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It’s been quite a long summer, but we’ve survived and Kathleen has returned home from her long sojourn in Detroit. We decided a short break was in order before the fall semester starts, so we booked a last-minute deal to Washington, DC. Kathleen did her master’s degree at Gallaudet in DC, and I’ve worked there a lot, but we’d never been there together, so this trip was a good chance to share stories and favorite places.

We flew AirTran airlines out of Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, an airline neither of us had flown before. We fortunately had lightly-sold flights, so they were hawking business-class upgrades for a very cheap price. To get our vacation off to a good start we splurged and flew business class. Nice! On arrival in DC, one step outside of the terminal reminded us why Congress recesses for the month of August. We were greeted by the oppressive heat and humidity for which DC is famous, and which we’d have to survive for the next 4 days.

We arrived in DC on Thursday afternoon and took the Metro to our hotel – which turned out to be the same Holiday Inn I’d stayed at when I traveled to DC with the Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program. It was well-located, just a half-dozen blocks from the White House and close to DuPont Circle, the area where Kathleen lived when she was in DC. After a brief rest (our flight left MSP at 6:00 AM!), we headed out to explore the neighborhood around DuPont Circle. After some time in Kramer Books & Afterwords (my first DC bookstore experienced on a trip while in college), we headed to Union Station and across the street to the Dubliner for dinner and some pints while enjoying live Irish music. It was an evening of lots of memories of our times in Irish pubs for trad sessions, so we both ended the night feeling homesick for Ireland.

Friday morning we headed out to the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building. In all my trips to DC, I’d never managed to spend any time in this building. It was a visit that was long overdue – as Kathleen said, “I’ve found my happy place at the Library of Congress.” The building is simply amazing, to say nothing of the wonderful exhibits on display, including a great exhibit on the development of the Constitution. Also on display was Thomas Jefferson’s original library, which formed the basis for the Library of Congress after the original collection was burned in the War of 1812. As a collector and lover of books, I’m always intrigued to see what books other people read. Looking at Jefferson’s library it was clear that he was an amazing man of many diverse interests.

After too-short a time at the Library of Congress (for the record, all our stops on the trip were too short!), we headed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. We had booked tickets for 1:15, and we not quite ready to leave when they closed the museum at 5:20. The museum’s exhibits are beautifully designed, and provide probably the most densely-packed collection of information either of us had seen in a museum. It’s an incredibly powerful place to visit. A special exhibition on Nazi propaganda left us both feeling like the propaganda on display wasn’t so much distant history as recent – sadly, fear and anger are still useful tools in selling bad ideas.

Next we headed for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, a long wander past the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial and Lincoln Memorial on the Mall. While making the trip down the Mall, we saw a number of tours passing by on Segways, which gave us an idea for something else to do. Arriving at the FDR Memorial just a couple of hours before sunset, we nearly had the place to ourselves. The Memorial is covered with sayings from Roosevelt that are so timely even today, as we seem to be fighting many of the same fights he did (health care, social safety net, war).

With a rainbow leading the way, we headed to the Jefferson Memorial, long a favorite of both Kathleen and I. We wandered a bit there, then scurried across the river just ahead of the incoming rain storm. We hailed a cab and headed to the Adams-Morgan neighborhood, a funky area that was a hangout of Kathleen’s in her DC days. We spent a bit of time in the local voodoo store, hit a book store, then went to Meskerem for Ethiopian food. It was my first experience with traditional Ethiopian food, served on a communal plate with bread and no utensils. The food and experience was just amazing.

Saturday morning we headed to Georgetown, an area I’d only visited once before. We wandered some of the shops, explored Georgetown University’s campus, and had a light breakfast overlooking the C & O Canal. We caught the shuttle back to DuPont Circle and spent some time exploring the area between DuPont and the White House (including a stop at the famous Mayflower Hotel for a soda). We made it back to our hotel early enough for a quick rest before heading out for a long evening. We met my old friend Naveed and went out for El Salvadoran food at another of Kathleen’s old haunts, El Tamarindo. The evening began with a pitcher of margaritas, and away we went! After a great dinner we wandered up the street further into Adams-Morgan until we found a bar with an empty outdoor table where we had some more refreshments while catching up with Naveed.

