WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE WINTER 2018

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21 BIG 4 G PA ES G TE ES D O IT F IO TR N AV E EL VER FU ! N

WI N NEE D IIN NEE & &

TRAVEL THE AWARD-WINNING TRAVEL MAGAZINE

WINTER 2018

HIGHLIGHTS IN A MAYAN RAIN

THE AMAZING JOURNEY DISCOVERING JAPAN A WASAILLING WE GO IN SOMERSET, ENGLAND JAPAN’STHE AMAZING CASTLE CRUISING “KING”HIMEJI RIVER IN EUROPE AMERICA’S RESORT: THE GREENBRIER WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM

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CI ET 12 N Y O EW F PR AW O FE AR SS DS & SD ION FO P C AL R 2 JO 01 U 7 RN AL IS TS SO

WE’RE SERIOUS ABOUT GREAT JOURNALISM 12 NEW AWARDS FOR WDT

Since our first year, Wine Dine & Travel has earned dozens of awards for everything that makes a great magazine. We’ve won top awards in every key category, including editorial, design, humor, photography, and columns. We’re proud of that we continue to receive these accolades year in and out from the most respected journalism organizations in the nation. That means that you know you’re reading one of the best travel publications in the industry. And that’s due to our dedicated family of world-class travel writers and photographers. We couldn’t do this without them.

VOTED BEST Travel Story Humor Feature Layout & Design Photography Column Cover Design & Website THANK YOU FOR READING OUR AWARD-WINNING PRINT & DIGITAL MAGAZINE

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RON & MARY JAMES

EDITOR’S NOTE

Travel Industry Heroes

W

e want to begin 2018 on a positive note and wish all of our readers a happy, prosperous and travelfilled New Year. In these times of political division, natural disasters and world turmoil, happiness and prosperity are not slam-dunk propositions. For many, travel helps us cope with the constant drip of stressinducing news. The experience of travel takes our minds off our problems at least as we plan and venture out on our next adventure. The kindness of strangers as we move around the planet is a tonic for our spirits. Travelers discover that kindness and generosity are inherent in people around the world – it’s in our human DNA. Perfect strangers come to the aid of travelers in need, sometimes in profound and unexpected ways. The travel industry is not immune from greed and callousness, as we all know. But we also have encountered heroes in the trenches that reaffirm our faith in humanity. There are the hotel staffers who take care of us when Ron got sick in Rome. The tour guide in Varanasi, India, who insisted on taking us to his home so his son could meet someone from America – and then served as a small feast. An airline ticket agent who helped us during her break time

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to rebook a flight for us. The female desk clerk in Kyoto who hailed a cab for us while standing on a street corner in the pouring rain. Our appreciation goes out to new friends from Slovenia - Natasa from the Slovenian Tourist Board who planned our most memorable trip and Jani, our outstanding guide and driver who went out of his way to make the journey safe and enjoyable. We salute those thousands of volunteers throughout our travels who have greeted and guided us through their towns, introducing us to their culture and food. The bands and dancers that welcomed us at cruise ports around the world with toe-tapping medleys that warmed our hearts. The visitor information volunteers who rescued us on street corners when we were hopelessly lost. These are travel’s true angels. Here’s to our heroes - the caring people who take a whole lot of stress out of our adventures far away from home. Cheers for them, our great travel writers and our loyal readers. Happy travels in the new year everyone!

Ron & Mary James


PUBLISHERS Ron & Mary James EXECUTIVE EDITOR /ART DIRECTOR Ron James

WINE DINE &

TRAVEL Photo by Ron James

EDITOR Mary James STAFF WRITERS Alison DaRosa Priscilla Lister John Muncie Jody Jaffe COLUMNISTS Robert Whitley Susan McBeth FEATURE WRITERS Sharon Whitley Larsen Carl Larsen Maribeth Mellin Amy Laughinghouse Judy Garrison Stacy Taylor

A dance troup of beautiful and talented Giesha dancers performing on the Celebrity Millieum ithe port of Shimizu.

Wibke Carter WDT respects the intellectual property rights of others, and we ask that our readers do the same. We have adopted a policy in accordance with the Digital Millen-

Margie Goldsmith

nium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and other applicable laws.

Michael Burge

Wine Dine & Travel Magazine is a Wine Country Interactive Inc. publication @ 2018 Contact editor@winedineandtravel.com

ADVERTISING SALES James G. Elliott Co., Inc. Agency

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Our Journalists Ron James Ron James is the "wine, food and travel guy." He is a nationally award-winning print and online journalist, graphic designer, television producer and radio personality. The native Californian's nationally syndicated wine and food columns have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ron is founder and co-publisher of Wine Dine & Travel Magazine. He is passionate about great wine and food and enthusiastically enjoys them every day!

