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Photo of the Week – Netherlands

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:26:18 +0000

The land of windmills and bikes

This week I bring you a shot hot off the presses – from my current trip in Amsterdam. I felt like this picture captured quintessential Holland quite well; windmills, beautiful clouds, bicycles, and marshland. I took this shot while on a rest break from my own bicycle ride in the countryside near Amsterdam. A gorgeous day to ride into the the breezy, green flatlands.

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If you want to see more travel photography this Friday – then check out Briefcase to Backpack’s Photo Friday!

Growing Up, Growing Scared

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:10:03 +0000

I had all the kids stand up and one by one they sat down…

“If you haven’t been outside of Lincoln, Nebraska – sit down.” I stated.
Everyone remained standing…phew.
“If you haven’t been outside of Nebraska – sit down.”
I lost a couple.
“If you haven’t been outside the United States – sit down.”
They started dropping off rapidly now.
“If you haven’t been outside of North America – sit down.”
There were a meager 4 students left in my nieces 6th grade class of 60.

This is how I started my presentation to the 6th graders at my niece’s school. This wasn’t to embarrass anyone. Instead I then went on to tell them I had been to 34 countries and the first time I ever went out of North America was when I was 30 years old. Clearly, they had time to build up their travel resume; but I wanted to provide some inspiration to do so.

Letters of Thanks

I passed around my passport so they could all see what one looked like; they flipped through it eagerly. I went on to give a photography and activity-laden Power Point presentation about 3 countries I had been to: Vietnam, Nepal, and Mongolia. I compared the countries on their food, transportation, and school/family/home life. At the end, the class had to vote where they’d rather be an exchange student.

Giving this presentation was one of the most ‘non-travel’ rewarding things I did this year. The kids loved it, and I loved teaching them about parts of the world they had never heard of and leaving an impression on them that would fuel their travel desires as students and adults.

I was thrilled when I received a standing ovation at the end and kids came to talk to me in the hall about how much they liked my travel presentation. But the real treat came when I received a package from the teachers with 60 hand-written thank you notes.

I sat up late into the night, as I couldn’t put them down. They were rewarding, funny, and passionate; and peppered with many spelling mistakes. All the notes were brightly colored with stars and rainbows; it reminded me of what it was like to be a kid again.

Some of my favorite excerpts were (I left in the spelling errors for authenticity):

“During that one hour that you were there we learned alot more geography then we were taught the whole year, no joke!”
“I also thought it was pretty cool that you just quit your job to do what you wanted to do. I think that would be fun but challenging to do.”
“You inspired me to do what I like to do, instead of what makes money. Well, you make money but not as much.”
“I think I want to be a nomad to.”
“I never thought that you were a nomad because you have nice clothes and stuff.”
“You are so courageous!”

These were lovely compliments – however my thoughts really lingered on sentences like these:

“I would have liked to live in Vietnam the most. It definally looked like a lot of fun with those motorbikes!”…”and what about them holding all those things on their bikes? If I could do that I’d love it so much.”
“It sounds like fun to try all kinds of different food.”
“I like that they ride motorbikes even though there aren’t any rules.”
“It would be so interesting to visit 34 countries. The beautiful sno-capped mountains in Nepal, the flat, sandy plaines in Mongolia would be so cool to see!”
“Was it fun to have a motorbike? I think it looks really fun to have one.”
“I think it is awesome that you got to live in Vietnam.”
“I think it would be fun to try a whole new lifestyle every day!”
“I think it would be awesome with no traffic laws.”
“It is cool, but gross how you had to eat a rat! But that’s really cool!”

I lingered on the use of words like “awesome”, “cool”, and “fun”. Yes, they screamed youth in all of its glory; but they also made me think about how most kids are fearless. I thought about the comments I would have received if I had given this same presentation to my old work colleagues. I don’t think they would have unanimously thought it was cool and exciting to ride motorbike in chaotic traffic in Vietnam; or eat rat; or live with nomads in the Gobi Desert.

When did life stop being fun and start being scary? Is there a magic age where we start to worry? Where we start to conform? Where we start to be fearful of things that are different instead of embracing them?

I don’t have the answers, but I know that somewhere along the way to adulthood we change; we become scared.

