Airportland...

So for years Phil and I have referred to the experience of getting somewhere when you travel overseas as a visit to Airportland. It is the place you must traverse to get to where you want to be- a hazing in so many ways, but an evil that appears to be necessary in today's world - maybe some point in the future it will be different but for now- a visit to Airportland brings much waiting, much walking, some rushing, a lot more waiting, lines for every part of the process, and as mediocre food as possible LOL

So we tried to ameliorate the mediocre food a tiny bit by eating right before getting to the airport at a nearby mall franchised restaurant. It was decent if not memorable- 

Then we were off to TPA for the first leg of our journey to Spain via London Gatwick.

I admit to fascination with all things maps and most things airplanes. If I ever flew BA business before it's been years. Despite doing business in London for two decades I can only recall flying United Business or First.  These seats (they call them suites ) are well designed with all sorts of cubby storage and easy access to in seat power (no ab twists required) the tray table has multi settings for eating, working, snacking etc. The map (which is my flight entertainment of choice) is a new weirdly 3D motion that also gives tours of the cities you came from and are going to.... Not liking the frenetic pace so I think I'll change to the aerial tour of Britain.

We flew on British Airways in Club World class (read Business class with a fancy name LOL) The service was great, the meal fell off a steep cliff after the appetizer but hey- it's airplane food... we could not check our bags all the way through (yes we - who NEVER check bags, had bags to check as we are gone for 2 months)  so we had to exit security in London Gatwick and pick up our bags and recheck them to Sevilla.  A process I would not recommend to anyone... enough said. 

Then we had booked a day use room at the onsite BLOC (weirdly mini rooms) hotel. Our layover was eight hours.... so we went to the hotel and the best thing about it was - we paid for an upgrade to a room with a window LOL - so we didn't feel like we were in a cave but - well the view was... well it speaks for itself.

Then it was more waiting, after leaving the hotel and going through a horrific security check... There's something about "Airportland" that creates zombie like behavior - especially for those early AM arrivals from the States into Europe for transit passengers. No amount of caffeine makes up for the lack of sleep overnight. For years my boss Lew and I used to ride around on a HOHO bus and eat a few times while waiting for our rooms to be readied in London. Here we wait at London Gatwick for a flight to Sevilla dehydrated and desperate for sleep. But as every traveler knows. You forget the horror of Airportland when you arrive at your destination and are sitting - say for example, overlooking the Grand Canal in Venezia sipping an Aperol Spritz. So, onward we go.... #mykingdomforapillow

A tale of two hotels in one day. Or: A Room With/Out a View. Our first view (shown above) could perhaps be titled "post nuclear winter". On the other hand when we arrived in Seville around 8pm and when I opened the balcony doors of hotel room two ("2 for Tuesday") I found an orange tree and a lovely street below. Gotta love travel. It builds character. 

 

Here's a funny one- our bathroom at the day room was a toilet and small sink INSIDE a small shower stall - our second hotel has a very very spacious bathroom with a separate toilet room down the hall way. NOT "lo mismo" (Spainsh for "la même chose")

After a good night's sleep and a lovely breakfast at the hotel we tried to check in to our rental but were told we couldn't check in for a couple of hours - while they cleaned - so we went to a park, and then went for a lunch a nearby restaurant where we had sodas and then a lunch and made a dinner reservation.  We have arrived in Spain.! 

We checked into the apartment and went to the grocery for a few items to tide us over until we really got a chance to settle in... the unpacking took a long long time.... LOL I committed the crime (in our family) of overpacking.- next year I will do better- I am out of practice on long long long trips...  so stay tuned.... hasta la vista! 

as promised

So we have had a whirlwind summer so far and we aren't really even quite half way.  It's no excuse for the dearth of posts but it is an accurate statement. During the period where we were fully in wedding mode I got the idea to write about the Grandpas. It was spurred on by two things- this post from the Center for the Great Apes which is an organization we support. It is a rescue facility for chimpanzees and orangutans.