Mary James Mary Hellman James is an award-winning San Diego journalist and editor. After a 29-yearcareer with the San Diego Union-Tribune, she currently is a freelance garden writer and a columnist for San Diego Home-Garden/Lifestyles magazine and co-publisher and editor of this magazine.

Priscilla Lister Priscilla Lister is a longtime journalist in her native San Diego. She has covered many subjects over the years, but travel is her favorite. Her work, including photography, has appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Alaska Airlines’ magazine and numerous other publications throughout the U.S. and Canada. She is the author of “Take a Hike: San Diego County,” a comprehensive hiking guide to 260 trails in amazing San Diego County. But when the distant road beckons, she can’t wait to pack her bags.

Robert Whitley Robert Whitley writes the syndicated “Wine Talk” column for Creators Syndicate and is publisher of the online wine magazine, Wine Review Online. Whitley frequently serves as a judge at wine competitions around the world, including Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, Sunset Magazine International and the Dallas Morning News TexSom wine competitions. Robert also operates four major international wine competitions in San Diego: Critics Challenge, Winemaker Challenge, Sommelier Challenge and the San Diego International.

Amy Laughinghouse London-based writer and photographer Amy Laughinghouse has attempted to overcome her fears (and sometimes basic common sense) through her adventures in 30 countries around the world. She dishes on the perks and perils of globetrotting for publications like LonelyPlanet.com, AAA Journey Magazine, Virtuoso Life, and The Dallas Morning News. Her travel tales can also be found on her website, www.amylaughinghouse.com.

Jody Jaffe & John Muncie Jody and John are the co-authors of the novels, “Thief of Words,” and “Shenandoah Summer,” published by Warner Books. John was feature editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune, arts editor of The Baltimore Sun and writer-editor-columnist for the travel department of The Los Angeles Times. His travel articles have been published in many major newspapers; he's a Lowell Thomas award-winner. Jody is the author of "Horse of a Different Killer,"'Chestnut Mare, Beware," and "In Colt Blood,” As a journalist at the Charlotte Observer, she was on a team that won the Pulitzer Prize. Her articles have been published in many newspapers and magazines including The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. They live on a farm in Lexington, Va., with eleven horses, three cats and an explosion of stink bugs.

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Maribeth Mellin Maribeth Mellin is an award-winning journalist whose travel articles have appeared in Endless Vacation Magazine, U-T San Diego and Dallas Morning News among others. She also travels and writes for several websites including CNN Travel, Concierge.com and Zagat, and has authored travel books on Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, Hawaii and California. Though known as a Mexico pro, Maribeth has written about every continent and was especially thrilled by the ice, air and penguins in Antarctica.

Alison DaRosa Alison DaRosa is a six-time winner of the Lowell Thomas Gold Award for travel writing, the most prestigious prize in travel journalism. She served 15 years as Travel Editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune and was the award-winning editor of the San Diego News Network Travel Page. She created San Diego Essential Guide, a highly rated travel app for mobile devices. Alison writes a monthly Travel Deals column for the San Diego Union-Tribune and is a regular freelance contributor to the travel sections of the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and AOL Travel.

Carl H. Larsen Carl H. Larsen is a veteran journalist based in San Diego. He now focuses on travel writing, and is summoned to pull out his notebook whenever there’s the plaintive cry of a steam locomotive nearby. In San Diego, he is a college-extension instructor who has led courses on the Titanic and the popular TV series “Downton Abbey.”

Judy & Len Garrison Judy is the editor of Georgia Connector Magazine and Peach State Publications as well as a freelance writer/photographer/traveler for national/international publications including Deep South Magazine, Interval Magazine, Simply Buckhead, US Airways Magazine, Southern Hospitality Traveler and has a bi-monthly blog in Blue Ridge Country’s online edition. Her first book, North Georgia Moonshine: A History of the Lovells and other Liquor Makers, is available at Amazon.com. She and Len own Seeing Southern,L.L.C., a documentary photography company.

Wibke Carter German-born Wibke Carter has lived in New Zealand and New York, and presently enjoys life, love​,​and laughter in London. Her work has appeared in​T ​ he Globe and Mail, The​S ​ an Francisco Chronicle, BInspired Magazine,The Independent and more. When not traveling, she is trying to tame her two cats and improve her DIY skills

Michael Burge Michael Burge is an award-winning journalist who worked for many years as an assistant metro editor and senior writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune. Michael and his wife, Kathleen, have logged countless miles visiting adult children in Asia and Scotland. The couple met as Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya, so they have no one to blame but themselves for their globe-trotting offspring.