As adults we look before we leap, and kids just leap. My nieces jumped into their swimming pool when it was 65 degrees for the fun and love of swimming. As an adult – who out there would do that?

The whole experience reminded me of why I love to travel and do what I do. I want to bring you another view of the world and hopefully show you that it’s not as scary as you think. I want us all to try to embrace youthful attitude again; be fearless, be open-minded.

Back when I had a home with furniture, I used to have a magnet on my fridge that said “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Try it – it may take hold. It may make you feel like a kid again.

The experience also reminded me of why I love spell-check functionality too! I had to include this one comment from a student as it had me double-over, laughing out loud. I laughed so hard, I felt like I was 11 again!

The teacher even thought it was funny...

Unique Boston Travel Experiences

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:28:49 +0000

Pink sunset over Boston

My first trip to Boston was only 12 years ago. I was 28 and was finally starting to venture out of the ‘safety’ of the Midwest. I was excited to see the city where American history came alive; I wanted to walk the Freedom Trail, see the where all the famous events took place from Boston Common to the North Church to Bunker Hill.

Not only was I interested in the old Boston, but at the time I was interested in the new Boston. Twelve years ago Boston was better known for the setting of the TV show Cheers than the Boston Tea Party. I, like many people, was a big fan of the Cheers gang; I was excited to visit the replica TV show bar.

My style of travel has certainly evolved in the last 12 years and now the thought of going where everyone else goes, or where everyone knows my name is about as exciting as going for a papsmear. With this trip to Boston, I was ready to get off the same ole tourist trail and seek out more unique travel experiences.

Boston is visited by millions each year walking the Freedom Trail, riding on Duck tours, watching the Red Sox, drinking at Cheers Bar, and sampling the famous clam chowder. If you are tired of doing what everyone else does, then it’s time to get off the tourist track…and onto the Ottsworld track to Boston!

Juliet protecting her nest

Duck Tours? See the real swans instead

Why ride a metal car/boat when you can see the real thing? (yes, I know a duck is different than a swan – but they are both birds!) Stop by the Boston Public Garden (near BostonCommon) and you’ll find some lovely swans, named Romeo and Juliet, nesting by the serene lake. Sit and watch the swans build and maintain their nest to keep the eggs safe. Granted – the babies may have hatched by the time you read this – but that’s even more reason to go check out the young ones!

Red Sox? Watch the sand sculpting competition

Skip the green monster and go see the sand monsters instead! Revere Beach in Boston hold a sand sculpting competition each year in mid July. The sand sculptures are evaluated using four categories: (1) degree of difficulty, (2) originality and creativity, (3) quality of sculpting, and (4) overall visual impact – and to the winner goes a $15,000 check…yup – it may not be a million dollar baseball salary – but it’s no small change!

Cheers Bar? See the real brewers at Harpoon Brewery

Who needs Sam the bartender when you have the young tour guides of Harpoon Brewery behind the bar? The Harpoon brewery is located in South Boston at the seaport; an unlikely place for a brewery, but worth the trip. Tours are given on the weekends and only costs $5. The best part of course is the generous tastings you get to do on the brewery tour.

Boston Harbor

Clam Chowdah? Go for some soul…food

Sure, we all know that Boston is known for sea food and especially their famous clam c

howdah. I was also surprised to find a soul food restaurant in the heart of the city called the Hen House. No seafood here, just chicken, waffles, BBQ and greens! Open late and night and delivering to your door you can have the brilliant soulful combination of waffles and fried chicken!

Freedom Trail? Follow the stars to the Southie Trail

Each day thousands of people walk the Freedom Trail, but not far from the Freedom trail lies a real melting pot of ethnicity and architectural landscape – South Boston (aka Southie). This is where the Irish and Italians originally brought their families to settle down into blue collar Boston life. Southie is the scene of many Oscar nominated movies such as Good Will Hunting and The Departed. If you pay close attention as you walk around the South Boston neighborhood, you may even start to pick up that famous Boston accent…leave your r’s behind and fit into the neighborhood!

Break away from the tourist pack and find some new travel experiences in Boston!

