The South Street Renaissance. It produced Philadelphia’s Magic Garden, a delightful outdoor museum of mosaics and assorted objects gracing walkways and staircases on South Street. It is the largest “piece” of work by local artist Isaiah Zagar. He and his wife moved to South Street in 1968 and opened a gallery to sell Latin American art. This project grew out of that. If you look a few entries below this one, in Havana, Cuba, we visited a similar folk art installation, Fusterlandia. When we mentioned it to a guide, she heartily agreed that they were of the same mold.

After those photos are those of a historic pub, Philadelphia’s oldest continuously operating tavern, McGillin’s Old Ale House. It opened its doors in 1860, the year Abraham Lincoln was first voted into office! It has the wonderful atmosphere of a true Irish pub, and on the walls, they have every liquor license issued to them since 1871. The food was wonderful, with the lowest prices we have ever seen in a large city.

After those photos are random shots from around the city, including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. It was very hot, so walking around was quite a challenge! Elfreth’s Alley was a special stop, as I visited there 20 years ago on a choir tour. It is the oldest residential street in the US, and is still occupied, with lots of red on the houses, which looks really “colonial.” After that, we stopped in Reading Terminal Market for some beverages, and found a wonderful mashup of produce vendors and food vendors.

The crowning delight on this visit to Philadelphia is shown in the final photos and video….the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, the largest fully functioning pipe organ in the world. It has 28,750 pipes and six manuals (keyboards). Its string division forms the largest single organ chamber in the world. It was originally built for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where the world-famous organist and composer Alexandre Guilmant played 40 concerts before it was fully completed. It cost a whopping $105,000 ($2.9 million in today’s dollars), and sat in a warehouse until John Wanamaker bought it for his new department store, a full 5 years later. It took 13 freight cars to ship it, and 2 years to install. It was first played on June 22, 1911, at the exact moment British King George III was crowned. President William Taft dedicated the store later that year, and the organ was featured again. A concert series took shape, and the performances took place after the store closed for the day. Famed organists/composers Louis Vierne and Marcel Dupre were among the performers invited from around the world play this marvelous instrument.

Saturday…in the Park…I know it’s not the 4th of July…

Central Park, that is. Once again, don’t bother going to New York if you aren’t going to visit Central Park. It is an oasis on the middle of all the busyness of the city, and is just fabulous. People are walking, biking, having picnics, reading, walking dogs, kissing, eating ice cream, grabbing a hot dog. It is busy and beautiful and just feels like the epitome of life, happening right now. In the Strawberry Fields section is the Imagine mosaic, which attracted quite a crowd. And…such a deal!…..right there in Strawberry Fields, a man will do a bad portrait of you for only 10 bucks! We would have bought one, but we don’t have a house to hang it in.

Then, on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also in Central Park. We knew we didn’t have it in us to spend an entire day there, as usually we take a day off when we have been doing sightseeing for many days in a row just to rest up. And this trip, we haven’t taken a break. So we headed for the Impressionists and the Dutch Masters, two of our favorites. The Monet painting of the bridge over the water lilies at Giverny below is very special to us. We went there on our honeymoon and walked over that bridge. BUT….we were laughing so hard, as at the end of the bridge, hanging over the post, was a life preserver in case anyone fell in the pond. The kicker? The water was 3 inches deep, at most. You could only drown in it if you were the size of a fly. Mike bought a tile inset of that painting to install in his bathroom shower, as we liked it so much. And after that photo is a painting by Renoir. Before you read the painting info below it, look at the painting….a mom and her daughters, right? Nope. Sitting next to mom is her SON, and sitting on top of the dog is her daughter. Most interesting, how times change.

The next photos are from the exhibition Heavenly Bodies, fashion inspired by the Catholic imagination. The exhibit is at the Cloisters, as we wrote the other day, and also at the Met. Both locations had lots of people talking about the dresses and taking photos. They are all really over the top, and are more costumes than anything. They would only be worn to an awards show, if at all. Can you imagine a mom wearing any of them to their child’s wedding? Laughable for a mom, but right at home for Cher.

The last photo made us shake our heads and laugh about the world we live in. You can park your car UP TO 30 minutes for $19.43???? And a surcharge is added to THAT if you are parking a van or an SUV? Wow, Manhattan! Really? What a good reason to take public transportation rather than drive. When we stayed in Manhattan 2 years ago, we drove in, and we paid $80/night just for parking. This time, we parked outside the City for $8/night and rode the bus in!