Sharon Whitley Larsen Sharon Whitley Larsen’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including Los Angeles Times Magazine, U-T San Diego, Reader’s Digest (and 19 international editions), Creators Syndicate, and several “Chicken Soup for the Soul” editions. She’s been lucky to attend a private evening champagne reception in Buckingham Palace to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, to dine with best-selling author Diana Gabaldon in the Scottish Highlands, and hike with a barefoot Aborigine in the Australian Outback. Exploring sites from exotic travels in the Arctic Circle to ritzy Rio, with passport in hand, she’s always ready for the next adventure!

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Contents

30 DAYS IN JAPAN

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There’s something about a visit to Japan that gets under a traveler’s skin. After an adventure exploring this nation of islands, the memories haunt long after boarding the plane for home;

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EATING JAPAN STYLE Japan is a food lover’s paradise. During our travels around the Japan, Mary and I found and tasted many kinds of amazing Japanese dishes; there are over 30 types of restaurants featuring local dishes.

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NARA’S TODAI-JI No sooner did we begin our trek than we were accosted by a herd of deer stalking us for handouts. They appear docile, but looks are deceiving, as these deer wouldn’t hesitate to steal candy from a small child – something even my pit bull knows not to do

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FORTRESS OF WONDER Himeji Castle, a 500-year-old edifice widely regarded as the finest of Japan’s remaining feudal fortresses. It underwent a massive restoration and reopened to the public in 2015, and today it is the largest and most visited of Japan’s ancient citadels.

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NEW PLYMOUTH Full disclosure first: I am married to a kiwi, who is from New Plymouth on New Zealand’s North Island, and he wants to retire there. Nearly ten years ago, my husband took me to his hometown, showed me the best of everything on offer … but I simply could not see myself moving there.

THE AWESOME BILTMORE A legacy of one of the richest of American families, the 250-room Biltmore House today stands in Asheville, N.C., amid its thousands of well-manicured acres.

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THE GREENBRIER

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A WOO IN THE WOOD

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HIGHLIGHTS IN GREY RAIN

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HIGH FLYING DOCS

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COME FROM AWAY

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TAKING THE CURE ON RÜGEN ISLAND,

The Greenbrier is dizzying enough in its history, opulence, floral wallpaper, and size, but the Great American Eclipse of 2017 made our stay even more extraordinary.

Inebriation, ammunition, a blazing bonfire, and a beauty queen. Throw in a healthy dose of pagan mysticism and barrels-full of cider, and you, my friend, have got the recipe for one rockin’ wassail.

Scarlet macaws swooped and squawked over the trail to the Great Plaza at Copan, a Mayan ceremonial center in the rural highlands of Honduras.

The charitable Royal Flying Doctor Service is the first, largest aerial medical organization in the world. Tourists and Australian residents alike can be treated throughout isolated parts of this vast country for serious illnesses and accidents

If you don’t come from Newfoundland and Labrador, you “come from away,” which also happens to be the name of the award-winning Broadway musical.

Three days was not enough to see all of Rügen Island, but it was enough for a miracle cure. Like most Americans, I had never heard of Germany’s most popular and largest island . WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM

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Travel Gear WDT TESTED & APPROVED

Cooling it with EcoVessel Summer’s not to far away and that means crisp flavorful rosés and whites are front and center for almost every fun occasion. I tested the Vine on a hot summer afternoon recently (we live in Southern California) and it kept our wine cold for hours. The VINE Triple Insulated Stainless Steel Wine Bottle keeps wines cold and holds a full 750 ml wine bottle and is the perfect travel companion freeing you from carrying a breakable glass bottle or pouring wine from a cardboard box. EcoVessel’s signature TriMax® Triple insulation Technology keeps your wine at just the right temperature for hours. Enjoy your drink the way it was intended - any wine, any time, any where. Includes funnel and brush. $34.95 at www.ecovessel.com/