View and purchase my best Boston Photography

Photo of the Week – Boston

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Doing something a little different this week and instead of one photo, I’m bringing you a photo walk I did while staying in Boston this summer. I walked around the historic neighborhood of Beacon Hill where cobblestone streets and gas lamps take you back in time. Then I took a wander through the famous Boston Common; a historical gathering spot for all of Boston. The park was bursting with color and some new life this summer! Enjoy!

Gas Lights Burn all day

Cobble Stone Streets of Beacon Hill

Flowers at the Market

Beacon Hill Homes

Bike Beacon Hill

The Grand Lawn of Boston Common

Hanging Trees

Swan Gracing the Lake

Purple Pods

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To view more travel photos this Friday – check out Briefcase to Backpack’s Photo Friday!

Boston has Soul…Food

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:16:44 +0000

I love a well 'connected' waffle!

It was a measly 140 characters that came dancing across my screen and firmly implanted itself it the part of my brain responsible for desire. It happened quickly…before I could even object. Hen House had taken up residence in my brain, and now my desire had to be satiated.

Fried chicken and waffles. Together. As one happy calorie-filled family. I had to have it.

I found a friend, Marty, who was willing to join me in this soul food artery attack in Boston. On one of the hottest days of the year, we met at the Hen House where of course the air conditioner was broken; getting things off to a rough and sweaty start. The inside of the Hen House was simple…very simple. Plastic utensils, plastic plates, and lots of fountain soda graced the counter top; above that was an impressive collection of chicken knick-knacks. The woman behind the counter had a cold, wet towel draped around her neck and looked at me waiting for an order to come out of my mouth. I stood there with an indecisive look on my face, a look the woman behind the counter was all too used to. It was as if she didn’t have any more time to deal with a rookie.

The Hen House was all about decisions…hard decisions.

I stared at the menu board trying to determine what waffle, chicken combination I wanted to try. There were 4 hard decisions to make:

Decisions, Decisions...

I was paralyzed and on top of it was sweating profusely from the lack of air conditioning. I finally gave up and asked the young girl behind the counter what her favorite was. She quickly said banana, honey whipped, maple, tenders…all run together so fast I had to ask her to repeat it. I went with her advice since she was the professional.

After 5 minutes I soon heard my name called and out came a plastic plate with a round waffle on it, a large dollop of butter melting into the little squares of the waffle, and topped with 4 pieces of chicken tenders.

Nice presentation!

I took my plastic utensils and dug in to the sticky, crispy goodness. This unlikely combination was everything I was expecting and more. The silky butter and maple syrup mixture even managed to make me forget about how hot it was in the restaurant! Marty and I both finished our plastic plates and agreed Boston did indeed have soul…food.

To learn more about Boston’s Hen House resaturant serving up soul food into the wee hours of the night, check out their website at TheHenHouseBoston.com One of the niceest developed webs sites I’ve seen for a fun little restaurant. Plus – you can also find the Hen House on Facebook and Twitter!

Can’t get enough food – then hop on over to Wanderlust and Lipstick and check out other food posts for the day!

Southie Trail

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:49:03 +0000

South Boston

When traveling to Boston 80% of the people stick to the Freedom Trail re-familiarizing themselves on stories of American independence while being herded through the heart of the city. However I like to separate from the herd, and that’s just what I did as I explored a neighborhood off the tourist trail, South Boston. Southie, as locals call it, also has its share of patriotism, housing the Irish, Italian, Lithuanian, and Polish American communities. It’s where ethnicities and average income collide, and you’ll never hear an ‘r’ muttered. The Southie city landscape is as diverse as the people who live there; you’ll find seaports, cruise ship parking, warehouse districts, beaches, and old early American architecture. But mainly, you’ll realize that Southie is the blue-collar neighborhood that feeds our Boston stereotypes.

Warehouse District and Seaport

The area is slowly changing from old abandoned buildings to hipster hangouts. Cool bars are now intermixed with graffiti covered buildings; giving is a rough but trendy feel. The ‘cherry on top’ is the ICA Museum (Institute of Contemporary Art) located on the waterfront. If you walk west along the water you’ll move from warehouses to shipping yards and then eventually cruise ship parking. Another gem in the middle of this seaport gruffness is the Harpoon Brewery – a somewhat unlikely place for a brewery, but a great stop in South Boston when you are thirsty.