The Cloisters. A Metropolitan Museum of Art subsidiary. A trip to New York isn’t worth it if you don’t visit the Cloisters. It consists of four cloisters reconstructed from French monasteries that were dismantled between 1934 and 1939. The museum is on a hill in Fort Tryon Park…quite a hike up the hill, since we took the subway to get there and walked! The museum consists of interior chapels, all stone, with arched colonnades and medieval gardens. Over 5,000 pieces of art are on display, including tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, stone and wood sculptures, and panels. In addition, there are approximately 300 pieces of stained glass. It is incredible…like walking through a monastery, but with something to look at every step along the way.

The first photos are part of a current exhibition called Heavenly Bodies….fashion influenced by religious orders and religious artwork. Aren’t these gowns gorgeous, AND unusual? The very first gown and model were being illuminated only by natural light from the slit windows. The gown is influenced by a nun’s habit, and the scene just took our breaths away. Stunning. The pee(p) hole garment was one we hadn’t previously heard of! And the crown of thorns is modern, part of this exhibit, and is shown as a sort of tiara, but it would be impossible to wear, since there isn’t a flat bottom, but spikes all around. The grounds are exquisite, with views of the Hudson River and even a distant view of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which we drove over a few days ago. The last photo before the video was astounding to us. It is an altarpiece triptych from the workshop of Robert Campin, South Netherlandish, painted between 1427 and 1432. It is astonishing because it looks like fresh paint, and the details are sharp and clean and precise. It seems impossible that it can be 600 years old!

In the video at the end, Mike was trying to capture the stillness and essence of the museum. Each room had its own sacred music playing, and some rooms had artwork revolving around a theme, like a room dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, done with lots of blue, and playing Ave Maria. The security guards in each room looked tired….dressed in suit and tie, their job is to stand for 8 hours guarding the objects in the room and answering random questions….AND listening to the same sacred song. Over and over and over and over and

The hustle! The bustle! The sheer excitement of being in Manhattan and Times Square! We love every part of being in New York again, one of our favorite places on the planet. It is the first time we were here in the summer, and it truly is more crowded and more frenetic. As always, we spend a lot of time looking UP, as the architecture from years past always included carvings and statues and various features that just bring a smile to our faces. We had our first night’s dinner at Junior’s, our favorite New York deli. We easily walked in and got a table, but by the time we were leaving, the waiting area was choked with probably 30 people wanting a table. We ended with one of our first real desserts in many months, low-carb, sugar-free plain cheesecake. With a cup of coffee, it tasted like heaven!

Founded in 1635 (!), Hartford is one of the oldest cities in the US. That may not seem old to our friends around the world, but it was about 150 years before the US became a country. The first photo is the state capitol building, while the second, the Wadsworth Atheneum, is the country’s oldest public art museum. The country’s oldest publicly funded park, Bushnell Park, is shown in the fifth photo. Walking around the downtown, there is a nice mix of old buildings with the new, statues, and artwork.

The last two photos are Mark Twain’s home in downtown Hartford. It was built by an architect who typically designed churches, and does have the feeling of a church, which is ironic as Twain was a notorious nonbeliever. It is one of the best-preserved homes we have visited. He and his family lived there for 17 years until he was forced to sell it due to poor investments….he was broke. Even though some accounts call him the most famous man in the world in the mid- and late 18th century, he invested in some speculative inventions that eventually bankrupted him. The house is filled with his children’s dolls and toys. With some, he invented bedtime stories for them every evening. The desk at which he wrote all of his most famous books is preserved in the Billiard Room. That room is decorated with cue sticks, billiard balls, cigars, and pipes, an original Man Cave. The children and his wife were not allowed in. He held drinking and billiard parties every weekend, and he himself smoked 30 cigars per day! He and his wife bought a very expensive bed with angels at the four corners and carved into the headboard. Told it was an antique, they later learned they had been swindled. Twain placed the bed pillows at the bottom of the bed, saying he wanted to look at what he bought for all that money! We felt a kinship with him, as he tried to recoup his fortune by doing talking tours around the world. He and his family stayed in hotels in the biggest world cities for several months at a time, for a few years, until they could afford to buy a house once more. We are “purposely homeless,” but we appreciate having a forebear who did what we are attempting.

