As promised, I’m posting a few additional photos from my travels to Vienna, Austria last week. The top two photos are a detail from Hofburg Palace and a view of St. Peter’s Church in the rain. The next is a detail from St. Peter’s. Finally, the last two are shots from St. Stephansdom: the organ on the left and a detail of the pulpit and nave on the right. More to come… DJB
Today was cold, gray, and rainy in Vienna. But since it was also the only day I had to tour the city, I hit the streets early bundled in my winter coat and sheltered (somewhat) by my travel umbrella. It turned out to be a fitting day for a (Viennese) funeral. For someone interested in history, architecture, and cities, being in Vienna for only one day on your first visit can be as frustrating as being a kid in a candy store with a very strict parent. There are only so many things you can choose. Luckily, my friends Jim and Janet (they of the great Western trip itinerary) had steered me to a wonderful (and relatively inexpensive) little family hotel that sits astride the St. Stephansdom and Hofburg districts of the city. These are the names for the medieval city and the imperial city respectively. So I could jump back and forth with ease and, in the course of a day, see 4 of the best churches in the city while also spending an hour …
Last evening in Bratislava, i went with friends and colleagues from the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) to a lecture and reception hosted by the Slovakian Ministry of Culture and the National Trust of Slovakia. The evening was at a former palace for the Roman Catholic Cardinal in Bratislava, and so was very opulent and grand. We entered through a courtyard and came across the statue of St. George slaying the dragon that you see at the left. We were admiring it when someone said, “I didn’t know St. George had to kill THREE dragons.” Well, we looked closer and there was only one dragon, but this variety had three heads. One bit of speculation was that the Cardinal simply wanted more water in the fountain and a three-headed dragon was the answer. Whatever the reasoning, it was another good day for our meetings, which were held at the University Library in Old Town. The library was part of a complex of three historic buildings, which have been adaptively reused. The courtyard (see photo) made …
On a beautiful fall day at the height of the fall color season, Candice and I walked through Maryland’s Sligo Creek Park today and soaked up the wonders of nature. The Washington area is blessed with parks and Rock Creek is the best known. But where Rock Creek Park can be busy on a gorgeous day, nearby Sligo Creek Parkway – located five minutes from our front door – is a great alternative with less crowding. So we walked for an hour, breathed the fresh air, took a few pictures of the creek and the fall foliage, and tried to just “be.” We hope you’ll enjoy. More to come… DJB
Last weekend I had the chance to tour Old Salem while on a work trip to Winston-Salem. It had been more than 10 years since I visited this historic home of the Moravians in North Carolina, and it was a great way to reconnect to this very historic – and special – place. I knew the day would be a treat when a long-time and dear friend, Martha Hartley, stepped on our bus with her husband Mo to give us the traditional Moravian escort from the boundaries of Wachovia. Martha and I worked together in preservation many years earlier in Virginia, and I didn’t know she had been tapped as the organizer of the day’s tours. Mo and Martha traded special insights back and forth about the founding of Salem, the impact of the landscape and waterways, and the practices of the Moravians. After the short organ recital on the David Tannenberg Organ by Janette Fishell (see my earlier post In Praise of Tracker Organs), we spent the rest of the morning touring the town, …
Views of the iconic Monument Valley, photographed by Claire H. Brown.
I just heard from my good friend Susan in California. Her note reminded me of a wonderful time that my daughter Claire and I had a couple of years ago at Susan and her husband Bill’s vineyard and winery on the Sonoma/Napa border. Susan was writing to say she enjoyed the blog and that she loved baseball, acoustic music, historic places, and teenagers. Hey, she’s my target audience! This is a post to connections and friends. Susan is a preservation lawyer. Bill is a surfer, poet, and winemaker. Their wonderful wine is Random Ridge and Claire and I enjoyed a delightful lunch and afternoon at their winery a year or two ago with the staff and families of the Western Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The day was rainy (hence the appropriateness of Susan’s photo of the double rainbow at Glen Ellen) but the friendship was warm. Claire and the other children enjoyed playing with Susan’s dog and marveling at Bill’s ceilings made of surfboards. The adults enjoyed the wine, food from …
Dolores emailed me this morning to say that our neighborhood coffee house here in Silver Spring – Kefa Cafe – was having a customer appreciation day with free food. Candice and I had been looking for a time to have a coffee together, so we braved the remnants of Hanna that are making their presence felt in Washington today and enjoyed our coffee, pastries, and good company. There’s a nice post on Kefa on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s This Place Matters site where Dolores tells why this is her Third Place in Silver Spring. Run by two sisters since 1996, it is a great place to hang out, enjoy good food, and meet interesting people. Candice and I shared our table today with two middle age guys who just returned from their weekly basketball game at a local gym…a tradition they’ve continued for 20 years. Support that special independent coffee house in your town. Like all unique and special places, they are going too fast. More to come… DJB
Our pictures from the rafting trip in New Mexico showed up the other day…so here’s one that shows who’s doing the real work in the front seat (Claire and Andrew) and who’s sitting in the “safe” middle seats (Candice and David). Enjoy! More to come… DJB
After the first day back at work, I have pulled together a few final observations from the road and even more photographs from our trip out west. Thanks to all for the nice comments (both public and private) on the travelogues. You helped by allowing us to share the joy of travel. More to come… DJB Image: Detail from Acoma by Claire Brown
MORE TO COME... 