The Hebrides, which is also known as Die Fingalshöne, Fingal’s Cave. … Continue reading
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