Sunday morning, like the good church-goers we are, we got up and headed to Washington National Cathedral just in time to catch a service. This was one spot in DC that neither Kathleen nor I had visited. It’s truly a beautiful building, and I was surprised to learn that the Cathedral had only been completed in 1990. We stayed for most of the service, which was full of all the pomp that you’d expect in an Episcopal Cathedral. We took some time to wander the Cathedral grounds and gardens before catching a cab to our next destination, the Politics & Prose bookstore.

We had seen Politics & Prose mentioned in one of the local free papers. It caught my eye because they had author readings nearly every day, and most of them were authors I’d be interested in meeting. It’s easily one of the best bookstores we’ve ever visited. In fact, on walking out of there with several signed books, I told Kathleen we probably couldn’t afford to live in the same town as this bookstore.

Late afternoon on Sunday we headed to the Capital Segway store for our very own Segway tour of DC. Though the Sunday tours were slightly more expensive than the Monday tours, I had opted to book for Sunday evening thinking that the streets would be less crowded and it would be a little easier to maneuver. That decision really paid off when we got to the store and learned that we were the only two people booked on our tour. So, after a few minutes tutorial in the store, our guide Aaron took us across the street to the park where we could practice for a few minutes before setting off on our tour. The Segway really is an amazing piece of hardware. After only a very few minutes’ practice it really does become quite easy to drive. You simply lean forward or backward to go forward or backward, and tilt the handlebars to turn. Once you get used to it, it really seems that if you think about moving forward, you do. I’ve included a couple of videos of us here, but be sure to check out Capital Segway’s YouTube account to get the full effect.

Den Practicing on the Segway

Kathleen Practicing on the Segway

Kathleen Buzzing the Capitol on the Segway

So, feeling like veteran riders already, we headed out on our 2-hour tour which would run a big loop around the White House, Washington Monument, most of the Smithsonian, the U.S. Capitol building, Supreme Court and Library of Congress. We had of course already covered a lot of that ground, but it was a whole lot easier on a Segway! I know there was a lot of hype when the Segway came out that they would change our cities. Having now ridden one, I think if they can get the price down on them they truly will revolutionize our cities. They’re a perfect way to move around a crowded city like DC, and a whole lot of fun! We’ll definitely take future opportunities to ride.

Monday was our last day in the city, but we had a late flight, so we had some time to cram a bit more into the trip. We headed for the National Museum of the American Indian. This was another new stop for both Kathleen and I, as the museum hasn’t been around DC all that long. It’s a really beautiful sandstone building surrounded by flora native to the DC area prior to white settlement. The interior of the building is equally beautiful. We had time to only dip our toes into the museum’s exhibits, but were very impressed with the graphic and instructional design of the entire museum. We’ll definitely be back for another visit. We topped off our visit with lunch in the museum’s Mitsitam Cafe, which serves indigenous foods from 5 different regions of the Americas.

Finally, for our last running stop on this trip, we hit the World Bank’s InfoShop bookstore, the perfect capstone to what was really a truly geeky getaway. Once again we found ourselves coveting far more books than we were able to buy (even though we’d found a 30% off coupon in one of the local papers!). At this point though we were having to consider the weight of our checked luggage for our return flight. We finally had to leave for the airport, but with a renewed sense of possibilities for future work in the third world.

We had a truly great trip to DC. It was a nice break from everyday life, which has been kind of overwhelming this summer. But more than that, it was a chance to get a peek at lives we’d lived separately in this city in the past, and a chance to get a peek at possible future lives. Not too bad for a last-minute getaway.

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This past weekend Kathleen and I headed up to Duluth, MN for a weekend getaway. It was a pretty low-key weekend, we just hung out in Duluth’s Canal Park neighborhood, wandered around a bit, caught an IMAX movie, ate out, walked along the lake. Check out some pics from the weekend.

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Well I guess I can admit it publicly – I celebrated my 40th birthday recently. Since this is supposed to be one of life’s big milestones (hasn’t felt like it!), we decided to celebrate in grand style. Kathleen planned a long-weekend trip to Malta for us. Kathleen had brought a group of students to Malta a couple of years ago, so had a good idea of where to go and what to see.

We flew out of Dublin airport on Saturday morning at the ungodly hour of 7:00AM via Ryanair. They’re cheap, but that’s all you can say for them. That did get us into Malta by 11:00 local time though, so we got most of the day Saturday to play. We got off the plane and were greeted by sunshine and temperatures in the 60s, a nice change from the cold, rainy Dublin we’d just left.