The Perfect Travel Jacket I was a bit skeptical, but loved this jacket so much I bought my wife one for Christmas. The BauBax Travel Bomber Jacket from TheGrommet.com. is a multi-pocket travel jacket, all-in-one solution to help you travel in style. It has been tested and approved. This Jacket is a musthave for frequent travelers. Fifteen travel essentials are built into the bomber-style design (like an eye mask and neck pillow), and there are designated pockets for your phone, tablet, blanket and more. All that functionality is stealthily integrated in a sharp-looking, wear-ever jacket, including built-in inflatable neck pillow has 2 second inflation & one-press deflation, a built-in eye mask and glovesand designated pockets for your tablet, passport, sunglasses, portable charger, and a blanket and more. $139.99 at TheGrommet.com

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No More Hangovers from Wine with the Üllo Wine Purifier? As a wine enthusiast who sometimes get a bit too enthusiastic when practicing the art, the claim for this product got my attention. I have tried the Ullo but I didn’t drink enough to test the hangover capabilities, but when I used the purrifier the wine did taste fresher and fruitier than without it. A New Years party nears and I plan to test it under hangover conditions and will report back. Here’s the 123 of how it works. 1. POUR All wine contains sulfites, which are artificial preservatives added during production. They are no longer needed once the bottle is opened. 2. PURIFY Proprietary polymer technology filters away free sulfites and their bitter taste, while allowing other compounds in wine to flow through unaffected. 3. PURE WINE Through Selective Sulfite Capture™, free sulfites are reduced to a more naturally occurring level for most wines. About $80 at ullowine.com

The Ultimate SD Hiking Guide If you’re a local or a traveler who enjoys walks in the backcountry, canyons and mountains of an unparalleled region, this hiking guide will take you to the best trails and walks in San Diego County. We bought one and can’t wait to hike the new trails we discovered in the book. Winner of The Geisel Award 2017 for book of the year from

Our Favorite Wallet

the San Diego Book Awards. Buy it at Amazon or your favorite local bookseller. www.takeahikesandiego.com.

Finally, here’s a man’s wallet that makes sense. Carrying a wallet in your back pocket not only invites pickpockets, it is a real pain in the behind. This will be WDT’s go to wallet and not just for travel. Here’s a beautiful front pocket wallet that is more comfortable and more secure than anything else out there. This savvy manufacturer noticed that a front pocket isn’t a square shape - it has a rounded, pointed shape, kind of like a shark fin -- hence the shape. The Rogue Front Pocket Wallet is now offered in a couple of dozen styles in leathers like alligator, bison and moose. $30 - $60 www.rogue-industries.com

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JAPAN D I S C O V E R I N G

ABOUT THE SERIES

There is so much to say about our month-long experiences in Japan that we have divided our coverage into multiple parts. We do not claim to be experts on Japan or its people; our mission is to share observations, interesting facts and some helpful tips on travel there. Our features range from culture and history to cuisine – one of our favorite topics and a highlight of our visit. We also feature stories about two of Japan’s most famous attractions by our newest contributor, veteran journalist Michael Burge. We hope our reporting whets your appetite for this amazing country and inspires you to move Japan to the top of your must-visit list. Arigato ~ Ron & Mary James

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30 Days in JAPAN DISCOVERING JAPAN PART 1 STORY BY RON & MARY JAMES | PHOTOGRAPHY BY RON JAMES

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I'm sure one of the frustrations of being a Western enthusiast of Japanese food and culture is you're confronted every day with the absolute certainty that you will die ignorant. ~ Anthony Bourdain

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OUR DESTINATIONS 1 YOKOHAMA 2 SHIMIZU 3 KOBE 4 KOCHI 5 HIMEJI 6 NAGASAKI 7 BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA 8 AOMORI 9 TOKYO 10 KAMAKURA 11 KARUIZAWA 12 TAKAYAMA 13 KYOTO 14 NARITA 15 NAGANO

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T

here’s something about a visit to Japan that gets under a traveler’s skin – in a good way. After a monthlong adventure exploring this nation of islands, memories remain fresh long after boarding the plane bound for home. It was our first exploration of the country, and our only regret was not visiting much earlier. Our adventure began with an 11-day Celebrity Cruise on

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the Millennium that started and ended in Yokohama. The cruise ship circumnavigated the country, stopping at several ports including Kobe, Kochi, and Nagasaki. The balance of the trip was inland where we traveled mostly by rail, beginning in Tokyo, with stays in Karuizawa-machi, Takayama, Kyoto, and Narita. From those cities, we took day trips exploring neighboring towns and visitor destinations and enjoying the


