Too Square to be Hip
A narcissist's guide to travel and culture
Sitting in a half empty train lumbering from Porto to Guimares, my head was heavy and swollen from a massive fever I had been carrying around since my last day in Coimbra. In a daze I hauled my tired ass out of the train and into a stormy day in town. Geography Guimaraes is located …
I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ about half past dead I just need some place where I can lay my head Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed? He just grinned and shook my hand, “no, ” was all he said The Weight, The Band The immortal words of …
Driving though the Pocono Mountains towards the Lehigh Valley I could feel my eyes, heavy with exhaustion, begin to tire. I pulled myself together as the last traces of dusk disappeared, engulfing my car in darkness. As I finally approached Bethlehem later that night, on the Fred B. Rooney Highway, I was greeted into Bethlehem …
Just south of London, on a stretch of rocky English channel beach, lies a pier town like no other, Brighton. Unlike its rival, the venerable old Blackpool, Brighton receives quite a bit of sun, its rocky beaches filling up with pasty pale English people. Regional Geography Brighton is historically part of the southern region of …
Coplay and its Kilns (You Gotta Be Kilning Me!) On my return from Bethlehem, PA to Ottawa, Ontario I made a stop in Allentown for breakfast. Sitting at a diner table, waiting for my hashbrowns and bacon, I mapped out a few stops I could hit along the way back home. I clicked on the …
The old mining town of Mauch Chunk was down on its luck and desperately needed something to improve its reputation. In 1954, after a long decline, the town came up with a daring and, perhaps morbid, scheme to revive the town’s fortune. Hence the name change and queue Jim Thorpe’s Body! Arrival in the Big …
Paris on the Danube they called it, that is until the Communist authorities got their filthy hands on it. What had once been, was quickly erased in a flurry of totalitarian efficiency when Nicolae Ceausescu rose to prominence. The dictator quickly put his mind to redesigning a one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, …
History of St. Denis Who is St Denis? You cannot understand the history of St. Denis, without understanding the story of the martyred saint that gave the city its name. In Gallo-Roman times there was a preacher in Lutetia (Paris) by the name of Dionysius in Greko-Roman. That name can be translated in french to …
Long live King Carol I, the first of his line, his children born in these halls! Long live King Ferdinand I, for he was wise! Forget King Carol II, a foolish and conceited man! Long Live King Micheal I, the last true monarch to be birthed in these halls! I came up with this one …
Background on the Finger Lakes Away from the major highways, the Finger Lakes area sometimes feels like a region set in the past. When you are driving around you are likely to end up behind the Amish driving their carts and the cities look much like they did decades ago. Rural roads connect the towns …