A private island in the Caribbean. Dreamy. You think about being like Robinson Crusoe, alone and blissful, at first, anyway. But we weren’t alone, not by a long shot…we were there with over a thousand other cruise ship passengers. It is big enough that it never felt crowded. Half Moon Cay is a small slip of land that Holland American Cruise Lines bought 20 years ago as a private island destination on its cruises. So, the beach lounge chairs, hammocks, chairs, walkways, even the Beach Barbecue, are all free. But it IS a cruise line, so they charge for private cabanas, water sports, alcoholic drinks, and fishing/snorkeling excursions. But it felt like paradise. We laid in a hammock together for a while, just watching the sky and ocean and people. And the buildings all felt like a walk through Disneyland. The old shipwreck is manufactured, of course, as is Captain Morgan’s On the Rocks Island Bar. Walking through the sand felt like walking through flour, very dense and light, all at the same time. It is a gorgeous beach. In the last picture it is hard to see much anything, but our cruise ship was being followed by a pod of dolphins later that day. They were leaping and diving and just looked so happy to be showing off for us! It was a perfect ending to a truly perfect day on a private island.

So, does this port in Jamaica have eight rivers, which is the translation of the name? Nope. The indigenous natives called the city Las Chorreras, and the British heard it as Ocho Rios, put it on maps, and that became its name. Water sports and the beach are why you come here….snorkeling, diving, swimming, tanning, even fishing. But don’t come for the downtown. The shops are a mix of 80 percent jewelry and 20 percent souvenirs, with not much else. Mike had said that when he was here 20 years ago, he was amazed by the number of shops with the name Cool Runnings, after the movie about the Jamaican bobsled team. In a small strip mall in this tiny downtown, there were TWO stores with the name Cool Runnings. Also rampant 20 years ago were offers of marijuana for purchase, constantly and all the time. We encountered none of that today. We WERE asked about 30 times in 30 minutes if we wanted a taxi or a tour “at a low price,” but once we declined, we were left alone by that person, at least. The Caribbean is just gorgeous, of course, and the turquoise blue water is very inviting.

La Perla Del Sur….Pearl of the South. Cienfuegos is about 150 miles over land from Havana, but more than 400 miles by ship. About 60 miles from the Bay of Pigs, it is located on the southern coast of Cuba. There is one tourist area that has been renovated and cleaned up, with shops and restaurants, and as you can see, a whole street of kiosks with vendors selling souvenirs. This area is just off of the Parque Marti, which is where all the government buildings, theater, churches, and statues are located. The coast area is gorgeous, with blue water and a walkway along the Caribbean. But as you can see in the first four photos, the people live in squalor. The buildings are deteriorated, moldy, and badly need paint. There were horses tied up to trees along the street we walked. The man driving the horse carriage saw us taking a photo, and yelled, “One CUC,” requesting payment for riding past us! People sat on their stoops (we didn’t see any porches to speak of) to catch a breeze. Some children yelled “Hola!” Several teens followed us for a while, asking questions in Spanish and wanting money. Cienfuegos is no Havana, but it gave us a glimpse of how people in Cuba actually live.

In the past few weeks, we have heard, “My friends went to Havana and said it was like going back in time.” And, “My brother was there, and he only posted two photos on Facebook…maybe they don’t allow photos.” And, “We saw lots of old buildings and ancient hotels.” Well, we are here to say, uh, NO. It was really fun. There are lots of statues and contemporary sculptures on the street. There is a lot of color and vibrancy. The old cars are mostly all restored, painted in gorgeous colors, and have air conditioning added (which is really a necessity, might we add). You can see in a photo below, one of the drivers is keeping out of the sun by lounging in his trunk! Under that photo is one of a good-sized SUV that rode alongside us for a few blocks. It is a communal taxi, driving a set route, and like a bus, picks up people along the way. It is much cheaper than a private taxi. We counted 13 people inside! Yoiks!

Buildings are being remodeled. The parks, which seem to be on every block, are tended to, neat, flower filled, and have people everywhere. Havana has the hustle and bustle of other large cities, particularly those that have almost daily cruise ships putting 1,000+ people onto the streets, people who are taking tours and having coffee, eating lunch, and buying local goods.

We really enjoyed the murals and sculptures. The brass statue of the nude woman riding a rooster and holding a fork, titled Viaje Fantastico, was installed in Plaza Vieja in 2012 by Roberto Fabelo without explanation. Some say it is a symbol of chauvinism, others a nod to the history of prostitution in Cuba. The woman is expected to earn her living, symbolized by the fork, while riding a male rooster and wearing high heels, always also ready for whatever a man wants of her. It has created quite a stir.

Okay, so no doubt, the buildings could be in better shape. They could do with new coats of paint, and inside they could have more variety. The people look resigned to their way of life. Some young people told us they would love to travel the world, but they are not allowed. The government fears they would not return, and we were told that that is most likely true. We went into a local grocery store, and all are owned and run by the government. It was very dirty, since they don’t have to worry about competitors. The floors and frozen food cases were filthy, as you can see in the photos. There is little variety. You can see a woman stocking the shelves with the same mayonnaise that fills the entire aisle, top to bottom, left to right. Every aisle was like that….the same exact brand and size is the only brand and size, and it fills the shelves.