Warehouse Art?

Island Oasis

Castle Island is the oasis of Southie, providing a family beach, running path, picnic and fishing areas all right in Southie’s backyard. No, there is no castle with great folklore, instead it is a collection of forts built for the sea defense of Boston that make up the ‘castle’. In 360 years of the fort’s existence on the island, there was only 1 hostile action. The rest of the time it was used for training of troops, and as a prison; today it is simply a neighborhood attraction, but only on weekends and Thursday evenings. However the grounds around the fort are perfect for soaking up the sun with a nice sea breeze. Never mind the constant plane traffic; the island is on the flight path for Logan Airport. As you walk the circular path around the island you are not only graced with views of Logan Airport, but you also get nice views of downtown Boston.

Castle Island Beach

East Meets West

The eastern part of Southie is full of young families in remodeled historic homes as gentrification has moved into the neighborhood in full force. However as you walk along the main artery of Southie, Broadway St., you’ll slowly cross into a glimmer of what Southie used to be. As you cross from East Broadway to West Broadway the dog stores disappear and the dollar stores start to appear. You’ll begin to see remnants of old industry and parking lots filled with empty buses. East Broadway is littered with bars, autoshops, and pizza/sub shops. Everything seems to have some sort of Irish name. I found the Gaelic Day Spa (basically nail salon) particularly fascinating, as there was nothing Gaelic about it except the sign; inside it was all Vietnamese women. I wondered if they even understood the word Gaelic.

East Broadway is also dominated by barbershops. I love barbershops, they make me feel like I’m in an actual neighborhood where people talk to each other. Men sit and gossip, socializing with good ole boys. As I walked down Broadway, the network of South Boston good ole boys seems to be strong. You’ll find groups of older men hanging out on the sidewalks socializing; giving you the feeling they have known each other their whole lives.

Industrial Southie

Cultural Pastimes

Smoking, drinking, and gambling – this was the noticeable culture of South Boston. As I walked around Southie the number of people who were outside smoking cigarettes struck me; I sort of felt like I was back in Asia. In addition, no matter what time of the day there were people at the local Irish bars. At 9AM while I walked to the grocery store there were people outside the local pub smoking and plenty of people sitting inside too. Besides drinking and smoking, there were other patterns of activities I witnessed; the corner stores were less store and more lottery sales. I’d go in to get milk and be amazed at the line of people buying lottery tickets. In fact, one of the busiest stores was the Dunkin Donuts that sold donuts on one side and lottery tickets on the other.; a seemingly strange combination, but not for Southie.

Ethnic Treats in Southie

South Boston can provide a unique travel experience for your Boston itinerary. Next time you travel to Boston, consider skipping the Freedom trail for the ‘Southie trail’. It’s less crowded and just as interesting and rich in culture.

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Photo of the Week Egypt

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:39:17 +0000

In the Spotlight – Egypt

I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t even know where this was shot. Sure, I know I was in Egypt in yet another temple, but I had my overdose of temples much earlier in my stay, so I stopped really keeping track. As I wandered around yet another temple I turned around to look for my friend and that’s when I saw this perfectly lit shot.

The ancient Egyptian Gods provided a single ray of light to shine on this lucky man. A natural wonder.

To see more travel photography – check out Briefcase to Backpack’s Photo Friday

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Love Travel, Love Beer, Love Life

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:20:55 +0000

Choices, Choices...

When you travel, your life is enriched in so many ways. Every time I travel to a new country and immerse myself in it, there’s at least one thing from the ‘foreign’ culture I wish I could bring back and add to my own American culture. The concept of pulling the best out of each country and creating a ‘super-country’ is kind of like a Hollywood script – unbelievable. However back in the 80’s 2 young guys taking a gap year backpacking in Europe did just that on a smaller scale; with beer.

Dan and Rich, graduated from Harvard and decided to go out and see the world, or more accurately go out and drink what the world had to offer. After backpacking through Europe, they fell in love with the beer culture, and upon returning to the US, they were disappointed with the beers in America. They did what any other beer lovers with a Harvard degree would do, they got their MBA’s and started Mass Brewing Company producing Harpoon beer.