I favor the orangs over the chimps but this info about two new chimp residents really grabbed me. And if I am losing you already this post is NOT about chimps and IS about the four grandfathers Phil and I have.... so hang on....

Just two weeks ago, we had an emergency call about two adult male chimpanzees in Oklahoma (Joe and Bo) who needed an immediate home. They lived in separate cages and had never been together.

Even though we’ve not yet finished our expansion construction for additional space, the need for this rescue was urgent. So, we drove to Oklahoma (with our veterinarian) and picked them up. They arrived here last week after a 22-hour drive back from Oklahoma, and we have them in our quarantine area at the veterinary clinic for the time being.

Even though Joe and Bo had never been in the same space together, we introduced them after they arrived here, and it was heartwarming to see how happy they were to be with each other! Right away, they began softly panting and laughing while they hugged and groomed one another.

Joe (believed to be in his 60s) was wild-caught, and as an infant, was used at a major Midwest zoo in their old “chimp shows”. When he grew too big to perform, he was sent to a drive-through safari park in Oklahoma. Joe and his mate Lily produced many offspring at the safari park, but the infants were sold as exotic pets or as entertainers. Amazingly, we have four of their offspring already living here who came from entertainment and from the pet trade – Murray, twins Jonah & Jacob, and Ellie.

After the safari park closed, Joe and Lily were sent to a California trainer for use as breeders. But it didn’t work out, so Joe and Lily were moved again to a private zoo in Oklahoma where they were held in small cages for 11 years. Unfortunately, Lily died there a few years ago.

The other chimpanzee, Bo, is thought to be in his 30s. He was also in the entertainment business in California where he produced at least one infant … and then was sent to a Missouri facility before finally ending up in Oklahoma.

But what we discovered after they arrived is that our little 9-year-old Bentley (who was sent to our sanctuary in February along with two other former entertainment chimps) is actually the grandson of both these older males!

These two unrelated chimpanzees living in different states for many years each sired offspring who were used in the ape trade business. One of Joe’s daughters and Bo’s son now live together in Missouri and are the parents of Bentley!

So they are both Bentley's grandfathers who coincidentally ended up in Oklahoma from different owners. Joe and Bo now peacefully live together at CGA, and we refer to them as “the grandpas”.

As if the story wasn't touching enough- look at these guys- one looks like Abe Vigoda and the other like Judd Hirsch LOL

 

I love their expressions and how much they look just like grandpas- I wonder if they will get a chance to meet and dote over Bentley their common grandson...  what a heartwarming story.

And while sadly both Phil and my grandfathers had passed away by the time we met, we had wonderful grandpas too! So this is a short tale of who they were and it starts with a camera... and a wedding photo from Angela's recent wedding...

and this photo of the bride - the groom and the bride's grandmother - Grandma Sue who made it to the wedding in her ninetieth year on the planet, where it was recorded with the EXACT SAME BROWNIE CAMERA as her first year on the planet.  Yes that's right - her father - Phil's Grandpa Joe Lerner bought a box camera to take photos of his first born child his daughter Rita Sue (always known as Sue)

They no longer make film for the camera but you can buy spools of 120 loaded onto retrofitted spools. It is hard to load as the whole camera inner workings must come out to load the spool across the back.  The shutter mechanism has no timer or or release you just flip is and open the shutter for a short moment - the high speed film and full sun do the work as the camera has no real mechanism.  It is a box with a small lens opening- which by the way you see upside down and backwards in a tiny (and I mean tiny) window... oh and you have to guess when you have to wind it to the right point on the film because it is sized differently than the numbers so you stop at 3 and 1/2  and 6 etc... 

So to say the photos at the wedding were a "crap shoot" was not at all an understatement...LOL

From wikipedia

Brownie is the name of a long-running popular series of simple and inexpensive cameras made by Eastman Kodak.

