Museums for when the Met Is Too Crowded As much delight as we take in our own youthful adventurers, especially when they traveled by stroller and drank juice from a box, we aren’t quite, quite as joyful when we get to spend rainy days with throngs of their unrelated colleagues. If you happen to be…
Author: BashfulAdventurer
Contemplating Austria
Understanding the Viennese Paradox Anticipating a visit to Vienna, I am trying to understand the place, its past, its present. Mention Vienna and pastries come to mind along with classical music. Austria as a nation is a bit more confusing, unenlightened as I am about how the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed in the last century. I’m…
Austrian Anomalies
Looking for Understanding in France and New York I don’t know much about Austria beyond the Sound of Music. Little makes sense to me about Austria despite my efforts to understand. How could the homeland of Marie-Antoinette, who herself struggled under the rigidity of French culture, devolve to such a hierarchical and peevish monarchy less…
Finding Napoleon beyond France
Enamored with the French Revolution on my visit to Paris, I pay scant attention to Napoleon during my time there. Stopping by at Les Invalides, I focus more on a car show on its grounds than to the tomb of the former emperor inside. It’s not until I visit Moscow and view his cannons that…
American Red
A Romance with Revolution Rewatching the 1981 Warren Beatty film Reds, about journalist and eventual collaborator John Reed’s coverage of and interest in the Russian revolution, I remember that Reed is buried at the Kremlin, a point that I neglect to pursue when I am actually at the Kremlin. Lenin’s Tomb is closed when I…
Celebrating Louis XVI
Accomplishments besides Marrying Poorly Louis XVI, king of France, was born 261 years ago on August 23, 1754, and what many seem to remember about him is his wife, Marie-Antoinette, originally of Austria, and his general ineffectiveness in leading his country—hence, its revolution in 1789 and his eventual visit to the guillotine in 1793. Yet,…
Wherever I Go, There’s Rochambeau
Recurring Characters in Historical Travels Revered as a hero in the American Revolution, the Comte de Rochambeau’s efforts helping the new country ward off the British are commemorated along the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail—almost 700 miles extending from Massachusetts and Rhode Island south to Virginia. Plaques mark his presence at various points along his historic…
Not Exactly Old-World Charm
A Visit to the Deep South’s Past An exhibit at the Cabildo in New Orleans Photo credit: M. Ciavardini History is told from the perspective of the victor goes the refrain, so I am pleased to see that unpleasant bits of history—and every place has them—are addressed in the Cabildo, the museum next to St….
Breakfast in New Orleans: Biscuits and Ruby Slippers
The Brawny Sherpa and I are heading toward St. Louis Cemetery #1 early one morning, walking away from the tourism of Bourbon Street and closer and closer to the real New Orleans on Canal, when we discover the magic of the Ruby Slipper. It’s not quite a diner, not quite a bar, but it is…
Cruising Cemeteries around the Globe
Touring Graveyards for History and Understanding I suppose if you are bashful, a cemetery is a great place to visit given that no one is likely to talk to you much. I like cemeteries for the opportunities they provide to commune with the universe, to learn a bit about history, and to appreciate how other…