After my divorce, I needed to travel, to go on a journey to find myself. What better place to start than Ireland, home of my ancestors? During my trip I found images and parts of me that I didn't know existed. I found them in the faces and personalities all around me; in their laughter and ability to laugh at themselves; in the scenery; the castles and cottages; in the weather- stormy and changeable like myself; in the roads: driving on the … [Read more...]
Beirut in the Baltics
John M. Edwards is drawn into the Wild Wild East of “Europe Minor.” After the collapse of communism in the USSR, inflation in the freshly minted Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia rolled up the ruble into the cheapest toilet paper around, so I decided to go East and stock up. I needed a cheap place to wipe my ass because I was then unemployed, and an Orwellian year of freelancing in Paris had left me as restless … [Read more...]
The Secret of Happiness: London (UK)
On Shakespeare's "Sceptr'd Isle," in London, John M. Edwards is confronted by an Aggro Cockney near Hyde Park's Free-Speech Forum: "Speaker's Corner" I once came across a swarthy gentleman wearing a sign around his neck emblazoned with the words, “The Secret of Happiness." Obviously a palmed pound coin could loosen the red rascal’s lips. Even if the “secret” was passed down generation to generation by word of mouth within a Da Vinci … [Read more...]
Stork Storm over Santiago de Compostela
Airmail from Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain) An American backpacker travels the 500-mile Christian pilgrimage route of “El Camino de Santiago de Compostela” (St. James Way)—only to end up surviving an aggro divebombing storm of storks! “Oh, look, the birds are so fonny!” said an olive-eyed senorita, a groovy Gallego art student with an auburn cloak from a nearby university. I didn’t agree. After all, birds are descended from the … [Read more...]
Dispatch: The Berlin Stories Check-in at Checkpoint Charlie
Separated from his student tour group in East Berlin, a much younger John M. Edwards gets seriously lost and says, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (I am a doughnut!), but, er, for exactly how long? It’s a race against time to find “Chuck” and bust through the border crossing before the “Iron Curtain” closes. . . . For numerology fans, both the first Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock and the dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall fell on my birthday: … [Read more...]
The Royal Horseguards Hotel, London
One of London’s most elegant hotels is The Royal Horseguards situate on the Embankment overlooking the mighty River Thames flowing sedately along to the sea. This grand property has been the center of a seated establishment for many a decade and still offers warmth, glamour and service to its patrons. Many politicians and statesmen frequent the hotel today because of its closeness to the Houses of Parliament and Ministry of … [Read more...]
What do Van Morrison, The Godfather of Punk, and Seamus Heaney have in Common?
There is a theory of “primitive affluence” that suggests that when a society has its primary needs met by Nature...food, shelter, clothing…then it will turn to creativity. Bali, a tropical island in Indonesia where the rich volcanic soil produces an abundance of food and materials for fabrics and building, is held as an example. The trope is that “everyone in Bali is an artist.” Yet, while it is true that most everyone spends days carving, … [Read more...]
The Delights of the Menzies Welcombe HotelSpa & GolfClub
For many years as a youngster my Mum and Dad would take me to tea at this superb property deep in the heart of Warwickshire. Only a stone’s throw from Stratford Upon Avon the hotel offers all the many delights that country house hotels are famous for. The 157 acres grounds themselves are glorious with many secret pathways leading to extraordinary sights of the rolling hills of this shire. Growing up in Warwickshire was for me always an … [Read more...]
The Imaginary Kingdom of Belarus
John M. Edwards researches a future trip to a country he suspects doesn’t really exist. . . . I’ve never been there, and neither have you. The imaginary kingdom of Belarus, way off the beaten track, so far away in fact that no one ever seems to find it, belongs more to the world of fictionalized Tintin comics than the grip of postcardy Paid Advertisements. Even asking former communist expats from the various SSRs how to get there usually … [Read more...]
The New Alchemists of Prague
Prague Spring Break: Bohemian Rhapsody or Bozo Nightmare? The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Time Traveler in Prague In a possessed city Kafka called “a mother with claws,” John M. Edwards discovers the unbearable lightness of being a tourist in overcrowded Prague. Here a cost comparison of Communist and Capitalist Prague reveals a long history of alchemy and occupation, sorcery and intrigue, apparatchik chic and uneasy redemption. Welcome … [Read more...]
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