2023 Travelogue

In August of 2023 I started off on a road trip in my Subaru Outback which was a continuation of my trips in 2019 and 2022.

After watching a Huell Howser show on the Manzanar Reservoir, I decided to start with that as my first destination. I’d been to Manzanar before, but had missed the reservoir. Photos at

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ManzanarReservoir2023/index.htm

After overnighting in Bishop, the next tourist stop was Mono Lake. I had made a quick stop there once when the visitor center was closed, but a visitor center stop is a must. Got good advice there on trails to take and even a tour. Bugs actually live in the lake! Photos at

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/MonoLake2023/index.htm

At Mono Lake they told me to make a worthwhile short detour to Bodie ghost town:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Bodie2023/index.htm

Pitched my tent in  Coleville. Made a history stop the next day at Dangberg and Mormon Station in Nevada:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/MormonStation2023/index.htm

Walked around and visited a couple of little but interesting museums. 

Stayed in a motel in Susanville. 

Managed to visit Tule Lake when the new visitor center was closed:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/TuleLake2023/index.htm

Disappointed yet again that the Klamath Basin wildlife refuge is still dry and mostly dead in spite of the rains. I was told that in the past the refuge had depended on irrigation runoff. Unfortunately irrigation has become too efficient to produce runoff and the refuge has the lowest priority for water.

Made an unplanned stop at the Collier Logging Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Collier2023/index.htm

Just saw the sign as I was driving by.

Another serendipitous stop occurred when I made a pit stop and discovered the Crooked River Bridges which are very photogenic.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/CrookedRiver2023/index.htm

Stopped for the night at the Redmond KOA.

Finally getting close to my first planned destination, I made a stop at the Reach Museum in Richland Washington to prepare. This museum presents the story of Hanford Reach, including the natural, human, and Manhattan Project angles.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ReachMuseum2023/index.htm

Highly recommended if you are making a trip to the National Monument.

Camped out for 2 nights at the KOA in Pasco, originally one of the sites of the three local boomtowns built for the Manhattan Project. I prepped there for my trip the next day for Reactor B trip:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ReactorB2023/index.htm

I had signed up ahead of time for the tour of Reactor B at Hanford, the first full scale nuclear reactor as they say. For information on the tours, see

https://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/

Went to the visitor center and then took the park provided bus to the site after an orientation lecture.. After another orientation lecture onsite you can wander around the reactor until it’s time to get back on the bus. You can’t wander around outside of the reactor site since it may still be hot. Only the reactor building is still standing. The massive water pumping and purification plants are gone. 

For your convenience, back at the visitor center there is a coffee place nearby as well as two craft breweries. There was also a brewery on the other side of the campground in Pasco.

While heading back to camp I noticed that there is a small park with the sail from submarine Triton, and not too far away by car is a Leslie Groves Park:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Triton2023/index.htm

The next day I drove  to my next planned stop, at LIGO for the tour:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/LIGO2023/index.htm

This is another tour for which you have to make advanced reservations. Much of the Hanford Reach area is still off-limits to the public, which means it is empty of human development and noise, and so a perfect spot for LIGO, which doesn’t need any extra vibrations. 

The tour is only an hour long but worth it. The visitor center also has exhibits inside and out.

I did take a drive through the sections of the Reach that are accessible to humans, especially along the Columbia River. Again, due to the radiation danger, this is the one stretch of the Columbia that has not been developed. However, from certain points along the river you can see the white cocooned remains of the reactors that did not become museums. Very eery.

Made my escape to the farming town of Hermiston which had a great and bargain priced brewpub.

The next day while driving along the freeway at rest stops there were  history kiosks that explained the history of the Oregon Trail:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/OregonTrail2023/index.htm

At Twin Falls I decided to take some photos of Shoshone Falls:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ShoshoneFalls2023/index.htm

The falls depend on whether or not they turn the water on.

Next planned stop was EBR-1, the first power producing breeder reactor. Note, Hanford B did not produce electrical power; all the heat was taken away by the water cooling system sourced from the Columbia River. They had plenty of electricity from the Grand Coulee Dam. EBR-1 is now a walk-in museum. Included is a display room about EBR-2 and the cancelled IFR.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Camas2023/index.htm

Drove through Arco which claims to be the first town lit by nuclear power. On the way out came across another submarine sail rising from a rest stop which had been meant to be the Arco Science Center:

Around Arco (ikemi.info)

Arco had been in contention with Idaho Falls as the logistics and administrative center for what is now Idaho National Laboratories.

After spending the night in Idaho falls, the next stop was Camas National Wildlife Refuge where there were some birds. Drove the nature trail.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Camas2023/index.htm

After more driving got up to Butte Montana where I noticed the World Museum of Mining

World Museum of Mining (ikemi.info)

I got there in time to go on a tour which included a trip underground.

The Butte KOA had a nature trail running through it so I took an evening walk along it. Lots of birds and bugs.

The Museum of the Rockies had been recommended to me so that was my next stop:

Museum of the Rockies (ikemi.info)

I especially liked the Living History Farm:

Living History Farm and more MOR (ikemi.info)

Not too far away was the American Computer Museum, which although small, was pretty comprehensive:

American Computer Museum (ikemi.info)

In Butte I wondered why the sky was turning brown. It was explained to me that it was smoke from the Canadian forest fires. They are still going, and the smoke filled the sky to Yellowstone. 

Stayed at the Livingston/Paradise Valley KOA outside of Yellowstone. Kind of a nice location.

The next day I visited Heart Mountain:

Heart Mountain (ikemi.info)

Smokier and smokier but cleared after passing the Yellowstone area and on to Cody where it was kind of windy at the KOA there.

The next day I stumbled upon Thermopolis and the Hot Springs State Park where I did not go for a dip but a hike instead. Don’t forget to cross the suspension bridge to see the geological formations. Reminded me of the hot springs I had seen in  Pamukkale, Turkey. 

Hot Springs State Park (ikemi.info)

Also in town was a fantastic dinosaur fossil museum:

Wyominng Dinosaur Center (ikemi.info)

After camping in Rawlins I drove towards Silverton from the north, stopping first at the Ouray KOA. The views on the drive were incredible. At Silverton the next day I walked around and spent time at the San Juan County Historical Society Museum, which is a must see if you are there. 

San Juan County Historical Society (ikemi.info)

Back in 2015  I had ridden the train into Silverton:

Silverton Train Ride (ikemi.info)

Back then the stop was too short to see much and it was raining, so I had been wanting to get back to Silverton since then.

I descended down towards Santa Fe, first overnighting in a motel in Espanola. The next day I visited the Randall Davey Audubon Center where I went for a hike and enjoyed their garden. I also asked and was guided to the room where some Randall Davies paintings were on display. More info at:

Randall Davey: Explore An Artist’s Legacy

You can search for examples of Davey art online. 

Next I visited the large New Mexico History Museum

New Mexico History Museum (ikemi.info)

 and then the International Folk Art Museum

International Folk Art Museum (ikemi.info)

And the adjacent Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (ikemi.info)

At the Folk Art Museum I especially enjoyed the exhibit on Yokai.

Last stop on the way out of Santa Fe was the site of the former DOJ prison camp where my grandfather was confined according to his FBI record. His crime? Belonging to a Japanese association. On the site is now one of the biggest dog parks I have ever seen. 

Santa Fe Department of Justice Internment Camp site (ikemi.info)

Stopped at a motel in Bernalillo Next day it was on to Albuquerque where I visited the Biopark and zoo:

ABQ BioPark (ikemi.info)

ABQ Zoo (ikemi.info)

The Japanese Garden in the Biopark has come a long way from my first visit a while back. 

Stayed overnight at Holbrook and then made an unplanned detour to the Flagstaff Arboretum:

Arboretum at Flagstaff (ikemi.info)

Where I did a lot of walking and visited the gardens and greenhouse.

On the way home I stayed near the London Bridge:

London Bridge (ikemi.info)

And then finally stops at Parker and Poston:

Parker and Poston (ikemi.info)

The train station is the same one you can see in the photos in the little museum in the shopping center. It’s been there for over a 100 years.