We hopped a bus from the airport into Valletta, and got our first indication of what an economical trip this would turn out to be – bus fare from the airport to Valletta, a distance of about 6 miles, was €0.47 per person! (Malta converted to the euro on January 1 this year.) Quite a change from Dublin. It would seem one of the ways Malta keeps their bus fares low is by keeping buses in service, well, forever. We saw all kinds of buses dating from the 1950s to present-day. I got the impression (since confirmed) that the individual drivers owned their own buses, as we saw a wide variety of cleanliness levels and upkeep on the buses. It was rare to see a bus with a door though. The drivers were still struggling with the switch-over to the euro, and would often drive down the street while still counting change to passengers out of a coffee can in their lap. At one point we even saw a driver talking on his cell phone with one hand while counting out change, shifting and driving with the other.

When we got into Valletta, we spent most of the afternoon wandering the ancient capital city. This walled city was founded in 1566. The architecture is kind of an interesting mix of southern-European and northern-Africa influences. Most of the construction is limestone block, as the island is made up of mostly limestone. We especially enjoyed walking along the Mediterranean basking in the warm sunshine. And, as Kathleen had predicted, I found a lot of photo opportunities. Before the weekend was over we would shoot something in the neighborhood of 500 pictures – thank god for digital! We grabbed some pastizis for lunch from a street vendor, kind of a croissant-type crust with cheese and/or other ingredients baked in. A pair set us back a whole €0.20.

Late Saturday afternoon we hopped a bus to St. George’s Bay where our seaside hotel was located. We checked in and managed to fit in a quick nap (did I mention we left for the airport before 5:00AM?). Then it was off to wander the neighborhood. We walked for a couple of miles along the beautiful sea-front promenade, still in short sleeves and no coat! Finally it was time to eat, so we found a nice little Italian place where we could sit out on the deck overlooking St. Julians Bay. We were joined during dinner by a constant stream of cats begging for food. Malta is absolutely overrun by stray cats, so of course Kathleen was in heaven.

Sunday morning we were up and out early to take full advantage of the day. We started with a huge breakfast buffet at the hotel, then boarded a bus for Valletta. We spent a couple of hours wandering the Sunday market in Valletta, seeing beautiful handmade lace, lots of live birds for sale, more junk than you could shake a stick at, and the biggest collection of pirated CDs and DVDs I’d ever seen.

By late morning it was time to hop another bus to Cirkewwa on the north side of the island to hop a ferry to Gozo. As my special birthday treat, Kathleen had arranged for us to rent scooters to spend the day tooling around on Gozo, even though she’d never ridden before. You can see where this is headed, right? Anyway, Gozo was just a 20-minute ferry ride away. The scooter rental folks met us at the ferry dock with two incredibly well-worn scooters. A quick lesson, fill out some paperwork (fully-insured, woohoo!), and we were turned loose. Helmets fully adjusted to cover our frontal lobes, we set off up the hill. Having spent all day Saturday on the urban-feeling coast of Malta, Sunday would be spent on the much more rural Gozo, an island about 8 miles long and half as wide.

We set off first for Xlendi, a small seaside town. We quickly discovered that Malta has even fewer road signs than Ireland, so we spent most of the day navigating by guess, and going down a lot of wrong roads. The drive to Xlendi was mostly on well-paved roads though, so it was a good start to the day for those of us not feeling so confident on the scooter (ahem). We stopped in Xlendi for a soda and ice-cream cone, once again sitting by the sea and enjoying the sunny skies and warm temps.

From Xlendi we set out in search of the Azure Window, a spectacular cliff formation. We wandered some of the roughest roads we’d see all day in several mistaken attempts to get there, finally spotting the right road a mile away across some pretty rough terrain. Our scooters weren’t up for that, so it was back up the road to find the right road. Along the way we saw one of the biggest limestone quarries I’ve ever seen, with perfectly-vertical chiseled walls and huge blocks of limestone covering the bottom of the quarry.

We finally found our way to the Azure Window, finally catching up to a huge line of traffic also headed there. With small scooters, parking was of course no problem, and we set off to explore the area on foot. Did I mention the weather was perfect? This was especially nice as we’d gotten an email from our friend Mark at the start of our day telling us that the temperature back home in Wisconsin was -15F.

