The Mountains Are Calling - Travel in 2020

I did not think I would be traveling this year.  We have been under quarantine for three months. We had cancelled a planned trip to Sweden for June.   We had grown content staying at home.  No complaints.  We had our masks for when we ventured out locally.  All was good even in trying times like these.  Then fate stepped in.   My younger daughter had  gone through a period of unemployment.   She lived in Atlanta and had been offered a job in Boston.  So she ended up moving in April from Atlanta to Boston and was driving all that distance in the midst of the the quarantine  My older daughter ended up in the hospital in May for a week.  And when she returned home to recuperate she was informed her company was going through a COVID caused reduction in force and she no longer had a job. So I had a lot more on my mind than just a pandemic and no masks could cover my anxiety.  I was escaping a lot of this by looking at my photos and at Facebook pages related to Switzerland.   Switzerland is one of my favorite travel destinations.  The mountains calm me and bring me peace.   

The first week in June my oldest daughter Katie received an offer for a contracting job in New Hampshire.  She had only been unemployed for two weeks so this was a God send.   The company interviewed her over the internet.  They liked her and thought she would be a good match for their company but they wanted to meet her in person first.  This was completely understandable.  So she planned her drive from Baltimore to Lancaster, New Hampshire.   

Lancaster was not only in New Hampshire.  But it was high north New Hampshire.  This would mean at least an eight or nine hour drive from Baltimore.  Not wanting to see her drive all that distance alone I offered to go with her.  She happily agreed this would be best.  So it wasn't Switzerland, but the mountains were calling and I must go.  During our quarantine Katie sent me  a few surprise gifts from Amazon to lift my spirits.  The cup in the photo at the beginning of this blog was one of those gifts.  The cup was imprinted with the words The Mountains Are Calling and I Must Go.  So it does seem like fate was playing a game with us all and all things were working for the best.

Travel during a pandemic is different.  I expected it to be different.  I wasn't packing passports, power adapters, or language guides.  I was packing masks, rubber gloves and hand sanitizer.  Food was also an issue.  It was a double problem.  Katie was on a restricted diet from her hospital stay.  And there was no place open for food other than fast food drive throughs and order in advance carry out.  Luckily we were able to stop in Boston to visit my younger daughter Danielle and she prepared lunch for us.  She was trying to prepare something for us that would be ready when we arrived so we could eat, visit and  then hit the road again.   But this was not easy.  We had a major hiccup on the road.  We were dependent on a maps app that streamed from the phone into the car through blu ray.  We stopped at a rest stop where we gloved and masked up for a break.  When we restarted the car the phone app for the map started an automatic update and we had no map for a few miles.  When we finally had map service again we had missed a major exit making us arrive in Boston two hours later than planned.  We had to text Danielle updates on our location so she could make sure not to cook too early or too late.   It all worked out.  We arrived two hours late and stayed longer than  we had planned but it was all good.  We would just arrive a little later in New Hampshire.  

We also luckily had Mark at home giving us guidance.  Mark is a map guru.  I hate maps.  Mark loves maps and studies them.  When he and I travel he will have the trip all worked out in his head from the maps he studies at home.  He then hands me the atlas, points me to the page, and asks me to watch for exits.  I then get confused, read the map wrong, and end up having no idea where we are located.   Mark was texting us helpful directions while we had the phone app updating.  He mentioned to watch for the Tappan Zee Bridge near Tarrytown, New York several times.  Once again I am useless with directions and maps and now apparently useless looking for bridges also.  I never saw the Tappan Zee bridge.   

A while later Mark calls me on the phone and asks if we ever crossed the bridge.   I said no.  I never saw the bridge.  But we were now past Tarrytown, New York and back on our way.   He said then you had to have crossed the Tappan Zee River.   I said no.  There was no sign for the Tappan Zee River or Bridge.  But we did cross a beautiful bridge about twenty minutes ago.  It was the  Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.  It appears that Cuomo is the name for the Tappan Zee Bridge.  Yes once again the map guru was right and I was not.   Even when we aren't traveling together we still get into arguments over maps it seems.    

Driving through New York State we saw signs of locations that immediately hit me with nostalgic memories.   We passed New Rochelle which immediately reminded me of the home of Rob and Laura Petry on the old Dick Van Dyke Show.   Then we passed Brewester, New York which gave me my best memory.   I said to Katie we should stop in Brewester to dine at Lou Marie's French Restaurant.  Katie glanced over at me kind of puzzled wondering where that came from.  I told her he was Ann Marie's father.   She was still a bit confused.   Then I explained it was That Girl which she knows is one of my favorites.