The Brownie camera, introduced in February 1900, invented low-cost photography by introducing the concept of the snapshot to the masses. The Brownie was a very basic cardboard box camera with a simple meniscus lens that took 2 1/4-inch square pictures on 117 roll film. The Brownie camera was conceived and marketed for sales of Kodak roll films. Because of its simple controls and initial price of $1 along with the low price of Kodak roll film and processing, The Brownie camera achieved and surpassed its marketing goal.

The Brownie is among the most important cameras in history.

from what I can tell this particular camera is a Brownie 2- 

 Brownie Number 2

The Kodak Brownie Number 2 is a box camera that was manufactured by the Eastman Kodak Company from 1901 to 1935. There were five models, A through F, and it was the first camera to use 120 film. It also came with a viewfinder and a handle. The Brownie Number 2 was made of a choice of three materials: cardboard, costing US$2.00, aluminum, costing US$2.75, and a color model which cost US$2.50. It was a very popular and affordable camera, and many are still in use by film photographers.

this is from a blog I found called Lomography and it explains the process of using the camera better than I have- 

Even though it’s an early camera, the Kodak No. 2A Brownie Model C has some features that are still interesting today. One extremely interesting feature is that the 2A Model C has two viewfinders – one for portrait mode and another one for landscape mode. Along with two viewfinders, the 2A Model C has two tripod bushes so that you can mount the camera in either portrait or landscape mode. The 2A Model C also has a “B” setting for long exposures and an interesting shutter release that works differently from any other I’ve seen. The “B” mode switch is a little tab on top of the camera that you lift up. When the tab is down, the shutter release will momentarily open the shutter every time you move it from one side to the other. You operate the shutter by toggling it back and forth, either up and down or left and right, depending on the orientation of the camera. Each time you switch it from one position to the other the shutter will quickly open and close. When you lift the “B” tab, the shutter release will keep the shutter open until you switch it back to where you started – either down-up-down or up-down-up. Interesting. The other tab next to the “B” tab is the aperture setting is the aperture switch. It’s just a metal plate with three holes in it. The instructions just call them “Small”, “Medium”, and “Large”. The actual apertures are close to either f/11, f/16, and f/22; or f/16, f/22, and f/32 depending on whom you believe. The No. 2A Brownie was designed for a film that is no longer available, but you can use 120 film in it 

but Grandpa Joe wasn't the only Grandpa in this story who had a love of cameras- I had two grandfathers who had love of cameras in different ways-  My mother's father King who we referred to as Granddad was a traveler and always had a camera with him.  My father's father Ed- who we referred to as Pop Pop - was in PR much of his career life and during the Depression he traveled around the country making films for the National Underwriters (I guess fire safety and such...) 

here is a photo of him from that era - 

and here is a short film he made of his own family with borrowed film equipment- starring his father and wife and son (my dad) - this film would have been taken before my great grandfather died in 1937...

Phil adored his grandparents Norma and Joe Lerner and the feeling was mutual. He was their first grandson and how lucky they were to get such a handsome genius like Philip LOL - and if you were your grandparents first born grandchild you know the same sentiment holds true for you LOL. 

Here is a photo of Sue (far right)  likely taken with the camera we used at Angela's wedding 

Sue and Grandpa Joe in a later photo but likely the same camera given the size and format. 

And another from that era- 

now - to my knowledge the remaining photos are not from that camera but are some of the few that Phil has of his family (unlike my family- where there are literally more than a thousand going back multiple generations)

This one is baby Phil and Grandpa Joe - and their expressions in each other's presence didn't change for the remainder of their lives together- 

and here is one of my mother as a toddler with her mother - my grandmother Catherine McFarland Cox Haight  - who everyone called Lovie except my Dad who called her Katie.