A lot of my family was interned at Poston and returned later for a Poston Pilrimage:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/PostonPilgrimage2023/index.htm

Travelogue 2022

2022 Travelogue

In September of 2022 I decided to continue a trip I had started in 2019, but had to cut short due to a loss in my family. I started off in the last third of September, which was kind of late for a lot of things. If you live in Southern California, you tend to forget that the rest of country might have seasons and things shut down.

Anyway my first destination was Merced to see the Merced National Wildlife Refuge:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/MercedNWR2022/index.htm

After staying the night in Merced. Learned that Refuges were built to lure migrating birds away from farmland. Capitalism can sometimes lead to good things. 

Then it was on to revisit the Sacramento NWR

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Sacramento2022/index.htm

Kind of dry, but still some birds to see. Camped at the Mt. Shasta KOA where it was very cold and they thought I was nuts to sleep in a tent. Continuing on the next day to Klamath Basin NWR, it was totally dry and almost no birds to see. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Klamath2022/index.htm

Better luck at the Lava Beds National Monument where I did a lot of walking:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/LavaBeds2022/index.htm

On to a motel in Salem and the next day it was a revisit to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Kind of a shock to see a water slide coming out of a jet airliner.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Evergreen2022/index.htm

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/EvergreenSpace2022/index.htm

This time the price for visiting the cockpit of the Spruce Goose had dropped to $30 and I was richer so I went for it:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/SpruceGoose2022/index.htm

I camped at the Mt. St. Helens KOA. I went to one of the first visitor centers, but didn’t drive all the way up. The video feed was good enough for me. 

Made it up to Seattle to see the hugely expanded Museum of Flight:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/MuseumofFlight2022_2/index.htm

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/MuseumofFlight2022/index.htm

Could have spent another day there.

Stayed at a motel in town. The next day I drove over to see the Wing Luke Museum

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/WingLuke2022/index.htm

And took the walking tour of the area. After that made it to the Seattle Asian Art Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/AsianArt2022/index.htm

Stayed the night in a Wenatchee motel.

The next leg was to my reason for the trip, Glacier National Park. Camped for 2 nights in the huge Glacier campground. Since it was late in the season no reservations were required to drive into Glacier, but it was almost bumper to bumper in some places. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Glacier2022/index.htm

Definitely a fantastic place. Sad that the only glacier I could see was via my 400mm zoom lens on my MFT format camera, for an effective focal length of 800 mm if it were a 35mm format camera. The world is definitely getting warmer. To go hiking, the rangers told me to buy bear spray, which is kind of the opposite for parks in CA where you cannot carry bear spray. I bought a used can to be a good guy.

On the retreat from Glacier I visited U of  Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Gardens:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/UIdArboretum2022/index.htm

And spent the night in Clarkston. Then it was on to the Idaho State Museum in Boise:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/IdahoMuseum2022/index.htm

Stayed the night in a Boise motel.

The next day I visited the Idaho Botanical Garden. I was puzzled at first but the nice lady who sold me my entrance ticket assured me that there was a garden around the corner. Indeed, there is a large and interesting garden that I enjoyed walking through:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/IdahoBotanical2022/index.htm

The same lady advised that I also should see the Sawtooth Botanical Garden in Ketchum. Just the drive up there was worth it, but the small garden is nice with a large Tibetan Prayer Wheel blessed by the Dalai Lama. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/SawtoothBotanical2022/index.htm

I descended back down to the KOA near Twin Falls. The Snake River runs through a gorge outside of town that should be a National Park:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Perrine2022/index.htm

The next morning I visited the Minidoka National Historic Site. This late in the season the visitor center was closed but I walked most of the history path:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Minidoka2022/index.htm

Next stop was Craters of the Moon where I did a lot of walking, getting kind of to the area where the astronauts practiced:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/CratersoftheMoon2022/index.htm

While driving to Idaho Falls and my motel I noticed EBR-1, which was already closed for the season, but gave me ideas for my next trip.

Early the next morning I walked over to the Japanese Friendship Garden:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/IdahoFalls2022/index.htm

This whole area along the river is very scenic.

While driving I chanced upon a rest stop called Hell’s Half Acre. There is a trail that goes around a mini version of Craters of the Moon. Definitely a lucky stop.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/HalfAcre2022/index.htm

My goal for the day was the Golden Spike Historical Park. I got there just as the re-enactment of the historical moment was ending. The locomotives stayed there for most of the day and I was able to see them leave and return to their barns. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/GoldenSpike2022/index.htm

Camped at the KOA near Brigham City. It was Sunday so EVERYTHING in this part of the world was closed. The next day I visited the Bear River Migratory Refuge but the visitor center closes on Mondays. Did walk the trails, but the place was hurting for water. Bear River is the major source of water for the Great Salt Lake. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/BearRiver2022/index.htm

From there I drove to the Topaz Museum in Delta Utah. This museum (https://topazmuseum.org/) was founded in the town of Delta UT to preserve the history of the Topaz camp. I have to give Delta some credit for this effort. 

Topaz Museum Home

I drove out to the site of the camp where there is a monument but little left standing of the camp itself. Stayed the night in Beaver, UT. Wanted to make one last stop before I went home and found on Google the Clark County Wetlands:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/WetLandsPark2022/index.htm

There is a very nice visitor center and lots of hiking trails. All of the waste water from Las Vegas gets processed through there to create the wetlands, before being returned to Nature (Lake Mead). Heat there if you need some nature in Vegas!

2019 Travelogue

In the middle of September I started on what I thought would be an ambitious road trip. My first destination was the California State Mining & Mineral Museum. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside due to security concerns. So, check their website at:

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=588

However, photography was allowed at the Mariposa Historical Center:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Mariposa2019/index.html

And their website is at:

https://www.mariposamuseum.com/

The next day I chanced upon the Sacramental Valley Museum in Williams, CA:

https://www.mariposamuseum.com/

And their website is at:

https://sacvalleymuseum.org/

Another interesting place to visit if you’re in the area and interested in local history. Note that they close for the season.

I then chanced upon the Sacramento National Wildlige Refuge, followed by the Shasta National Historical Park.I then chanced again on the McConnell Arboretum & Gardens in Redding, CA which include the Sundial Bridge. Unfortunately I packed this all into one gallery:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Shasta2019/index.html

The next day I drove through Tulelake and the  Klamath Basin wildlife refuge. Back then it had water and birds. Too bad I didn’t appreciate all the birds I saw back then. Also didn’t have the camera gear to capture any photos of them. I did go to see Petroglyph Point (https://www.nps.gov/places/petroglyph-point-tulelake-ca.htm)

My photos at:

https://www.nps.gov/places/petroglyph-point-tulelake-ca.htm

The next day I made it to the Portland Japanese Garden:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Portland2019/index.html

And the next day the Portland Musem of Art:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/PMA2019/index.html

Followed by the Lan Su Chinese Garden:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/LanSu2019/index.html

The next day I visited the Tacoma Art Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/TMA2019/index.html

Followed by the Museum of Glass:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Glass2019/index.html

And the Washington History Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/WashHist2019/index.html

The next day I squeezed in the Washington Park Arboretum and Japanese Gardens

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/WashingtonPark2019/index.html

And the Flying Heritage and Armor Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/FlyingHeritage2019/index.html

I had previously visited this museum on the way back from Alaska in 2008:

http://ikemi.info/graphics/FlyingHeritage/index.html

This museum was closed during Covid and since the founder Paul allen had passed away, it was feared that the museum would permanently close. However, Steuart Walton bought the collection and museum reopened in 2023.

I probably should have turned around a day earlier, but I had to cut my trip short at this point and return home. I resumed the trip in 2022 and 2023.

Rome

It was a relatively quick walk from the Basilea in Florence to the train station, which was the opposite of my walk on the first day from the train station to the hotel. It was a quick and straightforward trip by train to Rome. I’d seen the train station before so it wasn’t too big of shock. My hotel was relatively easy to find on the unfashionable south side of the train station. The hotel was located on the 4th and 5th floors of an office building, which was a little strange and I was glad that I had read about that in a forum before I left the States. Once again I was glad that I had messed up and made reservations for two, since I had a nice spacious room. This one even had air conditioning, although you had to pay a deposit for the controller. The room also came with a good breakfast which was convenient. The location also worked out well since I was close to Santa Maria Maggiore and the Baths of Diocletian, among others.