It was on to Massachusettes to see Danielle and Andrea.  We had not been to see them in Atlanta for at least a year so we were excited to see them now in Boston and to have a quick visit. 

After spending an extra hour with Danielle we finally left to continue on to Lancaster, New Hampshire. We had originally planned to arrive around eight o"clock but by now we were three hours behind schedule.   We arrived at the Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa at eleven o'clock that evening.  It was very dark on the back roads in New Hampshire with no kind of street lights.   Katie mentioned she was glad I was with her on these dark roads.   It would not have been fun navigating them alone.  We finally found the hotel on a very deserted dark road.  The hotel was immense.  It is a 300 room resort.   The hotel had been closed for eleven weeks due to COVID quarantine rules in New Hampshire.   The had just reopened two days before our arrival.   There were only two or three other cars in the parking lot when we arrived.   We found they belonged to the staff and that we were the two of very few guests actually at the hotel.  We had to wear our masks in the hotel lobby while checking in.   The lady at the front desk said she thought we might have cancelled due to our late arrival.  But she was very pleasant and told us she was glad to be back at work again.

Mountain View Grand Resort and Spa

While in New Hampshire I spent my time walking and hiking the small roads and trails near the hotel while Katie was interviewing for the job opportunity.   I saw signs warning of moose crossing.  Although it would have been exciting I did not see any moose.   I did see some deer along the road.  And some wild turkeys on the farm at the hotel.   We were told to watch for moose on the roads at night.  It was difficult to see them in the dark.  The same for deer.  And to our surprise we were told to watch for wild turkeys also.  We were told hitting a turkey could total you car as well as a moose or deer.   Who knew?

Our return trip home was  not very different from our drive up.  We missed one of our exits on the interstate and decided to back track to find the exit rather than continue to drive out of our way.   Food was still an issue for us.  With Katie's restricted diet and a lack of open restaurants we had to resort to fast food drive throughs again.   We drove back through Vermont and stopped at a small gas station with a small store attached.   The area reminded us very much of some old country stores we had seen in the southern part of the US.  We noted the only difference was the accent.   We were tired.  It had been a whirlwind road trip.  Leaving Baltimore early on Sunday and back home late Tuesday night.  But it was a nice break from being house bound in quarantine.  As always the mountains spoke spoke to me.  I was refreshed but tired.  And Katie returned home with a new job which is the best part.  

It wasn't Switzerland but the mountains were beautiful.  They called me and I answered.  Even if only for a day.

                                                                                                                      

Elvis, Memphis, and the Queens of Comedy

Just a quick reference to this blog for when I read it later.  I am on my second week being house bound trying to avoid the corona virus.   Many people have posted online about all of the projects they have completed around their home.  They have posted all of the wonderful meals they have cooked.   Some talk about time bonding with family.  Me?   I have been sitting in my family room daily with the TV playing in the back ground.  I have not bothered to change out of my sweat suits.  My dog is gaining weight from sharing all of my snacks I have been eating while watching the TV.   And I am finding that I am not really hating it.  It's becoming my new norm.  I have travel plans that we cancelled which is minor in the grand scheme of things.   I collect coffee mugs when I travel.  So to entertain  myself I have been having my morning coffee in a different cup each day, and have posted a imaginary travel moment with the cup on Facebook each day.  This morning I used my Memphis Music Hall of Fame coffee cup and traveled to Memphis.   This immediately sparked some memories, both good and bad, from my visit to Memphis.  My movie on  TV is a little boring this afternoon so I decided to write a blog about my memories of the visit to Memphis.

Larry with quarantined beard and Memphis coffee mug

We traveled to Memphis in April of 2018.  This was part of our Music Legends car trip with our friend Gillian from England.   We drove from our home in Baltimore south through the Smokey Mountains and had many fun music related experiences.    To me personally Memphis was the least exciting part of our trip.  To be fair to Memphis though we had spent three days previously in Nashville.  Nashville is a city that is alive all day.  The streets are busy.  The honky tonks have life music playing non stop.  And the streets stay full of tourists.    We were expecting a similar experience in Memphis.   But we arrived to find empty streets and empty honky tonks.  Beale Street, which is Memphis's main entertainment street could not compare to Broadway in Nashville.  In Memphis defence we did not get to spend any evenings in  Memphis as our hotel was about fifty miles south in Tunica, Mississippi.   But our days in Memphis found Beale Street to be almost vacant.