Back onto the scooters, we started the long uphill climb away from the sea, mixed in with a steady stream of cars also leaving the Azure Window. This road was more typical of the roads on Gozo, kind of paved but full of potholes and covered with loose gravel. I was leading up the hill and spotted a huge pothole in time to avoid it. Kathleen, about 100 yards behind me, also spotted it, but not in time to avoid it. I looked in my mirror just in time to see her lose control and fly over the handlebars of the bike. I quickly stopped and turned around, but by the time I got back to her she was already on her feet and picking up her scooter, waving traffic past her. She was shaken, of course, and had a nice case of road rash on her arm, shoulder and leg. Like a trooper though, she was right back onto the bike (also slightly damaged) and away we went. We headed up the road to Gharb where we could pull off and walk around a bit to give Kathleen a chance to steady her nerves.

With the afternoon sliding by, we headed for Victoria. We parked the bikes and walked around the Citadel, a beautiful walled city fortified over 400 years ago. It was late enough in the afternoon that the light was perfect for photos, especially with all the limestone buildings. We spent a little time exploring there, then it was time to head for Mgarr harbor in the fading light. We dropped off the scooters and boarded the ferry back to Malta. We caught a bus back to the hotel, but ended up in a traffic jam for over an hour as most of the population of Malta tried to drive the same road. Heading back to the hotel, a sore Kathleen decided she wanted a comfort-food meal of risotto to end the day. After checking several Italian restaurants we found one with risotto on the menu. I opted to go for their set menu, and ended up having a 4-course meal that was one of the best Italian meals I’ve ever eaten. I was stuffed full halfway through the meal but just couldn’t stop eating. Kathleen tucked into an enormous bowl of risotto and ended up in the same shape. Once again reminding us that we weren’t in Dublin, this monster meal, with drinks, ended up costing us around €28!

Monday morning we had a bit of a lie-in, ate breakfast at the hotel then boarded a bus for the Ta’ Qali crafts village. Located on the site of a World War II airfield, the village is comprised of a series of quonset huts, each housing a different craftsperson or company. We got to see glassblowers, silversmiths, ceramics workers and woodworkers all in action. The setting was pretty rough, but the craftsmanship on display was pretty impressive.

Next up was a stop at the Malta Aviation Museum where we learned a lot about Malta’s central role in World War II. The museum has a great collection, and is small enough that you can get up close and personal with a lot of the planes on display. It was amazing to read that Malta was subject to over 3,300 air-raids during World War II, one of the most-heavily bombed targets of the war.

Onto the bus again, our next stop was Mdina, the old capital of Malta. This city has a history going back over 6,000 years. The architecture and feel of this place was just unbelievable. It was very quiet this day, so we often found ourselves walking down these ancient streets all by ourselves. Once again I was shooting pictures non-stop. After lunch in Mdina, we caught a bus back to Sliema to wind down the day exploring this part of the city. We wandered and did a bit of shopping, then found our way to Manoel Island and checked out the boatyards as the sun went down and the moon came up.

We headed back to the hotel early in the evening so we could take advantage of the pool and hot tub to soak our weary bodies. After, we went out to find a place to eat. We decided we were in the mood for Indian food, but weren’t able to find an Indian restaurant. So we hopped a bus with the plan to ride until we spotted one. Kathleen’s eagle eye picked one out after about 20 minutes, so we got off at the next stop. We found the restaurant open but empty, and sat down for one of the best Indian meals we’d ever had. Through the evening we had a long chat with the owner, an Indian gentleman who’d moved to Malta 27 years ago to open his own restaurant. As we’ve often found, conversation ranged across a wide variety of topics, but the American elections were a big interest. This evening, and really this whole trip, was one of those “Can you believe this is our life?” moments!

Tuesday we were able to have another brief lie-in before getting up and boarding another pair of buses to the airport. Onto the plane for an uneventful trip home, though our 3-hour flight was lengthened by a whole hour due to heavy headwinds. We arrived back to a Dublin that was cold and rainy, just like we left it. That evening we caught a bus to meet some friends in Dublin and experienced huge culture shock as the bus was new, had a door, and the driver didn’t count change and talk on the phone while he drove.

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Our good friend Kat Lui is spending the fall semester teaching at the Wisconsin in Scotland program in Dalkeith, Scotland. This gave us the perfect chance to not only spend a second Thanksgiving in a row with Kat, but also to spend a few days and have Thanskgiving dinner in a palace. We flew from Dublin to Edinburgh on Wednesday evening, arriving to a rainy Edinburgh. We caught the airport bus to downtown Edinburgh, and my first glimpse of rainy Edinburgh was picture-perfect. It really is an amazingly beautiful city, with the castle and many other old buildings towering over downtown from on top of Castle Hill, all nicely lit at night. We wandered in the rain for a bit, then caught a cab out to Dalkeith House to link up with Kat, her brother Andy, visiting from London, and his girlfriend Elizabeth from Boston.