Kegs

I was surprised to find out that only 1 1/2 miles from where I’ve been staying for the last 5 weeks is the home of Harpoon Beer. Since I’m not from New England, I hadn’t really heard about Harpoon beer before, but was surprised to find out on their website they are one of the largest specialty beer producers in the US and the 3rd largest brewer in New England. I also learned the brewery only runs tours on the weekend, so I decided I would do some ‘traveling’ of my own, and walk the 1 ½ miles to the brewery for the $5 tour.

I didn’t need a map, all I had to do was follow my nose – to the smell of fish. The brewery is located in the Marine Industrial Park and seaport of South Boston. As I walked away from all of the cute little row houses of Southie, my surroundings quickly changed to long square-box buildings in various forms of disrepair. This also seemed to be the area where all of the bus charters came to rest when they weren’t chartered. Amidst this collection of warehouse buildings, buses, construction, and a fishy odor stood Harpoon Brewery. I looked at my watch before I entered; it was noon, perfect, it was officially ok to be drinking beer.

At Harpoon you enter and exit through the giftshop. The good news is that the giftshop is not only full of gifts, but full or an amazing collection of beer cans. I could have stared at that wall for hours reminiscing about beers I used to drink, or beers my dad used to drink. They actually had a can of Red White and Blue beer. That beer used to grace the garage of my childhood home; case after case. No, we weren’t a patriotic beer drinking family, we were a cheap beer drinking family. Soon they were calling me for the 12:30 tour and I was jolted out of my beer memories, and into the world of modern day brewing.

Golden Pour

I paid my $5, showed my id and was ready to start learning about Harpoon brewing. As our small group entered the brew floor, I immediately noticed the company slogan painted on the wall of the brewery – Love Beer, Love Life, Harpoon. Not a bad motto. The tour provided the usual info on the brewing process; ingredients, mash, filtering, fermentation, bottling, and shipping. It was all great stuff told by young kids that barely looked 21 (seriously – did someone check their id?) but were clearly enthusiastic about Harpoon beer.

As we entered the fermentation area, we learned we were surrounded by 40,000 gallons of beer; I was in good company. They handed us each a small tasting glass and with a quick flash of a blowtorch, the guide sanitized one of the spouts of the huge fermentation tanks and started draining out unfiltered beer into pitchers for us to taste. We finished the tour with the kegging and bottling process and since our glasses were empty, headed back of the pièce de résistance– the tasting room.

I’ve been to my share of brewery tours, bourbon tours, and wine tastings but Harpoon had to be the most generous tastings I’ve ever done. Armed with out little tasting glasses, we had the choices of 12 different beers on tap and about 20 minutes to taste whatever we wanted. My college drinking gene somehow was awakened inside of me and I bellied up to the bar and plotted out my course of tastings. I’d start with the classic IPA, move to the variety of unfiltered beers, sample the cider, and then to the dark stuff.

From Another World

The tour guide bartenders had heavy hands when it came to pouring and my little tasting glass never went empty. The UFO beers (Un-Filtered Offerings) were some of my favorites. The UFO White was a distinct nod to Belgian beers with it’s spiced wheat flavor served with an orange, and the UFO Raspberry was a refreshing summer beer that even looked pink in the glass. However my favorite was the Harpoon Dark which reminded me of coffee; a mixture of coffee and beer is kind of like a little slice of heaven to me. I drank and drank while the young tour guides socialized and threw a few back themselves (a job with perks!).

All good things come to an end unfortunately. I found myself outside the brewery with an incredible beer buzz at 1:30PM. My inner college student was happy, but my mature 40 year old mind was telling me that I better get some food in my body quickly! I walked out of the smelly seaport area, into a hip warehouse district, and found myself the perfect cheeseburger. I of course ordered a Harpoon pint to go with it.

The Harpoon Beer story is just yet another story of how travel makes the world a better place. So what are you waiting for – get out there and go explore the world! You never know what you will find!

Tasting Room

What things have you seen in your travels that you’d like to bring back to America to infiltrate our culture?