I had a half day left after my arrival so I headed south and caught a very expensive lunch in a bar across the street from Santa Maria Maggiore. I paid a quick trip to this church, but it wasn’t as impressive as the first time when they were recording a choral performance inside. After that I tried to look for Santa Prassede nearby known for its mosaics, but it was closed for services. I navigated back to the general area of Diocletian’s Baths which encompass a couple of churches and a museum as well as a lot of other municipal property. I visited Santa Maria deli Angeli, which I had skipped on my first trip to Rome due to its rather unimpressive entrance. Big mistake since this is one of the most impressive sights in Rome. It’s one of the only ways to get an idea how impressive the Baths of Diocletian must have been. This was only the frigidarium, and the original floor is about a story below the current floor. The church also contains the La Meridiana sundial. There was also an exhibit where the Church is trying to rehabilitate Galileo.

Part of the baths are also preserved in the much smaller San Bernardo alle Terme. This was one of two round structures. The other one is apparently gone. You can also see but not enter the Aula Ottagona which is a little down the street. The Piazza della Republica itself preserves the shape of the outer wall of the baths. You can also go in the other direction to a branch of the Museo Nazionale Romano which also makes use of former bath structures. I also ducked in there to buy my Rome Pass, which was just as useful as my Firenza card.

Somehow I got back in time to Santa Prassede to see the mosaics before the church closed. This is another one with a very misleading entrance that is a must see.

Church photos at: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/RomanChurches2011/index.html

The next day was my first full one in Rome and one of my big adventures-Ostia Antica. First it was back to the main train station to catch one of the two subway lines. I found that the terminal had a great “drugstore” that was perfect for finding supplies for outings, including hot and cold prepared foods, fresh fruit, and hydration drinks in large sizes. On the subway you go to the Pyramid station, which I found later literally does have a pyramid and then transfer to a local train for the ride to the coast. This turned out to be easy since the train line ends there and so there’s only one way to go. The train was pretty crowded since everyone apparently was going to the beach on a weekend. At the train station you walk out the door and use an elevated walkway to cross the highway and there are signs that take you to Ostia Antica. The Rome Card covered the fares and I think it got me into the ruins. For some sites you need a slightly more expensive version of the Rome Card that is apparently nearly impossible to find these days.

Ostia ia an incredible place to visit since it’s almost a complete city. Unfortunately the Church looted it, and the Fascists made hurried not well researched restorations for political reasons. Still it is something to see and you can spend the whole day there. You do a lot of walking in the sun so hydration is essential. You are also walking on bad stones or open fields so really good shoes are also a must. There is a nice cafeteria there so food is not a problem. There’s a lot to see and explain and leave that to the guidebooks and the internet articles, but I have my photos at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Ostia2011/index.html

On the way out you can also walk around the fortress that was built with stone from Ostia before you get back on the train. On way back you may want to get off the train a station before Pyramid to jump on the subway since it is less crowded-the two lines parallel each other for a while.

The second full day was dedicated to the Villa Adriana. I’d been there once before with a tour group, but they let us see only a tiny part of the site. This was much more challenging since it is not easy to get to the Villa Adriana by public transportation. It’s probably not too bad by car, if you have one. I sort of followed instructions I found on the internet (just like I did to get to the Metropolitan in New York) but I knew that they weren’t up to date. The instructions did get me to the right subway station where I could transfer to a bus. There were nice electronic signs above the bus platforms, but the one saying Villa Adriana said the next bus was at 11, which disagreed with the schedule. I went to the platform with a lot of people and jumped on that bus. This is where my iPad came in handy, since it could show me where we were and when we were getting close to my stop. I did ask the bus driver to drop me off at the Villa Adriana, too, which turned out to be a good thing since it’s not a real stop. There was a European couple on the bus who were going to the same place and they were smart enough to ask directions once we disembarked. It was about a kilometer walk with no signs. Apparently the bus stopped a lot closer at one time. The Villa Adriana was not covered by the Rome Pass, but I didn’t care. This was Hadrian’s private version of Epcot Center, and it was incredibly large, and that’s with significant portions not excavated nor open to the public. As usual, the site had been looted by the Church, mainly for the benefit of Tivoli. The site is much more complex than I thought and it’s easy to lose your orientation. It would probably be a good idea to do more research before you go. I did miss the Temple of Venus, but I read later that is a restoration. I did see the statue from the temple (or at least the torso) in the museum near the Canopus (no photography allowed). Speaking of which, the Canopus is worth the visit. You can also see from many of the ruins that the site was originally very three dimensional. Some of the buildings were pretty tall. On the way out don’t forget to visit the theater which is off by itself. Something newly located is the memorial to Hadrian’s boyfriend.

Getting to the bus I lost the way, but pulling out the iPad got me back on track. It was then that I realized I hadn’t been dropped off at a real bus stop. Some searching finally located it and it was back to Rome. Photos at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Adriana2011/index.html

The third and last full day was included a number of sites. The Rome Card give you free admission to only three sites, I think, but sometimes a site includes multiple physical locations, so it can be a better deal than it seems to be. For example, the Baths of Caracalla are included with the Palantine Hill, which was the first thing I took off to see, after collecting my provisions since I wasn’t sure where I would end up. The first stage was by subway again. Although there are only two lines, they are very useful for tourists.

The Palantine Hill was one of the sights we’d skipped on my first trip to Rome, so I was eager to see it. I remember seeing its profile in the distance and wondering what it was. My planning wasn’t optimal since there are only certain days you can get in to see some things, but there was still plenty to see. The big attraction appeared to be the remains of the decorated tunnel Nero built which also continues on to the forum. Photos at: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Palatine2011/index.html.

I decided to descend down to the Forum so I could start heading to Trastevere. There were huge tourist crowds in the Forum; comparatively the Palantine Hill had been empty. I eventually made my way out past long lines waiting to get in and started my long walk to cross the river. My goal was to visit Santa Maria in Trastevere. Photos at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Trastevere2011/index.html.

I looped back to visit the Baths of Caracalla. Rick Steves says they aren’t worth visiting, and the ruth is that all you see are the empty shells of the bath, but with the Rome Card it’s considered part of the same entrance fee as the Palantine Hill and Forum, so you might as well drop in if you’re there. Unlike the Baths of Diocletian, these ruins are free standing with no surrounding structures, so you can get an idea of the the enormous size of the ancient complex, and how it was built internally.

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Caracalla2011/index.html

From there I started walking towards the Appian Way, or at least the streets that lead to the Appian Way. The gate in the walls that opens onto the Appian Way is a small fortress in its own right. I got there tool late to enter the small museum inside of it. I ventured down the Appian Way to say that I had walked on it. If I had another day I would have liked to venture down it farther to see some of the famous sights along it, but instead I turned right to walk along the walls. From the Baths of Caracalla and along this route it was pretty empty of tourists or people in general. The walls are an imposing sight and at a certain point they turn into the modernized walls (at least for their era) that were meant to resist canon. I think I read that the modernization was too expensive so there’s only that short stretch that has been updated. I passed a few more gates, some almost as impressive as the one on the Appian Way, and reached the Pyramid subway station again. Photos at http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Appian2011/index.html

The subway took me back to the Termini and after a rest in my hotel room I went to another branch of the Museo Nazionale Romano that is a little more famous which contains sculpture, frescoes and coins. According to Rick Steves at one time you had to make special arrangements to get to some of the floors, but when I went you could freely visit everything. I especially was interested in the fittings that had survived from the large Roman pleasure barges that had been discovered and then destroyed in World War II. There are also impressive frescoes that were rescued from villas that were subsequently destroyed to make room. Down in the basement are the coins and strangely the mummy of a little Roman girl. Sadly the playthings that were buried with her are on display in cases away from her body.

I crossed the street went back to the Museo Nazionale Romano at the Baths of Diocletian, where I had bought my Rome Pass the first day. This time I went in to see the hall that had been closed on my first trip. It’s used as a display gallery now, but it’s another room from the Baths. You can see out one door that there are still more ruins behind it. There is also a museum there in a former cloisters which has an archeological flavor There are some interesting terra-cotta statues in one wing and a number of displays on the people who lived in Italy before the Romans and Etruscans. There are more branches of the Museo Nazionale Romano, but they’ll have to wait for another trip.