and one of my Dad as a toddler - circa 1929

as I said we have plenty to choose from - and here is one of me with my great grandmother's sister Aunt Fan! (Frances Hill Pieck)

she was one of the stunning Hill sisters shown below- with my great grandmother Minnie in the red circle and Fan next to her the others were called Teensie and Lillie...

that one above was obviously not taken with a Brownie - but I am fairly certain this one below of Granddad and his mother - known as DearMa which was taken in 1928 was- 

and this one of my mom in 1930 was as well - 

and here is a Granddad and me photo from 1955

but you get the drift of it- LOL - grandpas have cameras for a reason and now of course we just pick up our phones and snap photos like this one of Phil and his surrogate grandchild Alix- who is now already 7 but in this photo she was almost one whole year old! 

so the thread continues to run through the lives of families everywhere including the non human ones we started this story with- Bo and Joe the chimp grandpas! 

a new place

I know a lot of you think all I do is go out to eat - LOL- and yes it is true that we do a lot of restaurant exploration but really if I had to give it up and eat at Red Lobster I could do it. What I could NOT do is stop exploring the world.  No matter how many fabulous restaurants I went to or how much amazing wine I drank my life would be diminished without travel.

And since it has been a few months (three to be exact) since I left the country I am well and truly ready to be on to my next adventure in exploring our world...

Luckily today my paperwork arrived for my upcoming trip to Uzbekistan - so I can start thinking of packing and preparation for my departure in three weeks-

Caroline Eden is a travel writer from the UK and she is hosting this trip of ten plus ME! (max12 - so if you are thinking this might be of interest - there is still time!)

So much new to see and learn about- this will be my first trip to the Caucuses and this part of the Silk Route (which we have touched the fringes of from the China side when we were in Lijiang and Zhongdian a couple of years ago) - have wanted to do "the stans" for more than a decade (since traveling with my buddy Oscar in India in 2005) but the timing never worked out for it... until now!
below a map of the China end of one of the numerous trade routes that make up the "silk route."

History of Silk Road. From the second century BC to the end of the fourteenth century AD, a great trade route originated from Chang'an (now Xian) in the east and ended at the Mediterranean in the west, linking China with the Roman Empire.  Because China silk comprised a large proportion of the trade along this ancient road, in 1877, it was named the 'Silk Road' by Ferdinand von Richthofen, an eminent German geographer.

The Central Route ran west along the southern foot of Tianshan Mountains, passing Loulan (now Ruoqiang), Turpan , Korla, Kuche (Kuqa), Aksu and Kashgar, afterwards went over the freezing Pamirs, wound to Mashhad via the Fergana Basin, Samarkand, Bukhara and finally joined the Southern Route.

From wikipedia-
While the term is of modern coinage, the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk (and horses) carried out along its length, beginning during the Han dynasty.  The Han dynasty expanded Central Asian sections of the trade routes, largely through missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy, Zhang Qian. The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.

Trade on the Silk Road played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of China, the Goguryeo kingdom (Korea), Japan, the Subcontinent, Persia, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia, opening long-distance political and economic relations between the civilizations. Though silk was certainly the major trade item exported from China, many other goods were traded, and religions, syncretic philosophies, and various technologies. Diseases, most notably plague, also spread along the Silk Routes. In addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network.

Chinese, Arabs, Turkmens, Indians, Persians, Somalis, Greeks, Syrians, Romans, Georgians, Armenians, Bactrians, and (from the 5th to the 8th century) the Sogdians were the main traders along the route.  In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site.

so all of this is kind of "ancient history" because after the Mongols left the area the various tribes and factions fell into warring and made the route impossible to use - improved seagoing vessels became the carriers of these goods and trade- and here is where things headed to once the North American continent was "discovered" by Europeans... the map below is from the 16th century 

the flow of history reminds us that once great empires and nations do not always remain in their leadership roles forever...LOL a lesson learned again and again on this planet - or perhaps never learned... but I will leave you there - as the time nears for us to leave for today's events and our concert for tonight! more later as always- so stay tuned!