Thursday morning was a work day for both Kathleen and Kat, so I headed into Dalkeith and explored the town, then came back and hiked for a bit on the estate’s grounds. Dalkeith House sits in what is now a county park, consisting of about 1,500 acres, mostly wooded. There was still a fair bit of color on the trees, and with the colder temps it definitely reminded me of Wisconsin.

Thursday afternoon was Thanksgiving feast time. We gathered in the palace dining area with around 50 other folks at the Palace, students and visiting family members and friends. Henry, the Palace chef, had prepared a full American-style Thanksgiving dinner with the help of a number of students on kitchen duty. We started the celebration with everyone opening their Christmas crackers to find funny hats and toys. We then queued up for our dinner, which consisted of turkey, stuffing, cranberries, green beans, brussel sprouts and roasted potatoes, all in large portions.

After dinner, we had some time on our own, so Kathleen, Kat, Andy, Elizabeth and I went out and hiked around the Palace grounds. We returned to the house in time for the evening’s celebration, a traditional Scottish ceilidh. Yes, there was dancing. Yes, I did. Yes, there is video proof. No, you can’t see it. But you can see some pics below, and I hope to soon have some video of Kat, Andy and Elizabeth uploaded. A good time was had by all, and more importantly, nobody got hurt. Which, given the complexity of some of the dances they taught us, seems like a minor miracle.

Friday and Saturday we took time to explore Edinburgh with Kat. We were fortunate to have mostly sunny weather, a rarity in Edinburgh just like in Ireland. The Christmas markets had just opened as well, so we got a chance to explore those and sample a lot of good food along the way.

Saturday evening it was back to the airport for our flight home to Dublin. We had the good (mis-) fortune to share our flight with about 40 incredibly drunk football fans, so the flight was a little more exciting than we cared for – more on that later, maybe.

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!

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Check out NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day web site for a very cool photo of an astronaut floating free in his manned-maneuvering unit (jetpack). He’s a long way from home!

After nearly a year driving on Ireland’s roads, we’ve learned that you have to pay close attention all the time because you never know what you might see. It’s not at all unusual to see herds of various types of animals being herded down the middle of the road between fields. So, you plan extra time for any trip, and stop and wait when you have to.

This past weekend Kathleen had a meeting in Portlaoise, so early Saturday morning we headed up the road. As we came into the small town of Stonyford, we happened upon a couple of drovers running their herd to market. Well okay, maybe not to market, because it was a herd of… dogs. It was quite the majestic sight watching 40 or more hound dogs trotting up the middle of a major national highway, being herded by a couple of bicycle riding cowboys (or is that dogboys?).

This past weekend we made a visit to County Cork to check out the little village of Cobh. Kathleen has a group of students visiting, so her helper on the trip, Dana, joined us for the day. We had been to Cobh for a brief visit shortly after we moved here, but decided it was worth checking out again. We’re glad we did, as we found much more to see on this visit than the last one. Cobh (pronounced Cove) was the last port of call for the Titanic on her maiden voyage. It’s got a lovely little downtown right on the harbor, and St. Colmans Cathedral towers over the village.

Along the way we also had to make a stop at Fota Wildlife Park. This beautiful park allows you to walk amongst all kinds of wild animals, many uncaged and roaming free – giraffes, zebras, ostrich, cheetahs (caged, of course), monkeys and all kinds of birds. Check out the pics.

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The Wisconsin Historical Society has long held sales of photos from their archives, generally in a once- or twice-a-year sale in Madison. I’ve gotten several gems from these sales in the past. But now they’ve moved their sales online, and in the process greatly expanded the items available. The pic to the right is the first Wisconsin State Capitol in my hometown, Belmont. Click on the pic to get your very own copy! These photos make great gifts, and help support the Historical Society, which is now turning a small profit on image sales. There are currently 30,000 images available from the Society’s collection of 3-million images, and 6,000 images are being added each year.

Wisconsin State Journal – History on the Market

Wisconsin Historical Society Images

The Society doesn’t have any big sellers, finding instead that they’re selling a small number of copies of many different images. This is a perfect example of the idea of the “Long Tail”, that the internet economy allows many producers of niche items to prosper by selling small quantities of many different products. Read Chris Anderson’s original magazine article describing the Long Tail to learn more.