Photos of what I did see are at: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/NationalMuseum2011/index.html

To leave Rome I took the special train from the Termini to the airport. To get to the platform you have to walk what must have been a kilometer to the far end of the station. I got out on the train but then rushed out again to stamp my ticket. Turned out there was conductor to punch your ticket anyway. At the airport it’s more walking and then you find that you have to take a bus to the departure terminal. The departure terminal was rather small, but I managed to buy some gifts before my flight home.

Florence

From Salzburg we returned to Munich and the same hotel we had stayed in before, conveniently near the train station and the Starbucks. Our tour group had one final dinner together and then we went on our different ways. After saying good-bye to everyone it was time to be off on my own again. It was very convenient that the hotel was across the street from the train station. I stocked up on fruit and a sandwich for the trip which proved to be very uneventful. Back in Berlin I’d already made my reservations to get to Florence. In Italy, train reservations are mandatory. The train turned out to be nice and the scenery became more scenic as we neared the mountains and the Brenner Pass.

I only had one transfer in Bologna and the train to Florence was modern and quick. The conductor never showed up to check my Eurail Pass. With all the train hopping, I was glad that I had left behind a lot of stuff with my friends in Switzerland. I told them they could leave it all in the chalet when they left. There was even more stuff that I could have left behind. However, I was happy that I had my iPad and MacBook Air.

Florence was nice and hot, which felt good for my swollen sinuses. Emerging from the train station, Florence doesn’t look all that impressive. In fact, at ground level in general it doesn’t look all that great. In fact, it wasn’t until my third ad final day across the river that my my opinion of the city started to change. The city is also a lot cleaner than it looks. Just as in Ravenna, shopkeepers scrub the sidewalks in front of their shops and there are real street sweepers going around cleaning up trash.

Just arriving at the train station, Florence is is crowded with tourists, and looks like it should be grungy, although it’s actually very clean and has, like Salzburg, very little graffiti. There was a McDonalds both in the station and across the street-at least it was civilized. Unfortunately, although McDonalds in Italy does provide wifi, you need to have a local cell phone to access it. Starbucks does not exist in Italy as far as I can tell. From the station I headed for my hotel. Unfortunately, I confired what I had read in a blog that the street numbers are not sequential. I went all the way down the street until it changed names and turned around before I found the hotel.

The Basilea Hotel was pretty basic, but served my purposes. I was glad that I had screwed up and reserved a room for two people, so that I had plenty of room. There was no air conditioning, but with my sinus infection I didn’t want any. As it turned out, the hot air eventually killed off most of the bugs, along with the salt water I poured down my nostrils into my sinuses. The hotel charged for wifi, but at the desk they didn’t recommend using it. They also didn’t push their breakfast on me. I learned that I could go to any of the little stand up cafes and get an satisfactory Italian breakfast of a coffee with milk and a pastry for a couple of Euros. If I was still hungry I could go to anther cafe and repeat. After the first day I found that I was relatively close to the large enclosed marked which had a couple of cafes, and I could resupply with bananas and apples. Unfortunately, all the apples I bought were mushy, whereas all the German ones had been crisp. I also learned to buy gelato at the cafes. The price of gelato varied quite a bit, with no correlation to quality. The best I had was the cheapest.

My hotel was conveniently located on Via Guelfa, but it took me a while to find it since the street numbers are not in ascending order. They seem to b totally random. Fortunately, Via Guelfa isn’t that long so after getting to its eastern end I turned around and went back. It turns out the Hotel Basilea is right above the train station. It’s not too far from a McDonalds-I found it when I was looking for the hotel. The hotel was pretty basic without air conditioning, but it was cool enough at night to sleep comfortably. Breakfast wasn’t include, and I learned to take breakfast Italian style, standing up in a bar with a cup of coffee and a cornet.

The first night in Florence I took a walk to explore the area around me, going to all points of the compass to some extent. I found another McDonalds, and the Fortezza da Basso. I was being used for a festival, but only on weekends, so I couldn’t enter. I bought a beer flavored gelato for 2.5 Euros, which I later found was a high price. The best one I had was 1.5 Euros across the river while in search of the Michaelangelo Plaza. did find beer flavored gelato nearby. I also located the tourist office where I could pick up the next day the Florence Pass, which turned out to be very useful, although I never used the public transportation option. I got around Florence completely on foot. There are buses but they didn’t seem to go anywhere I wanted to. The streets in most areas are really narrow and you definitely don’t want to drive a car or even ride a bicycle if you’re a tourist. Onfoot you do need to watch out for bicyclists, but it’s not as bad as Germany. In Germany the bicycles won’t stop for you, but in Italy they seem to be easily intimidated. Walking on the cobblestones is tough, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Rome.

Walking Florence isn’t that hard, and the little buses didn’t seem to follow routes that would be useful to me. I’ve also heard that it’s easy to be pickpocketed on buses in Italy. The hotel location wasn’t bad for walking since there were sights both North and South of me.

My first full day I decided to visit the Uffizi galleries after picking up my Firenze card. I had purchased a voucher for the Firenze Card online and I was glad that I had. This card grants free admission to a number of museums, including the Uffizi and the Academy. Most importantly, you don’t need to make reservations or wait in line. I think you also have bus privileges, but I didn’t make use of that. The Florence Pass came with a nice nylon pocket you could wear around your neck. The Uffizi itself is a challenge. Yes, all the major museums had scanners and after the Uffizi I knew to leave my multi-tools and pocket knife in the hotel, although I was schlepping my Mac Book Air and iPad everywhere with me. As my luck would have it, the Tribune, the most famous gallery, was being restored and so unviewable by the public, along with its sculptures. The paintings had been relocated for viewing in another gallery. It’s also incredibly hot in one wing of the museum, so the people who smuggled water in somehow were the smart ones. A cup of water in the cafe costs 1.5 Euros. No photography was allowed inside, which is the opposite of most German museums. The Uffizi is definitely mind numbing after a certain point.

After the Uffizi I dropped by the Palazzo Vecchio which is next door, where photography is allowed. Photos:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Florence1_2011/index.html

To wind up the day I dropped by the Museo Archeologico Nationale which was back up in my part of the world. I didn’t realize at the time that a church was next door and quite a wonder. The Archeologico keeps late hours, as a number of museums and sights in Florence do. It’s an interesting little museum to visit at the end of the day if not a prime attraction. It did have some very cheap vending machines where you could get munchies and drinks. This is important since you burn a lot of calories walking around and in the heat you can get very thirsty. Hydration is a major issue and you learn to pack water with you, museums allowing. Photos:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Florence1_2011/index_3.html

The next day I wandered around in the morning looking for a place to eat and found that I was near the Mercato. This is a large steel and glass structure that contains fruit and vegetable stands, butchers, cheese shops, and several bars. I stocked up on apples and bananas there and found a place for coffee and pastry. Donuts are available but they are usually stale. The cornets are a better bet. After that I decided to go to the other big ticket attraction in Florence, the Galleria dell’Accademia, which is known of course for Michaelangelo’s David, as well as unfinished statues that look like works of modern art-statues that Michelangelo started but never finished, something he apparently did very often. The presence of the sculpture is interestng since the main purpose of the Accademia is to collect religious art that was rescued from churches and monasteries that were shut down by Napoleon. There is also a musical instrument museum which is worth a look if you want to see what a real Stradivarius looks like.

The Bargello is the sculpture museum, and holds the other statue of David. Like most of the other museums except the Uffizi and Pitti, it is actually rather small, but definitely worth the visit. You can only take photos in the courtyard:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Florence2_2011/index.html

The museums of Florence feature depth and quality instead of size. You don’t have to spend a lot of time at most museums. From there it was time to cross the river via the Ponte Vecchio, which is a confusion of shops. As you cross the river Florence changes and starts to look like Florence. On the other side the streets are narrow and winding, and you don’t have an opportunity to see what the city looks like. From the elevation on the Pitti side, you can start to get an idea.