An empty Beale Street in Memphis

Away from Beale Street there was still much to see and do. We spent some time along the water front.   We visited the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid.  That does not sound exciting but it was quite fascinating and well worth visiting.   It sits on the bank of the Mississippi River.  It is huge.   At one time it was a basketball arena.   And it is very impressive.   It contains a hotel, a tropical forest with live alligators, and  a beautiful bar at it peak with a deck over looking the river.

  We spent quite a bit of time exploring the pyramid.   Much of this was spent enjoying the bar and some cool drinks of course.  We had to take the worlds tallest free standing  elevator to reach the bar.  So that gave us one fun fact to add to our list of accomplishments.

World's tallest free standing elevator

Mark and Gillian surrounded by an aquarium at the bar

The bar is located at the top of the elevator.  It has an over sized aquarium filling the area behind the bar.  It was a beautiful place for a drink.

Mark, Gillian and  I on the deck of the Pro Bass Shop Pyramid

Of course if you are in Memphis one of the must see attractions is Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.   I am a huge fan of Elvis.   I believe Gillian also likes Elvis.   But Mark on the other hand really has not opinion one way or the other on Elvis.   So Graceland was kind of a non event for him. 

Two very excited Elvis fans on the bus to Graceland....and Mark

In the end Mark did enjoy the tour.  But just not on the level that I enjoyed it.  The house was a big tacky, dated and bizarre.   But if you love the legend of Elvis you expect and appreciate this.

Graceland

Elvis Living Room

The TV Room

The Famous Jungle Room 

Elvis's Grave

Memorial to Elvis at Graceland

Of course knowing me I had to take at least one funny selfie in Graceland.   I found the perfect location going down the mirrored stair case into the Jungle Room.

All in all the three of us did have fun touring Graceland. 

On a more somber note there are other historical sites to visit in Memphis that are not laughs and fun.    We  visited the Dr. Martin Luther Kind Jr Memorial at the Lorraine Hotel.   This was not a place for fun selfies or laughs.   It is just one of those places you feel you must visit.   It was very moving and heartbreaking to see the location of the murder of Dr. King.  I am a child of the 60's and have emotional memories that will never leave me from the day of his murder.   Seeing the location and the memorial brought all of those back to mind.   It's a place to think.  A place to show respect.  And a space to feel no shame in shedding a tear.

You can actually walk through the hotel where he stayed.  However the museum was closed the day we were there and I was actually kind of glad about that.  I can not imagine the emotion of walking through that room.   I don't think I could have walked into the room.

Adele Givens , Laura Hayes, Mo'Nique and Sommore - The Queens of Comedy

One of the biggest highlights for Mark and I in Memphis was the chance to see the theater where the video The Queens of Comedy was filmed.   For the uninitiated The Queens of Comedy is a wild irreverent hysterical comedy concert filmed in Memphis.  The comedians on the show were Laura Hayes, Adele Givens, Sommore, and our fellow Baltimore favorite Mo'Nique.   Mark and I own the DVD of the concert.  We have watched it many many times and each time are in tears with laughter.   Gillian had not really heard of The Queens of Comedy so we had to teach her all about it.   When the ladies arrive in Memphis they drive across the Mississippi River on the Hernando de Soto Bridge aka The Big M. As the cross the bridge in their car the raise their hand and shout MemPHIS with the accent on the PHIS.   So when we crossed the bridge Mark and I both yelled MemPHIS.   This was not the only time we yelled MemPhis while in the city.  We yelled at at any given opportunity in the city.   Even from the top of the Pro Bass Shop pyramid.   Just ask Gillian

You must yell MemPHIS when crossing this bridge if you visit, just for Mark and I

We talked with a lady at the Memphis visitors center.  We mentioned our love of The Queens of  Comedy and she laughed.  She asked us "Do you guys really remember that show?  That was a long time ago."   And then Mark quoted some jokes to her and she cracked  up.  She said to us you guys are real fans and then shared a joke she remember from the show also.  Poor Gillian was lost to all of this but she is used to that.  We lose her at least once on every trip and have to explain to her our enthusiasm. 

Finally we found the theater where they filmed the show.  The Orpheum Theater in Memphis.  And once more we yelled out loud MemPHIS.

Mo'Nique we did you proud in Memphis.  We shared your jokes.   We yelled MemPHIS.  We educated Gillian about your show.   You are our home town Baltimore Academy Award Winning Actress.   We are you fans.