It was hot. Unreasonably, absolutely HOT. Every time we got out of our air-conditioned car, we were walking into an oven, barely able to catch a breath. No matter what we were seeing, no matter how interesting, all we wanted to do was get back inside the car, where it was cool.

The photo of the street just before the grocery store photos represents a remarkable material….planks of wood. Many (many) years ago, the governor’s wife was tired of hearing the click-clack of carriages on the brick street outside the mansion. They replaced the bricks with wood to make it quieter! It has been replaced many times since then. Looking at it, we weren’t sure what it was made of, at first. It looked like bricks, but not quite.

Then came two jewels of Havana. After the grocery store photos are pictures from Fusterlandia. Jose Fuster was inspired by Gaudi and his work in Barcelona. If you look carefully, you will also see many similarities to Picasso. Fuster wanted to create a similar place of whimsy in his native Havana. So, he started making mosaic art installations in his house and his neighbors’ houses as well. There is no charge to enter and take photos to your heart’s content. There is a donation box, which was quite full, and you can purchase items too, of course.

The last photos are of the Gran Parque Metropolitano, also called the Forest of Havana. It is fabulous….a lush rainforest in the heart of Havana. There were tour buses and taxis all along the river, with people taking photos of this improbable treasure in the midst of the city.

All in all, would we return? You bet! We had a fabulous Cuban lunch at Paladar Buenaventura, an open-air restaurant with excellent food, including plantains, black beans, piccadillo, chicken with pineapple, tamals, and a wonderful soup. The bread basket was served with spicy garlic-infused oil. Lunches were typical American prices. Entrees with beans, rice, salad, and bread cost between 13-16 CUC. If you are not on a cruise, Cuba can be very expensive. Havana’s hotels range from $200-900 per night. Their money, the CUC, is on a par with the American dollar, but with fees, you only get 87 CUC for $100 US. The average worker earns $3 per day. In the grocery store, a small “snack-size” bag of Oreos cost $3.45. Can you imagine spending what you earn in a day on a bag of cookies? We are hopeful that after almost 70 years of Communism, people can again, in the near future, have a taste of freedom, earn real money, travel, and enjoy robust trade with other countries. It feels like it’s time.

Quirky. Funny. Happy. Key West has a great sense of humor! It is Party City, right up there with Las Vegas and New Orleans. Key West was our first entry on this blog, but there is only one picture and no commentary, as we didn’t yet know what we were doing, nor quite how this website worked. But today is different….both lots of photos AND descriptions of them!

We have visited Key West several times, and it is normally too hot here to think about anything but air conditioning. Today, there was a lovely breeze all morning and into the afternoon, so walking around was really pleasant.

The photos show some quirky fake animals as well as a family of chickens, which roam around freely. The fourth photo is of a bar with enough currency from all different countries to pay off the mortgage! The photo after that reads, “U.S. flags protected by bat-swinging crazy (really) New Yorker – break or remove at your own risk!” It sounds like he has had it. The police car’s motto is “Protecting and Serving Paradise”….and there are many signs welcoming visitors to Paradise. If only it weren’t so humid and devastatingly hot!

Do you love the tree with a heart it built into its trunk? And there is an old Packard we saw in an almost-hidden driveway, along with some bananas, gorgeous red flowers, and some of the tropical houses along the way. My favorite food in the world is potato and cheese pierogies, which we don’t eat any more since going on a low-carb diet. But then we stumbled upon Pierogi Polish Market in Key West, of all places. No, we did not partake. But I wanted to. Finally, there is the picture of the ecclesial coat of arms we took at the Basilica. We thought it most interesting that it contains both a conch shell and a palm tree! Somehow, you expect it to have more “churchy” items on it. We were delighted at the whimsy! And how about the old Strand Theater, newly remodeled and now a Walgreens? Is it not fabulous? Finally, the last photo is looking down Duval Street, the main drag. The best thing to do is walk its 14 blocks…the only place in the US where, on one street, you can walk from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico! So fun. Quirky. Funny. Happy.