The Pitti is large but doesn’t look very pretty from from the street side. It contains about four museums, and the art museum is truly mind numbing, more so than the Uffizi in my opinion. The textile museum is also worth a look if you’re still standing. The Pitti has a very nice cafe with both indoor and outdoor seating. If you wait to go inside the museum, you can even go to the bathroom for free.

If you survive the Pitti museums, you can tour the large gardens behind it. I was out of water by the time I entered the gardens and was a little scared in the heat, but near the top there are bathrooms and an opportunity to refill your water bottle. The gardens are big and there is some elevation gain and loss, so it can be a good workout. There is a sort of water surrounded garden in the center that you can’t enter. You can wander over to the ceramics museum and then another fortress, which is not open to the public but interesting to walk outside of. You can keep going to another garden, but it’s not part of the Florence Pass and charges a separate admission. I got there about a half hour before it closed so I decided to bypass it. I don’t believe in being too greedy, most of the time. Photos:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Florence2_2011/index_2.html

Across from the Pitti there is a market where you can buy sandwiches and water at a reasonable price, unlike the area around the Uffizi. As long as I was heading back to the hotel, I decided to stop at the Battistero, which keeps really late hours. This structure goes back to Roman times and definitely looks Byzantine inside. Although it is a mainly empty space inside, it is truly impressive.

The third day was really busy, since I covered the Cappelle Medicee, Palazzo Medici-Riccardo, San Marco, San Lorenzo, Museo dell’Opera del Dumo, the Duomo, Santa Croce, Cappella dei Pazzi, Museo Stefano Bardini, San Miniato al Monte, Plaza Michelangelo, and Santissima Annunziata. Photos at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Florence3_2011/index.html

Working my way down from my hotel I started with the Cappelle Medicee, which is entered separately from San Lorenzo, which seems to confuse people. The statues, by Michelangelo, decorating the tombs inside look like something conceived by a renaissance Penthouse.

I then went to San Marco, on the other side of the Cappelle Medicee, but has a later opening time so I didn’t go directly from the Cappelle. The church is known for a facade that Michelangelo never built, but they’re talking about building in the near future.

I went to the Palazzo Medici-Riccardo and from there back to San Marco. The Palazzo houses contemporary government offices, but you can still get an idea of how the Medicis lived:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Medici2011/index.html

San Marco houses works by Fra Angelico and there you can see the cells the monks lived in and how they were decorated:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/SanMarco2011/index.html

I went to the Museo dell’Opera to see the original bronze doors from the Battistero, but they weren’t on display. Still, an interesting museum to visit and it is conveniently located next to the Duomo. I decided to finally get in line for the Duomo, which can have the longest line in the city at times. It was near noon so the line was just bad, not ridiculous. At most churches they are very serious about the dress code, and in the warm weather a lot of the women are wearing shorts and tank tops, leading to a lot of creative attempts at instant modesty. Some churches distribute gauzy material which one can wrap onself in, but this often has the opposite effect of what the Church intended, creating an effect reminiscent of some of the frescoes I’d seen in Pompey.

Honestly, the Duomo wasn’t that interesting inside, except for its size, but you can go underground to the crypt and see the remains of the old Roman church that was replaced by the Duomo. I didn’t do any climbing up to the dome due to my arthritis. Photos at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics4/Duomo/index.html

I headed towards the river again to see Santa Croce where many notables are interred, such as Galileo. There was a lot of renovation going on, but I was getting used to that. Next to the church is the Cappella dei Pazzi. There is a museum as part of the church where you can see how much damage the floods have done. Photos at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/SantaCroce2011/index.html

I finally crossed the river and along the way, after a gelato, I came upon the Museo Stefano Bardini which was the private collection of an art dealer. It’s a good place to cool down if you have a Firenze Card.Photos:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Bardini2011/index.html

After it was time to start climbing steps that went on forever as I searched for the Plaza Michaelangelo. However I first ran into a small church at the top of the steps. If you climb up a little farther along a road you reach the magnificent San Miniato al Monte which is both impressive inside and has an incredible view of Florence from its courtyard (actually the top of its massive crypts). This is one view worth seeing in Florence:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/SanMinato2011/index.html

I finally got to the Plaza Michaelangelo which was a big disappointment since it is now a parking lot surrounding the reproduction of David. It was a long haul back to my hotel, but first I stopped at Santissima Annunziata:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Annunziata2011/index.html

right before it closed.

I could have spent a couple more days in Florence, but it was time to move on to my final destination, Rome.

Munich

Leaving Dresden wasn’t that hard since I found that I could catch my train from the station in the Old Town, which was an easy walk from my hotel. Along the way I passed a couple of interesting fountains.

I was delighted when I got to the Muenchen Hauptbahnhof and found that there was a Starbucks in the station (Wifi access) and that my hotel was just across the street. Later I found that sex shops were conveniently located around the corner. Anyway, the Le Meridien was a much more expensive hotel than any of the ones I had stayed in up to that time, but of course it didn’t have free wifi. After I got my room and squared away my bags I took off on foot to revisit the Alte Pinakothek, Munich’s old masters museum. For some reason I enjoyed it more that the last time I was there.

Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/ToMunich2011/index.html

After getting back to the hotel I decided that I ought to check out a beer garden, so I asked the councierage for directions to the Rick Steves recommended Augustinian Gardens. He sent me in the right direction, but didn’t get the distance quite right on map. I did find a supermarket complex in the area he described. From the outside, you never would have known that the supermarket was there, which is sort of typical of the former West Germany. I looked in my ebook Rick Steves guide and used the adress to get me to the right place. I think that day was also the first one where I really started using my iPad for navigation. I had used my Garmin in Trier and Berlin, but I was now finding the iPad much more useful and not that bad to use while I was walking.

Because of the bad weather the indoor seating at the Augustinian was packed and I found a seat outdoors that was survivable.The beer was good and the food actually included vegetables, so I was happy.

The next day I decided to go somewhere new and headed off for the Nymphenburg Palace, which was a short tram ride away. I did get an all day metro pass, which came in handy. The Nymphenburg facade was undergoing restoration, which seemed to be the story at a lot of placed I visited. Some of the palace’s rooms could use some work, while others are in pretty good shape. Collections include the Gallery of Beauties belonging to Ludwig I, which include a portrait of the notorious Lola Montez. The rain kept me from walking the gardens, and I also wanted to get to the Deutsches Museum.

Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Nymphenburg2011/index.html

I’d been to the Deutsches Museum before, and I wanted to see if the collections had been expanded. Unfortunately this museum, too, was undergoing restoration, in this case to add more stairways to meet safety requirements. That meant a lot of exhibits were closed, including the Galileo room. The aerospace collections seemed to have really expanded, with much more hardware crammed in. I remember the ME-262 having plenty of room around it, but now it looks like my bedroom. I made the mistake of taking in the mining exhibit. This one is totally immersive and you can’t escape from it once you start. It just keeps on going and seems like it will never end. I guess mining is really important to Germans.

Photos at: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/DeutschesMuseum2011/index.html

Dresden

I’d had nice weather in Berlin, but my luck was changing as I headed towards Dresden. Dresden has two train stations, one in the Old Town, the main one, and one in the New Town. I ended up in the main one, and my hotel was in the New Town, so I decided to put my bags in a locker to see some sights since I got in early. It’s not that far from Berlin to Dresden. Getting into Dresden I saw my first real arrival delay, but I didn’t need to make any connections, so it didn’t matter to me.

The Dresden train station still has an East German feel, and I got to use my German when I ordered coffee at the cafe in the station and the next day when I got my ticket to Koenigstein. Then again, I used my bad German when I got my train timetable in Trier. The woman at the cafe was rather rude, though, the only time I encountered that in Germany.

I put on all my rain gear and headed towards the tourist attractions in the Old Town. Pretty much all the way from the train station to the river that separates the town into two it’s one big shopping mall, with 2 McDonalds and a Starbucks. Thank God for Starbucks in Germany because it’s the only place I encountered where you can get unlimited free Wifi. The NH hotels provided a 1/2 hour free per day, which was better than most. With the rain and cold wind it was freezing, and I hadn’t brought my jacket to put inside my parka. Nevertheless I found my way to the Frauenkirche, the Protestant main cathedral, and went inside and then found the statue of Martin Luther. They were also preparing a stage for some large production in the square, I then walked over to the Zwinger, the Royal Palace where it was pouring. Back at the train station I’d bought a Dresden card which was similar to the Berlin card, but good for only two days on the tram system and with free admission to a number of top museums, except the old Green Vault.