The Facts:
Harpoon Brewing Company
306 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
Tours held on the weekend only, no reservation necessary. Tastings done daily.
Website: http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/

Itinerary Update – Boston to Europe

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:44:28 +0000

Greetings from New England!

It’s time for a little Sherry update. I try not to do these too often so that I can remain a mystery and therefore more interesting…but here goes – the mystery is revealed in a short post.

Waiting for the fireworks in Boston

Where am I now?

I’ve been in Boston now for 5 weeks house-sitting and haven’t really written a thing about it.
Bad, bad, travel blogger.
My lack of Boston writing has been due to my lack of Boston activities. I’m not looking for pity, but it’s simply a fact. I’ve kind of chosen not to go out much because I took the opportunity to work on some other writing/website projects. However all of this online, inside time has taken its toll. I lack a nice bronze summer tan and I’ve been through a bottle of eye drops already thanks to staring at this screen.

My pale skin and dry eyes are because my other project, Meet Plan Go!, is coming along nicely. I’m working harder than I ever have…but the difference is that I’m absolutely loving it. It’s amazing that when you start working for yourself, how much more fun work becomes. It’s exhilarating, scary, and challenging…and it’s for me.

My Virtual World

Brian, Amy, and I drinking patriotic beers on the 4th.

I attended the Travel Blog Exchange Conference in NYC at the end of June. This was a chance for my virtual life to collide with my physical life as I met online travel friends I’ve known for 2 years, but never shook their hand or gave them a hug. The collision resulted in a Super Nova of travel blogging goodness. It also made me realize once again that I really do love what I’m doing.

I’ve had more virtual/physical world collisions lately as I spent the 4th of July with my longtime online friends and Ottsworld enthusiasts, Brian, Amy, and Marty. I totally believe in the fact that you can meet people and make friendships online. After meeting Amy in person after conversing with her for over a year and a half online, it was like meeting a long lost friend. Everything clicked. And to top it off – it not only clicked, but it banged…with a great fireworks display along the Charles River in Boston!

Where Next?

Heading to the flower capital of the world!

I’ve also been working on some of my upcoming travel plans. They are still rather fuzzy to share everything, however my next immediate move is to head to Europe at the end of July for the month of August! I haven’t been to Europe since 2007, so I’m pretty excited to get across the pond again; especially since the Euro has tanked a bit.

I’ll be hitting two brand spankin’ new countries for me – Netherlands and Belgium. Hard to believe that I’ve never been to Amsterdam, but finally I’ll be setting foot in that eclectic city full of art, and freedom of expression. I’m even going to try couch surfing for my first time ever in Amsterdam., so expect more info on that shortly.

I’m also continuing my house-sitting gigs as I house-sit for a family in Brussels for 1 month. I’m loading up on my allergy pills and taking care of 3 cats while exploring Brussels and the surrounding cities and countries via the fabulous European train system. My two priorities in Brussels are chocolate and beer – the rest is just icing on the cake.

NYC to Midwest

I’ll be back in the NYC in September to kick off Meet, Plan, Go! in 13, yes – 13 cities across the country. I’ll spend the fall in the midwest house-sitting while I work on launching a product after Meet Plan Go that will hopefully be just as amazing as the event itself – stay tuned for that announcement!

That brings me to November – then what?

The Big Bang of Boston

Well, all I can say is that I will be dusting off the passport again for some grand new adventures in new parts of the world; I promise you it won’t disappoint!

On a happiness quotient – it’s over the top. I realize that as I am coming up to my 4 year anniversary of leaving Corporate America (that deserves a few fireworks!), I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’ve completely transformed my life; something that I didn’t even think was possible.

But it is…

With a little time, determination, perseverance, and lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it is possible to move yourself in a whole new direction.

Before I head to Europe, I’m determined to bring you Boston over the next few weeks! So – stay tuned to learn about my experiences in the ‘mother city’ of America!

Photo of the Week – World Cup Fever

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:50:27 +0000

Balancing Act

Balancing Act – Rome, Italy

I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve been transformed into a football fan. Yes, that’s right, I said football, not soccer; just to prove how authentic the transformation is. With the World Cup championship coming up this weekend, I felt like I better give this new love of mine visibility on my Photo of the Week. One of the constants as I travel and live around the world was the presence of the beloved game of football. From Thailand to Turkey to Italy to Kenya – it is the world’s sport.