Mo'Nique

If you travel to Memphis and you see the Orpheum give a big MemPHIS shout for Mark and I and our girl Mo'Nique.   And if you come to visit us at our house we will play the DVD for you.

One last fun note about Memphis.   If you visit the Hard Rock Cafe you can see Shakira's bra.   If you are a fan it's worth the journey.

Corona Virus, Pandemics and Remembering My Grandmother

Edward and Bertha Roth's wedding photo 1918

I have been reading about the Corona Virus for over two months now.  From the first outbreak in China up until counting the daily death toll here at home there has been little of anything else to think about.   It is on the TV news non stop.  And Facebook is no escape from it either.  There is the doom and gloom daily updates and the humorous daily memes to capture our attention online.   We are not supposed to gather in large groups right now.  Weddings are being cancelled and conducted with no guests.   There are questions about how to hold memorial services for our deceased when we are not supposed to gather in groups of more than ten.   Our schools are closed.  Many are without jobs.  We will never forget these days.   Much like watching the daily body counts from the Viet Nam war on TV we now are counting bodies by country and ranking which ones have the most deaths.  It's truly frightening and exhausting.

I was joking with some friends on Facebook today and we were comparing our efforts scrubbing our floors and house holds today.   As I scrubbed my own kitchen and dining area today with Pine Sol I took a deep breath and smelled the fresh scent of the Pine Sol.  I was immediately back in my Grandmothers tiny three room apartment.  She scrubbed and cleaned her apartment on a daily basis.  The minute I would walk into her home I was surrounded with the scent of Pine Sol.   I could not help but feel her presence with me today while I cleaned.

As I reminisced about her today it dawned on me that she was alive for the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic to which  out current situation is so often compared.   And yet I never remember her ever talking about surviving a pandemic.  Her name was Bertha Wilson but was known as Bertie to most of her friends.   She was born in 1897.   I stopped to think about what she might have been doing in 1918.   She was not bombarded with non stop daily updates about the pandemic.  Radio's were not common in most homes until the late 1920's.  There was no TV with twenty four news and daily Presidential updates.   There was no internet to surround her with doom and gloom.  So I have to wonder if she even  realized there was a terrible flu spreading across the world.

I did some quick research on the Spanish Flu today.  It started spreading across the globe in 1918.   One article stated that many believed the virus came to the United States through the military.  In 1918 my grandmother met and married her husband Edward Roth.

Edward Roth 1916

The second waveof  the Spanish flu arrived in the United State late summer 1918.  It is believed it was carried by the returning dough boys from World War I.  My grandfather was one of those dough boys returning home and was stationed at the newly opened Aberdeen Proving Ground.  The virus spread from Boston and to New York and Philadelphia before spreading west to St. Louis and San Francisco.

Dough Boys Returning Home - My grandfather Edward Roth upper left

Edward Roth 1918

Here in Maryland the first notice of the flu came in late September 1918 in a handful of soldiers at Camp Meade.  Each soldier was quarantined.  But visitors and other solders were allowed to come and go at will.  Then within a few days there were almost 2,000 cases reported at the camp.   In Baltimore theaters and railway and street car operators were asked to keep their spaces well ventilated.  They were asked to post signs suggesting travelers sneeze and cough into kerchiefs.

My grandmother Bertha Wilson and her mother Katherine Wilson

I do know my grandmother had a very active and busy year in 1918 during the epidemic. She met and married my grandfather. They moved from Maryland to Indiana, his home, after they were married that year. While in Indiana my grandmother had one child who was still born. She was very depressed and missed her home and family very much. So they moved back to Maryland in early 1919 while the flu was still active in the country. But she survived. I never knew my grandfather. He died when my mother was still a teenager during the Great Depression. My grandmother lived until 1976. She raised four children during the Depression. She survived the death of her husband. Every year she would watch our local 4th of July parade. When the military from Aberdeen Proving Ground would march past she would put her hand over her heart and say there go my boys. And she would always have a tear. Sad but sweet memories for her I am sure.




My grandmother often spoke of World War II. She would mention the black out drills, the rationing and the the Great Depression. She loved telling stories. But she never once mentioned the great pandemic of the Spanish Flu. She survived all of this. And we too will survive this pandemic. And maybe like her I will never mention it again.