The irony of Dresden is that the Old City is new. During WWII it was the site of the one of the worst fire bombings by the Brits and Americans. Almost everything you see is new. This is a story I’d already seen in Berlin and would see in Bundapest, although in that case it was due to the Russians and Germans. I went to the Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meisters (Old Masters Gallery) and then decided to head to my hotel. I retraced my way through the shopping malls, but looked for a sporting goods stores to find some more insulation, since I knew that even with my jacket I would still be cold. The former Eastern Germany has embraced shopping malls more than the western half since they had a chance to embrace capitalism from scratch, or so goes my theory. After a couple of tries I found a place very much like an REI or Sports Chalet with very similar merchandise, except with some European brands mixed in with familiar ones. One difference is that outer clothing isn’t always separated by gender. I found a vest at an exorbitant price, but that brand is also expensive in the States, and found some warmth.

I walked back to the station and picked up my bags, and decided that I should take the tram system to my hotel since it was across the river. Using the maps I received with my Dresden Card, it wasn’t too hard to figure out and I got to a stop about half a block from the hotel. I had made my reservations with a Tulip Hotel, but it was a Park Hote when I got there. It actually wasn’t bad, and it was close to the bridge and a park. I walked a little bit north into the New Town to explore. The New Town is the old part of town because it wasn’t destroyed during WWII. I didn’t get to the core of the Old Town, but to an area that looked rather Bohemian. None of the restaurants were too attractive, so I had dinner at the hotel. The menu was more Eastern European than German, which wasn’t so surprising since Dresden is so close to the Czech Republic.
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The next day the weather was a little better so I took the tram to the local train station and bought a S-bahn ticket to the town of Koenigstein in the Saxon Switzerland, a major park that straddles the border between the Czech Republic and Germany. My goal was to hike up to the fortress of Koenigstein. There wasn’t much signage at the train station and I blundered my way to the local tourist office where they gave me a nice map. There was more than one trail up to Koenigstein (of course you can also drive or take a bus) and I decided to take the one behind the church. This is not the one that the signs in town would direct you to.

The trail starts up a steep set of steps, but then transitions into more conventional trails, and seems to be parts of a system of hiking trails. Signs were pretty good, except near the goal where you should just take the trail that goes up. At one point there appears to be an easement through local farm where there are some rather unfriendly warnings posted, but no barriers. The drizzle I had at the start of my little hike eased off as I got to the top. This particular trail ended up in the parking lot where there were already some tour buses. The scenic elevator was out of commission so there was not choice to take the ramp which leads into the main entrance to the fortress. This is a rather serious affair with two long ramps that tunnel through the hill the fortress is on and emerge in the developed part of the fortress. This area is built up with a church and barracks, water works, and more. Some of these buildings are little museums and there is an ample selections of cafes and restaurants, who were doubtless hampered by the bad weather.

There is a path that circumnavigates the main walls of the fortress, and offers great views of the surrounding countryside, especially the river valley that the train follows. Especially impressive is a geological feature that looks like a refugee from Monument Valley, albeit very green. You can also find out why over half the area of the fortress is stil an undeveloped forest-it’s where the main powder magazines were located, although there are also some in the developed area. There is also what appears to be a guest house on the walls. Besides this walk, there are also ones that take you through the original castle and down almost to the level of the entrance gate, but don’t quite connect for obvious reasons.

On the way down I took a different path that takes you past the outer battlements and down what must have been the main supply roads since it was paved with large uneven stones that are uncomfortable to navigate on foot. By the rail station there is a little cafe where I got some coffee and cake for the most reasonable price I had seen yet in Europe.

Koenigstein photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Koenigstein2011/index.html

I got back to Dresden in time to do some more sightseeing, so I got off at the main train station and took the tram back into the tourist town. Back at the Zwinger I checked out the Ruestkammer, or Armoury, and then went over to the Residenzschloss (Royal Palace) for some more museums, including the New Green Vault and the Turkish Vault. The Historical Green Vault requires reservations. I got delayed there for almost an hour since the strap from my pack ended up hanging out of my locker and intruding into another on where it got locked in.

Dresden photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Dresden2011/index.html

From Dresden it was a short trip to Muenchen to meet the Globus tour the following day. I had a half day free plus a full one to do some exploring.

Berlin

Getting to Berlin wasn’t too bad. It was a long trip, but with a Eurail Pass you get first class, which seems to usually be pretty empty, and it’s pretty nice on some trains. There seems to be very little standardization of 1st class amenities, even within the same car. Depending on how lucky you are, you may end up in a nice enclosed suite or a cramped chair. You may be able to store your bag near your seat or you may have to leave it near the door. Ich verstehe nicht. Stopped long enough in Koeln to take pictures of the Dom:

http://ikemi.info/graphics3/ToBerlin2011/index.html

That’s actually my second time there since we stopped there after my first Edelweiss Alpine tour.

I ended up in the huge, multi-level Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) which is relatively uncrowded, clean, and well patrolled by armed police. It’s also a mall with all kinds of fast food, from sushi to McDonalds (and Burger King). There are also supermarkets where you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables. There are connections to the S bahn (the elevated, although sometimes it goes below the) U bahn (subway). The Hbf was formerly the Ost Bahnhof before the wall fell. I used my Eurail pass to take the S-bahn to the Zoo, which was formerly the main train station for West Berlin and known for the seamy elements it attracted to its backside. If I had known, I could have taken the S bahn farther to Savigny Platz, which would have dropped me right off by my hotel. As it was, I walked from the Zoo which gave me an idea of the area. Besides the Berlin Zoo, I came across a large sex shop and then transitioned to the still trendy Kurfuerstendam, which has a lot of shops and restaurants, and was still pretty busy. I guess you could say it’s similar to Westwood in L.A. since the action it once saw has drifted to area in the eastern part of the city, but may be coming back.

The NH Berlin Hotel (same chain as the one in Trier) turned out to be well situated. It was near both S bahn and U bahn stations, the Tourist Information center, and a Starbucks. The only thing missing was McDonalds. Starbucks is important since it’s about the only place you can find free wifi. Otherwise it is pretty expensive (Maybe 12 euros/day) athough the NH Hotel will give you 30 minutes free. McDonalds is important since their food seems to have less sodium than the local cuisine. The hotel is also near a lot of restaurants of all types with sidewalk tables. I tried a Greek restaurant the first night.

The first day I got up early and took the local transportation to the Reichstag. The Reichstadt opens at 8AM so you can hit it before the other museums. Security there was very tight, as thorough as FSA so leave at your hotel knives, etc. However, they will return them to you afterwards. It’s worth the trouble to get on the roof and as Rick Steves says. If you like high tech, the mirror lighting system with the sun shade are worth checking out.

Photos at: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Brandenburg2011/index.html

The Brandenburg gate has really been cleaned up since the last time I was there. No more pushcart beer vendors or guys trying to sell Soviet military items. There’s also an S bahn station there so you can get on your way again. Next I got on the S-bahn at the Brandenburg Tor for a trip to the Musee Insel and a whirlwind tour of the Neues and Altes Museums. Unfortunately, there is no U or S bahn station near the Musee Insel, which seems to be a major oversight. However, there are the East German trams you can take, but they aren’t covered by the Berlin cards. I just walked since I always need the exercise. It turns out the S bahn station after Fredrichstrasse is nearer than Fredrichstrasse, something I noted for the next day.

The Altes Museum has a realy strong collection of Greek Art, as well as Etruscan and Roman. You really have to conclude that some of the best classical Greek art is in England and Germany. What you see in American museums gives you no idea of what the Greeks were really capable.