Kiyomizu-dera Pagoda UNESCO World Heritage site, Kyoto, Japan

country’s great natural beauty - mountains, rivers and rugged coastlines. Japan seems to have one foot in the past and one in an ultra-modern present. It is one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world, but one that honors its past. Juxtaposed with bullet trains and superhighways are monuments to its colorful past including grand ancient temples,

shrines, and castles. Every city and village in Japan seems to have a museum dedicated to local history, and in some, whole villages and neighborhoods preserved as they were centuries ago. There’s a sensory familiarity for visitors from America and Europe, especially in Japan’s cities with modern buildings and busy streets. But, there’s an exotic difference that makes WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM

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discovering Japan a real adventure. Some of those differences are simply visual – kimono-clad women and signs everywhere in kanji, the Japanese writing system based on Chinese characters. Less obvious, are the different cultural traditions and customs. Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, and it is extremely clean and tidy. Even in the busiest cities, we visited, including Tokyo, there was very little litter anywhere, including in public transportation hubs, streets or alleys. No cigarette butts cluttered parks or promenades, even though there are lots of smokers here. Cleanliness and neatness are part of the cultural fiber in Japan. We were witness to it everywhere we traveled – from the hot towels presented before meals in restaurants to the amazing women who clean an entire shinkansen bullet train in seven minutes. We saw shopkeepers constantly rearranging displays, sweeping, wiping, and sanitizing. And of course, we had to take our shoes off before shrines, castles, homes and our apartment in Takayama. Part of the reason for Japans obsession with cleanliness is its long history of public health issues, including viral epidemics, parasitical infections, and food poisonings. Religion plays a part – the Japanese believe that Shinto gods abhor filth. Every Shinto temple we visited had elaborately decorated purification stations with traditional bamboo ladles to use to wash their hands before they prayed. Buddhism also teaches that cleanliness is necessary for a peaceful mind. It didn’t take long for us to figure out the fixation on cleanliness in the country, but we still wondered -- where did all that trash go? That remained a mystery since trash cans are almost impossible to find. We were in our third week of touring before we discovered one oddly located next to an ancient stone shrine. The Japanese, we speculate, must carry little trash bags, like those used by dog walkers in America. When they spot litter, they bag it and take it home to recycle

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Hida Folk Village is an open-air museum of close to 30 old farmhouses illustrating the traditional architectural styles of the mountainous regions of Japan.

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Top: Traditional Geisha dancers entertaining cruise passengers at Shimizu Port. Left: Tsurunoyu Onsen photo by Mamusi Taka courtesy WikiMedia. Opposite: Large bronze dragon statue at Kiyomizu-dera UNESCO World Heritage site, Kyoto, Japan. Bottom: Shrines at the Heritage site with rare trash receptacle.

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We finally figured out where the cigarette butts went as we walked down a busy Tokyo street. Smoking is not allowed on the streets or other public spaces in cities like Tokyo. Instead, smokers congregate in glassenclosed smoking booths tucked here and there around the city. They are quite a sight to see - a dozen or so folks in black suits and ties crammed into a giant aquarium barely visible through the nicotine haze. The Japanese affair with public health extends beyond clean streets and air. No matter where you visit, you’ll see Japanese of all ages wearing white surgical masks so they won’t pass along their cold or flu germs or get the ones you have. (The exception may be some hip teenagers who wear them because they look cool.) White gloves seemed to be a big deal as well

with taxi drivers, doormen, little old ladies, and policemen to name a few. The Japanese refrain from touching or standing too close to strangers, although that’s difficult to maintain on crowded buses and trains. Handshaking is not a custom here. If a Japanese acquaintance wants to shake hands, he or she will make the first move, offering a hand to you. That only happened to us a few times after we had bonded with some genial natives. Instead, the Japanese bow a lot --a highly regarded greeting that shows respect. After a few days, we found ourselves bowing in return. Many Westerners, including ourselves, erroneously believe that the Japanese communal baths called onsens are for keeping clean -- and perhaps originally they were. Onsens

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were crude, rustic thermal baths found in hot springs found throughout the country. As early as 552 BCE, Buddhist monks ritualized bathing into their daily routine – not only cleansing the body but washing away sin. Samurais beginning in the 12th century used the baths to heal their wounds. Today onsens are as popular as baseball and ramen. They are everywhere, from the tops of mountains with natural hot springs to your local hotel. Most onsens these days are segregated by gender and age. If you’re not comfortable with wearing just your birthday suit in front of total strangers, then this may not be the sport for you. There are strict rules and customs for your onsen experience if you accept the challenge.