My grandmother Bertha Wilson with me 1953

Plagues, Epidemics and Memorials - History Repeating Itself

Pestsäule - Plague Column - Vienna Austria

Travel is my passion,  and taking photos of my travels is my favorite hobby.   So when faced with social distancing and the threat of quarantine due to the COVID-19 virus, I find going through my travel photos and thinking of the beautiful places I have visited brings some sort of calmness to the madness all around me right now.  With all of the attention focused on Corona Virus today, I found myself being led to photos I have taken of Plague Memorials in Central Europe.  

Santa Maria della Salute, Venice Italy

Santa Maria della Salute on the Grand Canal in Venice

 In the summer of 1630 and up until 1631 a wave of the plague assaulted Venice killing nearly a third of its population.   As an offering for the city's deliverance from the plague the city vowed to build a church dedicated to Our Lady of Health, Santa Maria della Salute.  The city decided not to dedicate the church just to the plague or a patron saint.  They decided to dedicate it to the Virgin Mary who they believed was the protector of their Republic.  I visited Venice in the spring of 2002.   When I arrived in Piazza San Marco and walked to the water front of the Grand Canal this beautiful basilica dominated the horizon.   

Images of Santa Maria Della Salute

Church of All Saints - Sedlac, Czech Republic

Two years after my visit to Venice, I traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic in 2004.  I returned  again in 2015.  Both times I visited the Kostnice located in the village of Sedlac.   The Kostnice is an Ossuary or Bone Church.   It is named the Church of All Saints.   In all of my travels this is truly one of the most fascinating places I have seen. 

The cemetery and Church of All Saints - Sedlac, Czech Republic

  In the thirteenth century the Abbott of the Monastery in Sedlac was sent to the Holy Land in Jerusalem.  He returned with a mound of dirt believed to have come from Golgotha.  He spread the dirt over the Abbey cemetery.  Because of this dirt this became a very important burial location.  During the fourteenth century the cemetery was filled with bodies from the Black Plague.  A new chapel was built in the fifteen hundreds. Many graves were exhumed for the new chapel and the bones were stored in the basement of the new church.   In 1870 the history of these bodies from the Black Plague takes on a macabre and fascinating turn.   Frantisek Rint was a local woodcarver.  He was employed to organize the old bones that had been laying the basement for all of these years.  The bones were used to decorate the church.  Chandeliers, a chalice and altars were all transformed into bones.  Rint even signed his work by writing his name on the wall with bones.  

Signature of the artist

The plague Column of the Virgin Mary Immaculate in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

Just a short walk from Sedlac is the village of Kutna Hora.  Located here is a Plague Column.  I have seen  several of these through out Europe.  This one was built as a reminder of the death from the plague of the early 1700's.  There is a statue of Mary on top of the column as on many Plague columns.  Many of these columns were built to honor Mary in hopes for protection from other plagues.  

Trinity Monument - Prague, Czech Republic

The Trinity Monument is another Plague Column in the Czech Republic.  This one is located in Prague's Lesser Town Square.   At one time there was a pillory and gallows here.  So this square is historically associated with death.  But now there is a monument here that memorialized the end of a disease that plagued the city of Prague.  After the outbreak of the early 1700's was finally under control, the city erected this Plague Column.

Pestsäule - Plague Column - Vienna Austria

The Trinity Column in Vienna is located on Graben, one of the main streets in the inner city.  It is one of the better know Plague Columns in Europe.  It was built after the great epidemic of 1679 and is one of the cities great pieces of art often compared to the work of Bernini in Rome.  While I was in Vienna I was not worried about the plague.  My luggage was lost and never arrived.  So I was concerned with buying underwear in a city where I did not speak the language.   I took photos of the monument without really knowing what it represented until I returned home and was doing research on my photos.   At the time of the plague the Habsburg emperor Leopold I fled the city but vowed to erect a mercy column if the epidemic would end. 

I 

.These churches and monuments were erected to memorialize the loss from the great plagues that challenged the western world in their time. They were also created to ask forgiveness for the sins they felt lead to these plagues and in hopes to protect their people from future epidemics. After the horrors of 9/11 we have build great monuments and displayed pieces of the World Trade Center in our major cities across the country. We have one here in Baltimore. In New York we have build a towering sky scraper complex to replace and memorialize the original World Trade Center. I am wondering tonight what will happen at the end of the current world wide pandemic. Will we be inspired to create art and memorial fountains to remember it? Will we learn from our greed and hoarding that is harming us now? Will our current leaders promise to build memorials to our sacrificies. Or will they build great monuments to themselves to brag about their self imagined great accomplishments in fighting this enemy? We will survive. We will recover. But will we learn from our mistakes?