Pictures: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/AltesMuseum2011/index.html

The Neues Museum of course has the bust of Nefertiti, as well as what little of the treasure of Schliemann the Russians decided to return. Most of what you see on display are reproductions. The caliber of the Egyptian artifacts is of course very high. The building itself is of interest since an attempt was made to incorporate as much of the original bombed out structure as possible to give you an idea of what the museum was originally like. Amazingly you can take non-flash pictures of almost everything, except the Nefertiti bust. Yes, it does look good, and it’s not any other Egyptian art you can see. The other amazing thing in this museum is the golden hat that is actually an astronomical calculator.

Pictures:
http://ikemi.info/graphics3/NeuesMuseum2011/index.html

The penultimate museum of the day was the Bode, which I visited mainly for the Byzantine collection hidden in a corner. The main attraction is a restored (with interventions) mosaic from a ruined church in Ravenna. There’s also an inscription from the wall at Constantinople that probably documents the last work done on it before the fall.

Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/BodeMuseum2011/index.html

Next door is the Pergamon Museum where they were erecting something that looked a huge oil tank in front of the entrance. This time I actually liked the museum better than the first time I visited it. Since that first visit I’d been to Pergamon and seen where the altar was supposed to have been, so I had a better context for it. I wish I’d had more time for the rest of the museum, especially the extensive exhibits upstairs on muslim art. I stayed till the museum closed so I had a chance to see the altar with no people on it. There was also an exhibition on a museum of art from the fertile crescent that they hadn’t been able to evacuate before it was fire bombed. Water was sprayed on the still hot stone statues and they exploded into little pieces. There has been a effort to try to piece some of the statues back together.

Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Pergamon2011/index.html

I stopped by the Dom, but it was already closed, so I decided to head back to my hotel, passing by the Lust garden and then north to the S bahn station I should have taken. Along the way I saw the DDR museum (didn’t enter) and a heck of a lot of cafes along the river.

The next day I didn’t have to get up early, but returned to the Musee Insel to enter the Dom, the Old Picture Gallery and visit the Deutsches Historicshe Museum. However, before that I took the metro system to Humboldthain Park to look for the remains of one of the last flak towers in Berlin. The U-bahn actually dumps you off at the park, near the offices of an agency that conducts tours to the flak tower, bomb shelters, and parts of the U-bahn. A gentleman from that agency pointed me in the right direction. You more or less go straight from the U-bahn and hit a nice rose garden. After admiring the roses, you go through the back gate of the garden and start your way up the “hill”. The hill is actually the ruins of the back side of the flak tower. There is a switchback path that is gentle or you can take stairs that go straight up. There is a small area for picnic benches at the top and then the platforms for guns on the other side. One of these is now occupied by a sculpture and there is a lot of graffiti, which isn’t surprising in Germany. You can descend by stairs on that side that take you back to the rose garden. There is a pretty good view from the gun platforms.

Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/Humboldthain2011/index.html

The Alte Nationalgalerie is in a cute little building, but it is the one you might skip if you’re in a rush. When I bought my Berlin Pass the girl said it was closed, and I could have taken her at her word.

Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/AlteNationalgalerie2011/index.html

Then I went to the Dom, which is okay to visit if you get the discount with the Berlin card. I climbed up to the museum, which mainly contains models of what the Dom could have looked like. I didn’t feel like climbing up for a better view, so I exited, where you’re forced to go through the crypt and then a coffee shop. I wanted a cup of coffee, but a gentleman had decided to take up permanent residence chatting at the counter, so I emerged back up at the Lust Garten and headed for the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/BerlinDom2011/index.html

The Deutsches Historisches Museum has a little bit of everything. It tells the history of Germany with displays which often include artwork and examples of the decorative arts. The special exhibit was on the role the German police played in the Holocaust. No photos there, but they were allowed in the rest of the museum. The museum is also known for a dome by I.M. Pei. I was lucky and hit it on a free admission day, which was good since it’s not included on my Berlin Card. This card is a good deal since you get free admission to some top museums, discounts at others, and public transportation for three days. It saves a lot of hassle.

Photos at: http://ikemi.info/graphics3/DeutschesHistorischesMuseum2011/index.html

Trip to Philadelphia and Baltimore

On my motorcycle trip this year and I didn’t do my research properly, and got to Philadelphia one week before the Cleopatra exhibition opened at the Franklin Institute. Since work was still slow, I decided to fly back to Philadelphia to check out the exhibit.

As luck would have it, I came down with a cold a day before my flight out of LAX. I was glad that I had been forced to fly out business class due to the convoluted American Airlines frequent flyer redemption constraints. In Philly was staying with my friend from college days and depending on him for transportation. First day was very busy, taking in the Japanese house in the botanical garden, the Cleopatra exhibit, and the movie Agora. Photos of the Japanese house are at:
http://ikemi.info/graphics2/JapaneseHouse/index.html

That worked out well, since Agora had already finished in LA before I had a chance to see it, but it was just opening in Philly. The movie complemented the exhibit at the Museum nicely since it takes place in the Alexandria of ~400AD, and brings to life Cleopatra’s city.

Somehow we also fitted in wandering around Philadelphia and seeing the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the exterior of Bets Ross’ house. Phots at: http://ikemi.info/graphics2/Phl2010/index.html

The next day, Wednesday, we checked out smaller museums near Doylestown. One was the Mercer Museum, which is a collection of everyday artifacts from early America. The second was Glencairn, which houses the family collection of the Pictou family, who were prominent New Church members. Photos at http://ikemi.info/graphics2/Glencairn/index.html
Thursday we wanted to visit the Barnes Collection before its big move, but apparently everyone else had the same idea, and it was booked out-visits are only be appointment. Instead we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We didn’t try to see the whole museum, since we had both been there before. Instead we concentrated mainly on the Asian art galleries. I hadn’t appreciated before how good some of the installations are. Some Photos at:
http://ikemi.info/graphics2/PhlMuseumArt/index.html

Thursday night I took the Amtrak to Baltimore. There was a surprisingly good restaurant in the 30th Street Station, which is kind of an interesting place. I ended up taking a fairly late train because of the Amtrak’s severe pricing policy which penalized you for earlier tickets. This wouldn’t have been too bad, except I had to take a bus from the BWI train station to the airport, and a second one to get to the rental car center. It’s interesting to note that LAX wasn’t the only airport where they didn’t take the light rail all the way into the airport. Budget took forever to process the customers ahead of me, so it was pretty late when I got to the Motel 6 in Linthicum, which is about 6 miles from the Inner Harbor.

I lucked out since the weather wasn’t that bad in Baltimore. I found parking for $19. I looked at the registration line for Otakon at the convention center. I probably could have taken the light rail into the city, but according to the schedule I saw, it shuts downrelatively early. As it turned out, I never really stayed that late in the Inner Harbor, so I probably could have taken it.

My reason for going to the Inner Harbor was the Otakon anime convention, the second biggest anime convention in the country, after Anime Expo back in L.A. I’d been to Otakon last in 2004 and the registration line seemed to be much longer than I expected. I decided that I’d let the line die down and went to the Baltimore Aquarium. I’d been there once before, but it was still an interesting, if expensive little side trip. The biggest thing I learned was that jellyfish are taking over the oceans of the world, probably due to global warming. Also that male dolphins can develop long term relationships with each other. The rain forest exhibit was smaller than I remembered, but the Australis exhibit was pretty interesting. I was lucky that the weather was hot but not too bad so that it was possible to walk around outside if you remembered to drink water. Fortunately, there’s a big Barnes and Noble near the aquarium that’s convenient for getting a cold drink. Until Sunday it was relatively uncrowded. Aquarium photos are at: http://ikemi.info/graphics2/BaltimoreAquarium/index.html

I got into Otakon in time for the opening ceremonies. After that there wasn’t much that I immediately wanted to see, so I decided to go to the Walters Art Museum. From my previous trips to Baltimore, I had come to think of the Walters as one of my favorite mid-sized art museums in the world. It was easy to get there since the city has a free shuttle bus in and around the Inner Harbor. Admission to the Walters and the Baltimore Museum of Art is free due to a grant. I spent the whole afternoon there until closing time when I got the bus back to the Convention Center. I caught a few panels and then headed back to my Motel 6.