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First of all, these are not baths to get you clean. You’ve got to suds up in a shower before you make your onsen debut. You have an option to wear a towel for a little privacy until you slip it off when entering the onsen; don’t let the towel hit the water, that’s considered bad form. It’s customary to wear it on your head like a turban while soaking. Staring at fellow bathers is discouraged as well, although most probably do sneak in a look at their fellow bathers – ostensibly to see where you place the towel. Also frowned upon in onsens is loud talking and horseplay – these baths, are not about communing with your fellow man or women.


Top: Girl wear traditional Geisha kimono in Kyoto. Top right: Family celebrates at a special ceremony for children. Right: Japanese formal wedding near Tokyo.

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Japanese formality extends to dress, especially in the big cities. We saw more black-suited men here than in any place in recent memory, a contrast with the youthful fashionistas of both sexes with their exuberant trendy looks. We didn’t think that the women would be wearing classic kimonos, but there were a lot of kimonos to be seen everywhere we traveled in Japan. They are a trademark of proud traditions, still donned for significant family and cultural events, including many weddings.

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Kimono stores were as common as ice cream shops. Highend custom made kimono in major retail stores and fashionable boutiques command jaw-dropping five-figure prices. Visitors to Japan, both men, and women, often rent kimonos, dressing up as they visit the temples and shrines throughout the country. A high percentage of the kimono-clad young women we saw were from China, constantly posing to take selfies with their smartphones.


Street scenes in Taito City, a small ward of Tokyo, the area is a wonderful walking area full of history and traditional Japanese culture going back to the Edo period of the 17th Century.

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OBSERVATIONS

Busy train and monorail station just outside Tokyo.

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ur plan to cruise around Japan proved to be a good way to appreciate the importance of the

neighbors are Korea, China, and Russia. Volcanic mountain ranges cover about 70 percent of the

sea to the people of the country. It is a 146,000

country, with only 13 percent the land mass suitable for farm-

square mile archipelago about the size of Cali-

ing. As we traveled by train throughout the country, we saw

fornia and comprised of four major islands and about 6,800

suburban and industrial creep, especially outside of major cit-

smaller islands. The East China Sea is to its south, the Sea of

ies where most Japanese live. Many of the suburbs we passed

Japan to its west and the Pacific Ocean to its east. Its closest

were a crowded jumble of large non-descript apartment build-

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ings or condominiums and narrow low-rise houses with an

Noted travel writer Paul Theroux, who also observed Japan

occasional modern high-rise thrown into the mix. Interspersed

through a train window, summed up our feelings about

with the mishmash of architectural styles, mostly boxy post-

Japan’s eclectic residential areas. “From the carriage window,

war affairs, were a few classic Japanese-style homes with

as the train travels north from Tokyo, through Sendai and the

shiny decorative roof tiles. Many had small courtyard gardens

coastal towns of Minamisanriku, Kesennuma, Okuma, and

with manicured bonsai-styled trees and stone lanterns as well

others -- the ones now swept away -- the Japanese can be

as an adjacent brilliant green rice paddy.

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cheek by jowl, traversed by narrow lanes, as they have been throughout history. I sense that they have been able to live closely together because of their elaborate good manners, mutual respect, self-sufficiency, and work ethic. A less polite society would require more space or higher fences or guard dogs.� To our delight, the sprawling suburbs eventually did give way to an amazingly beautiful countryside. Most Japanese live on the coasts in concentrated populations centers, surrounded by thick neatly planted forests. It was fall, and the trees were turning brilliant shades of orange, yellow and red. Between busy cities, we saw wild rivers in deep gorges with the densely forested mountains rising into the clouds. Rarely did our trains go up or downgrades, just a flat, smooth ride through the scenic valleys and the mountains by way of a lot of very long tunnels.

Sengen-Yama Koen Park iin Fuchu city, near Tokyo

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PEOPLE

A

Almost everyone we have talked with that has visited Japan mentions their courtesy and honesty. People here take their jobs seriously whether they are desk clerks or

