I have spent many hours in many different airports in the U.S. and Europe. After exhaustive research I propose that Amsterdam Schipohl is the best. It is the only airport I know that provides carts/trolleys for hand luggage. It has a library, a real library. There is a large children’s “forest” play area, which I […]
Archive for the ‘Geography’ category
Philadelphia means it
For years, I’d heard that Philadelphia was the place to be for New Year’s, and with the arrogance of a proper New Yorker upon hearing anything is good somewhere else, I thought, yes, I’m sure it’s lovely, dear. We have plenty of opportunities to vomit in public right here at home. As for some kind […]
Cracking up!
One of the highlights of a British Christmas is the Christmas Cracker. Produced for a few pennies, this object, which comprises a cardboard tube, colorful foil paper, a fragile paper hat, a plastic toy, and a bad joke, really gives a lot of bang for the Great British pound. I was going to research the […]
Stella on the Eastern Shore
Stella spent last weekend on the Eastern Shore of Virginia near Modest Town. It’s the southern part of DelMarVa for Washingtonian beach mavens. It’s about 80 miles north of Norfolk, Virgina. Stella went to university in Norfolk, England. The two areas are eerily similar. Flat and marshy. Sparsely populated. Subtly beautiful.
Slaughterhouse five
(Text by Swells, photos by ScottyGee) Dresden is known for its beautiful central theater complex, its devastation after the Allies firebombed it in WWII, and of course its central role in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. It’s such a culty novel, at least for American college boys, that I assumed its iconic status would at least […]
Stella and the magic carpet
Stella has followed the hallowed footsteps of Scotty G. to Berlin. She will now attempt to communicate an art installation in photographs. All good art installations are of course impossible to capture and document. Nevertheless, Stella will risk diminishing the work to share it with you. It takes place in the Neue Nationalgalerie designed by […]
Hot and cold
This July is on track to be the hottest New York City July on record. If that happens, it will beat July 1999 for the record — that was the month I first visited New York, over a record-breakingly sweltering Fourth of July weekend. Despite the heat, all I wanted to do was walk around […]
Flag waving
In June of 2006, the last time we were in Europe for any extended period of time, we planned to go to Berlin for a long visit. My ignorance of sporting matters is such that the trip was almost completely planned before a more culturally aware friend (read: having any awareness at all) casually mentioned, […]
Zum ersten Mal
By the time I’m scheduled to write my next post, I’ll be in Europe. I’ve gotten a fellowship to do a special course of study in Germany, but I’m taking a week and a half to visit friends in England and Ireland along the way. This wouldn’t be such a huge deal except I’ve never […]