Saturday parking was almost half the price of Friday where I started with the classic anime movie Sea Prince and the Fire Child which I had heard about on a podcast. I bounced around to a few panels and anime showings after that. Fortunately the Convention Center isn’t that big, although it does get crowded and people still try to pose for pictures in the wrong places although there are rules against that. It was nice that not everyone was dressed as a Bleach or Naruto character, but the cosplay in general wasn’t very entertaining and I had long ago lost interest in it.

In the early afternoon some idiot pulled a fire alarm and the entire Convention Center had to be evacuated, all 29,000 people. I figured this would be a mess (rightly from what I heard later on podcasts) and headed for the Walters Museum again since I hadn’t seen everything the previous day. The museum was better than I remembered it since some of the galleries that were under construction the last time I was there were finished. You can also now take pictures without flash to your heart’s content. I especially liked the little Byzantine gallery, since that is one of my special interests, but there are others of equal interest. Most of the exhibit items are of high quality. Walters Photos: http://ikemi.info/graphics2/WaltersMuseum/index.html

I missed the Maruyama panel by the time I got back to the Convention Center. I think I went to panels on Gundam and Legend of the Galactic Heroes which were pretty interesting. I tried to go to dinner but I found the the two brewpubs that had been located in the Inner Harbor were gone. The only ones were north of the city. I had a terrible dinner in a sports bar across from the Convention Center where the service was very slow and they got the order wrong. At least the beer was good. After dinner the panel on director Akiyuki Shinbo was really good and I decided to call it a day after that.

Sunday is the short day and I started off late with the live Action Ten Nights of Dreams which was kind of an art film. Some sequences were beautiful and others were just weird. I followed that with Lupin the Third Episode 0 which I stayed too long at since I only got to the final part of the poorly attended Japanese Directors’ Panel. They really need to get past the idea of DVDs. A few photos from Otakon at http://ikemi.info/graphics2/Otakon2010/index.html

I skipped the closing ceremonies and headed for the Baltimore Museum of Art. If you had to pick between the two, the Walters would be the one to visit. For free I can’t complain (although I had to pay for the parking). The sculpture garden is interesting and they did have their Japanese Friendship Doll on display. Photos at http://ikemi.info/graphics2/BaltimoreMuseumArt/index.html

After that I visited my cousins in Pasadena for dinner. We got a little bit of drizzle there.

Monday I visited the B&O railroad museum. Some of the exhibits I remembered from my previous visit didn’t seem to be there. Perhaps they were destroyed when the roof of the roundhouse collapsed a few years back. The roundhouse was restored and looks beautiful. Some of the railroad cars, though, look like they are overdue for restoration. Photos at: http://ikemi.info/graphics2/B_O_TrainMuseum/index.html

On my way to Washington DC (actually south of DC on the beltway) I stopped at the National Cryptological Museum. I had stopped there once before, but there’s a lot of information there and I think they had some new exhibits, or at least ones I hadn’t checked out before. There was an interesting one on the secret codes that hobos used. In the Memorial Park they had added the naval reconnaissance version of the B-66, in remembrance of one that was lost in a bad carrier landing. I messed up and missed the gift shop since I didn’t realize that it closes a half hour before the rest of the museum. Photos at http://ikemi.info/graphics2/Cryptologic%20Museum/index.html

The next day, my last one, I headed for Arlington Cemetery to catch the light rail system. Unfortunately, the lanes to the cemetery were blocked off for some reason and I had to drive all around the Mall to finally get back there from a direction that wasn’t blocked. After getting on the train, my first stop was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I got to see the restored flag and I liked the galleries on transportation. I’ll have to tell my relatives from Wattsonville that Wattsonville is included in one of the exhibits as an example of one of the shipping points on the West Coast that the railroads were built to reach.

After that I walked around in search of the Japanese American Memorial, but the directions I got off Google were completely wrong. They took me beyond the Cocoran Gallery. I thought of visiting it, but it’s closed on Tuesdays. At least I got a good look at the area round the White House. From there I swung around the Washington Mounument and the World War II Memorial to the middle of the mall. Fortunately I found an information stand where I got a map and the correct directions to the Japanese American Memorial, which is north of the Capitol. I also found a hot dog stand where I rehydrated. To cool off I went to the semi-underground Freer, xxx and African Art Museums. These are some of my favorite museums on the Mall. From there I went through the National Gallery just to keep cool, and finally found the Japanese American Memorial. It was larger than I expected. I thought there would just be a plaque there. Photos at: ikemi.info/graphics2/WashDC2010/index.html

There were still things I would have liked to have seen, but I needed to catch my flight in the evening so it was time to catch the train back to Arlington and head for Dulles.

Mesa Verde to Home

The campground at Mesa Verde was on the luxury level. There were raised areas for pitching a tent-something I really hadn’t seen since camping near Quebec 30 years before. Near the campground were free showers and and a laundry. The store had wifi, but the bandwidth was pretty poor. They had beer, but you had to buy a whole six pack, which may be a good or bad thing. The campfire was a pretty good schlepp since the campground was so large, but it was a good way to wear off the effects of the beer. The Big Agnes tent I’d bought in Colorado Springs on the way out made for a comfortable night. For breakfast I feasted on Via coffee and the last of the hobo bread from Greenfield Village. The Jetboil stove boiled the water for my coffee in no time.

The roads were torn up 6 miles beyond the campground, but after that they were in good shape. It was a good thing that I’d bought my tickets at the campground since there were lines at the real visitors’ center. I did check out the exhibits there, though. First on my itinerary was Cliff House. Years ago when I came here with my family the weather was bad so we could only visit the museum. Finally I actually was able to visit the ruins. Cliff House was impressive, but the visit was a little rushed. Cliff House and Balcony House you can only visit as part of a ranger led tour. We may have been rushed, but we were also behind schedule so I had to rush over to Balcony House to make my tour group.

As I had learned at Chaco Canyon, many of the Pueblo dwellings were built with balconies, but most were destroyed when the structures were rediscovered. Balcony House is one of the few structures which still has its balconies intact. It is also challenging to enter due to the requirement to climb ladders and scurry through narrow openings. This makes me tend to sympathize with the theories that the cliff dwellings were built for defensive purposes. On our exit, we were delayed since a couple had to be evacuated by the rangers. Fortunately, they were able to walk away once they were extracted.

After the guided tours I went to museum after having lunch at the concession, where I was wished a happy Fathers’ Day. The museum and the building it was in were both interesting, although some of the dioramas seemed to be out of date. Thankfully, the mummy of the native American woman had been removed and hopefully granted reburial. I remembered that from my previous visit. Right outside of the museum one can descend to Spruce House on a self-guided basis. Spruce House has the reputation of being the best preserved structure, although there is a reconstructed kiva that one may enter. After that I decided to take off since I wanted to get to Flagstaff that evening. Photos of Mesa Verde at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics2/MesaVerde/index.html

My progress to Flagstaff was pretty good as I proceeded through a large John Ford movie set. Unfortunately, I couldn’t visit the Four Corners monument since it was undergoing some sort of mainenance work. I remember visiting it with my parents. While heading to Flagstaff I started to notice a large cloud roughly to my left, that I seemed to be flanking. I finally realized that it was a smoke cloud. Finally, at Cameron it sank in that the way to Flagstaff was blocked by what came to be known as the Schultz Fire. At the Cameron Trading Post they were very gracious and allowed me to use their RV campground, which was lacking sanitary facilities for tent campers. Better than nothing since their motel had no vacancies. Once more I got to use my tent and sleeping bag.

In the morning the road was still blocked, so I had to divert via the Grand Canyon. Fortunately, they weren’t charging for entrance, probably due to the fire. I stopped to take a few pictures and then continued on my way home through the desert. Although it was a little toasty in some places, I was pretty lucky and the temperatures weren’t too bad. Just high winds in a few places were the only impediments. It actually became cold as I go to Victorville. I was pleased to see that the Outpost Cafe was still there, although I didn’t stop in. I used to stop there with my father and his friends when we went dirt biking in the Mojave. Last pictures from the trip at:

http://ikemi.info/graphics2/GrandCanyon/index.html

Finally, I arrived home in Inglewood, a little over five weeks after I had started. No problems with the bike except for adding 2 quarts of oil. Fedex, REI and wifi at McDonalds had been my lifelines for resupply, sending loot home, and obtaining information on where to go and making reservations.