traffic cops who always have a smile and a bow for you as they make sure you get to the other side of the street safely. The temples, shrines in every city and village gave us a clue to the source of these values. They were the material manifestations of the philosophies and practices of Buddhism and Zen, Confucianism, and Shinto religions. Their adoption by the samurai culture as a philosophy for living set an example for the general population. The importance of that philosophy was documented by Jesuit leader St. Francis Xavier (1506–1552) in a report on Japanese society sent to Rome. “In the first place, the nation with which we have had to do here surpasses in goodness any of the nations lately discovered. I think that among barbarous nations there can be none that has more natural goodness than the Japanese. They are of a kindly disposition, not at all given to cheating, wonderfully desirous of honor and rank. Honour with them is placed above everything else. There are a great many poor among them, but poverty is not a disgrace to anyone. There is one thing among them of which I hardly know whether it is practiced anywhere among Christians. The nobles, however poor they may be, receive the same honor from the rest as if they were rich.” We saw that same attitude in Japan as we traveled. Japanese, young and old, seem to have an ingrained sense of honor, politeness, respect, and helpfulness. We were most impressed by the young people who worked in the McDonalds and 7-Elevens who treated us as if we were a well-heeled regular at Nordstrom. In one town, a shopkeeper left her store to walk us to a restaurant we were struggling to find. In train stations, folks with limited English would try to help us with ticket purchases or train schedules. Of course, there were a few exceptions, but on the whole, we felt very good about the people we met everywhere in the country.

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HISTORY LESSON & TIMELINE

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Archaeologists believe that the ancestors of the first Japanese Palaeolithic people originated from Southeast Asia migrating through Korea beginning about 300 BC. For over a thousand years Japan was made up of many regional states headed by warlords and Emporers. They mostly warred with each other but eventually became united under Shogunates sharing power with the royal families. There is one point nearly 800 years ago that Japanese shifted and shaped Japanese thinking and culture that still reverberates today.

In 1274, Kublai Khan and his army and navy of Mongols, Chinese and Koreans vastly outnumbering the Japanese invaded Japan with an armada of nearly 800 ships and boats. Things were going well for the invaders, who routed the meager Japanese forces on three small Japanese islands. Fate intervened for the Japanese in the form of a major typhoon. The storm forced Khan’s soldiers back to the ships. The fierce storm wiped out most of the ships -- the two hundred that survived were easy prey for fast Japanese boats and Samurai warriors. The Mongols didn’t give up. Seven years after their first defeat they sent two invading armadas from Korea and China with over 4,000 ships carrying 70,000 soldiers and sailors. This time the Japanese navy and armies were ready and turned back the Mongol fleet at Tsushima. Despite the early success, the Japanese were heavily outnumbered and were about to be overwhelmed by the Mongol hoard. Miraculously, a massive typhoon again thwarted the Mongols. The Japanese celebrated the storm by calling it kamikaze which means the divine wind. In just two days the typhoon tore apart and sank much of the attacker’s fleet. The two victories over the Mongols still reverberate as historic, nation-defining, events in Japan. Rightfully the Japanese attributed their victories over the Mongols to the divine winds. To them, it meant the gods were on their side; they were invincible. Japan became more militant and eyed lands beyond its islands, and fought wars with China, Russia, and eventually America beginning with their attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1945, their national illusion of invincibility shattered with the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Afterwards, Japan focused on rebuilding and peace, incorporating that spirit into their constitution to make sure history does not repeat itself.

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300 BC Jomon Era The early Japanese were gatherers, hunters and fishers.

300 BC-250 Yayoi Era The introduction of rice agriculture begins the development of a social hierarchy and hundreds of small countries that started to unify into larger countries.

250-538 Kofun Era Japan is for the first time more or less united. Large tombs (kofun) were built for the deceased leaders. 538-710 Asuka Era 538/552 Introduction of Buddhism. 604 Prince Shotoku's Constitution of seventeen articles is promulgated. 645 The Taika reform is introduced. The Fujiwara era starts.

1333 The Kamakura bakufu falls.

1338-1573 Muromachi Era 1334 Kemmu restoration: the emperor restores power over Japan. 1336 Ashikaga Takauji captures Kyoto. 1337 The emperor flees and establishes the Southern court in Yoshino. 1338 Takauji establishes the Muromachi government and a second emperor in Kyoto (Northern court). 1392 Unification of the Southern and Northern courts. 1467-1477 Onin war. 1542 Portuguese introduce firearms and Christianity to Japan. 1568 Nobunaga enters Kyoto. 1573 The Muromachi Bakufu falls.

Momoyama Era

1192-1333 Kamakura Era

1575 The Takeda clan is defeated in the battle of Nagashino. 1582 Nobunaga is murdered and succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 1588 Hideyoshi confiscates the weapons of farmers and religious institutions in the "Sword Hunt". 1590 Japan is reunited after the fall of Odawara (Hojo). 1592-98 Unsuccessful invasion of Korea. 1598 Death of Hideyoshi. 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats his rivals in the battle of Sekigahara.