I snapped this shot in a park in Rome. Teenage boys were walking on one of the many paths and this one decided to show off some skills. Who knows – maybe he’ll play in the World Cup one day…

To see more photography from Rome, visit my Global Photography website where you can view and purchase photography from around the world.

To see more travel photography check out Briefcase to Backpack’s Photo Friday or to see more World Cup photography check out Wandering Educators World Cup photo of the week.

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High Tech meets Old Fashioned in San Francisco

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:42:18 +0000

This is why they call it the Golden Gate?

While in San Francisco I had the opportunity to go out to a number of new places. Let’s face it, when you are abroad for 1 ½ years, everything is new to you. When my friend David mentioned going to a speakeasy, I was confused; did I hear him correctly – a speakeasy?

He quickly got on his iphone and started surfing the web. A few minutes later he showed me the screen which read,
Your password is sugardaddy

“Remember that password” he said. “I made a reservation for 9:30.”

“Ummm, ok. ” I replied a bit confused.

As we hung out and waited for our 9:30 reservation, he told me about the new speakeasy in San Francisco. ‘New’ and ‘speakeasy’ didn’t really seem to belong together in 2010, but I had been living outside of the US for a while, so maybe this wasn’t as strange as it sounded.

Apparently this secretive place had a lot of rules and some really strong drinks. You could only get in with the password (which thanks to a computer algorithm was constantly changed) and you could get inside only at the prescribed reservation time. I was intrigued. I love new takes on the old (i.e. Shirley Bassey – The Remix Album… Diamonds Are Forever CD); modern technology meets old ways of doing things. That’s why I loved this idea of a speakeasy with web access. The only way you could make a reservation and get a password was by going to their website as a member and filling out the appropriate info. They generated a password and electronically provided it to you. A far cry from the 1920’s; but a really cool take on an old way of doing something.

We hurried through the dimly lit streets of the Tenderloin neighborhood to a big wooden door with a silver button and intercom. The building had no windows and it looked extremely plain which made it blend in with the surrounding dismal buildings. We rang the bell and you could hear a little electronic buzzer go off inside. A little window peephole opened up and two eyes were staring back at us.
“What’s the password?” the eyes said
“Sugardaddy” I said

The window peephole closed, we heard a lock turn, and the door opened…we were in!

Inside it was dark with burgundy and wood décor giving it a warm, old feeling. Old chandeliers hung from the ceiling and little intimate booths lined the walls with individual lamps creating a soft glow on each table. The music was crackly jazz with piano accompaniment. The atmosphere was clandestine and the place oozed character.

The rules were posted on the wall and went something like this:
No using cell phones
No pictures
No speaking loudly
No standing around the bar

…and that’s honestly all I could remember since I was not allowed to use my cell phone or camera to take notes of the rest!

Tastey Bourbon

The waitress took us to a booth and provided us with a menu that resembled a novel. There was a modern twist on old liquors making reading the menu a pleasure; I never knew that bourbon could be used in so many ways! The waitress was dressed in a funky 1920’s hat with a feather in it and called everyone ‘friends’. She brought us over a small champagne cocktail while we looked over the extensive drink menu; she knew that it may take a while for us to decide. Eventually she sauntered over and asked, “Friends, what can I get you tonight?”

As we sat and sipped our strong bourbon drinks from martini glasses, I noticed a waitress take a group of people through the bookshelf behind our booth. Yes, that’s right; this speakeasy even had hidden rooms. If one were to move the book on the shelf just right, the shelf opened up to a door and led you into yet another bar area.

In some weird way I felt like I was in an adult Disneyland. Someone had meticulously created this environment as a very authentic step back into time. I felt as if I were in another world; a foreign experience in my own country. But it wasn’t foreign from a culture standpoint, it was foreign from a history standpoint which is what really made it unique to me.

I can hardly wait to log into the website, get another password, and go back again next time I’m in San Francisco. Now, you may be wondering why I haven’t told you the name of the place or the location….duh…it’s a secret! Unless of course you provide me the secret password in the comments below…then I might give up the location!

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