So here’s a mouthful for you: Lake Anasagunticook, Maine. It is near Canton, Maine (population 900, and idyllic). The mouthful is its actual name on maps, but people from Canton call it Canton Lake. We were visiting Mike’s cousin, Sarah, and her family, and had a spectacular time. EVERY place looked like the first photo! It was serene, calm, small town, and quintessential New England. Sarah told us a funny story about the lake. Far in the distance on the first photo is the island in the second photo. Sarah said the man who built it put boulders out on the lake in winter every time the lake froze over. As the ice melted, the boulders dropped and formed the foundation for the island. The man built a tiny castle on it, along with a miniature faux lighthouse. The lighthouse is actually the outhouse for the home!

The last two photos are the Atlantic Ocean along the Boston/Revere coast. We are in Boston to take a cruise to Cuba, and last night was “date night”…a movie and dinner in Revere, so we drove out to the beach after dinner (D’Amelio’s Off the Boat Seafood…some of the best Eggplant Parmesan on the planet) and got some almost-nighttime photos. Even at 8:00 pm, it was warm, sultry, and had several groups of people who didn’t want to give up on the day just yet.

Back in the US….Back in the US….Back in the US of A! (Yeah, we know the Beatles song is back in the USSR, but we are happy to be back.). Canada is wonderful, and we very much enjoyed driving it from one coast to the other, but one’s home country is best…familiar and comforting. Almost immediately, we purchased a quart of famous Maine blueberries. Now, here’s the thing: they don’t taste like the big, sweet blueberries we normally get in grocery stores, which often taste more sweet than anything. These berries aren’t as sweet, but they are teeny-tiny, and they have more of a blueberry taste than we have had in years. Pure, organic, no-pesticide blueberries! The woman said we could eat them without rinsing them, so we had many handfuls as we drove. Pure heaven! We entered the US at Calais, ME, about an hour west of St. John, and drove Route 9 into Bangor. We couldn’t put our finger on why, but almost immediately, we both thought that it didn’t look like Canada anymore, but very American. There were trees and fields and flowers, but it was different. Mike remarked that none of the fields we passed were planted with crops, but just left natural. There were more houses along the road, and for some reason, they seemed less formal, more relaxed, more laid back than those on Canada, if that makes sense! A mystery, for sure!

We know from trivia competitions that Prague is called the City of Spires, but we noticed all of these spires in Bangor and wanted to feature them. (Apparently, residents are very particular about the pronunciation: BANG-ore, not Banger.) There is also a river walk along the Penobscot River that is very inviting. The last six photos illustrate the best thing in Bangor and in the best reason to visit: Stephen King’s home. One of our favorite authors and the King of Horror, car after car stopped to take photos of the house, and we all talked and laughed about stopping there. We also all agreed that it would be a pain to live in a historic neighborhood filled with expensive, gorgeous Victorian houses, only to have carloads of people stopping throughout the day, 7 days a week. At any rate, there are two photos of the home, his jumping frog way down in the corner of the property, and closeups of the bats, gargoyle, and cobwebs on the gate. It was our second time there, our encore visit, and both times the house looked empty and quiet. We wonder if the family ever gets to enjoy the front porch or the balcony above the porch? The price of fame……

Did you know that there is a fifth time zone in Canada? We didn’t! We are one hour ahead of the Eastern time zone in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island…..called the Atlantic time zone. We are always learning new things as we travel. We have now driven across Canada from Vancouver on the West Coast to Charlottetown on the East Coast. Quite the journey. Two interesting things we noticed as we traveled Canada were the lack of billboards and the extreme tidiness/neatness of all of the homes and farms that we passed. Every property looked as though it was ready to be photographed. The lack of billboards…and the plenitude of trees and fields….made traveling in this country very peaceful. There was a lack of the busyness and drama that is often around us.

Prince Edward Island completes our goal of visiting all 10 Canadian provinces. It is named after Queen Victoria’s father, and it is common to see it called PEI. The Confederation Bridge, just about 20 years old, connects the island with the mainland. Before its construction, there was a 3- or 4-hour wait for a car ferry to cross the Strait. So the bridge was most welcome. However, it cost $1 billion to construct, so there is a one-way toll when you leave. Now is the time to be sitting down, without hot coffee in your mouth: the toll is $47!!!! It is the steepest toll we have ever paid to cross a bridge. It is quite the hot button issue, as Islanders have repeatedly asked for a reduced price. But no, they pay the same toll as one-time visitors. Yikes!

The fabulous pink flamingo inflatable is what everyone was photographing in the harbor! The other photos show the harbor, complete with Adirondack chairs, which are everywhere; a business’s welcoming front porch; City Hall; The Tuna; and a delightful pub. The last three photos are of St. Dunstan’s Cathedral. Have you ever, ever, seen a sign in a church forbidding in-line skating?? We are still smiling over that and would love to know the story behind it!