1191 The Zen sect is introduced. 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed shogun and establishes the Kamakura government. 1221 The Jokyu Disturbance ends a struggle between Kamakura and Kyoto resulting in the supremacy of the Hojo regents in Kamakura. 1232 A legal code, the Joei Shikimoku, is promulgated. 1274 and 1281 The Mongols try to invade Japan twice, but fail mainly because of bad weather

1603 Ieyasu is appointed shogun and establishes the Tokugawa government in Edo (Tokyo). 1614 Ieyasu intensifies persecution of Christianity. 1615 The Toyotomi clan is destroyed after Ieyasu captures Osaka Castle. 1639 Almost complete isolation of Japan from the rest of the world.

710-784 Nara Era 710 Nara becomes the first permanent capital. 784 The capital moves to Nagaoka.

794-1185 Heian Era 794 The capital moves to Heian (Kyoto). 1016 Fujiwara Michinaga becomes regent. 1159 The Taira clan under Taira Kiyomori takes over the power after the Heiji war. 1175 The Buddhist Jodo sect (Pure land sect) is introduced. 1180-85 In the Gempei War, the Minamoto clan puts an end to Taira supremacy.

1603 - 1867 Edo Era

1688-1703 Genroku era: popular culture flourishes. 1792 The Russians unsuccessfuly try to establish trade relations with Japan. 1854 Commodore Matthew Perry forces the Japanese government to open a limited number of ports for trade.

1868-1912 Meiji Era 1868 Meiji restoration. 1872 First railway line between Tokyo and Yokohama. 1889 The Meiji Constitution is promulgated. 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War. 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. 1910 Annexation of Korea. 1912 Death of emperor Meiji.

1912-1926 Taisho Era 1914-18 Japan joins allied forces in WW1. 1923 The Great Kanto Earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama.

1926-1989 Showa Era 1931 Manchurian Incident. 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War starts. 1941 Pacific War starts. 1945 Japan surrenders after two atomic bombs are dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 1946 The new constitution is promulgated. 1952 The Allied Occupation of Japan ends. 1956 Japan becomes member of the UN. 1972 Normalization of relations to China. 1973 Oil crisis. 1993 The LDP loses its majority in the diet. 1995 The Great Hanshin Earthquake hits Kobe. Sarin Gas attack in the Tokyo subway by AUM sect. 2009 The Democratic Party of Japan becomes the ruling party. 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake History timeline courtesy Japan-Online.com

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TRANSPORTATION

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J

apan’s transportation system is a wonder. It’s an eclectic mix of old and new, with ancient trains, trams, and funiculars running in the same cities as the most modern and efficient bullet trains. In major cities like Tokyo, Yokohama, and Kyoto there’s a complex

maze of transportation that includes subways, local trains, and buses. Again, we were amazed by the cleanliness of not only the airports, train stations, and taxis, but the planes, trains, buses, and cars – not a scrap of paper or litter. And no sign of dreaded graffiti anywhere. We found the best way to explore Japan was by rail; it’s fast, comfortable and relatively affordable. For about $500 each, we purchased a two-week JR rail pass that took care of most of our long-distance and much of our intercity transport. JR stands for Japanese Rail of course, but when I first saw it online, I thought it was a pass for youngsters. Only visitors can get this pass, not the locals – you order your passes online before you arrive and activate them when you arrive in Japan at JR offices in most of the major train stations.

Light rail car and old main train station in Tokyo.

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It’s a good idea to do your homework before you arrive in Japan regarding train times and station locations. The JR website has good information and station location and layouts. An invaluable resource is www.hyperdia.com/en/ -the HyperDia-timetable on rail routes throughout the country. Look for the big train status signs at the station to find your platform. Look for the name of your train, rather than destination since it may not be listed unless it’s at the end of the line. When you get to the JR entry turnstiles, go through the line to the right or left of the turnstiles to show the official your pass. Most personnel here know a bit of English, so this is a good place to ask for help if you have questions about where and what time your train leaves. Some trains require reservations; make them for no additional cost at the JR transportation offices located in each station with JR rail service. Your reservation will be for a specific seat and car; look on the platform for where that car will stop. The trains can get pretty long, and stops can be brief, so it’s best to position yourself close by your car’s entry point, where your fellow passengers – this is Japan – will be in neat, polite queues. One last point, unless you have a Green Pass which is for first-class train travel, don’t try to sit in those cars with their very comfy seats. A nice conductor will firmly escort you out, and back to the section of the train where you belong. Once you’re on the train, there are usually monitors in English and Japanese that tell passengers upcoming stops. If you have luggage, it’s a good idea to get your bag(s) a few minutes before your stop and position yourself near the exit doors. Speaking of luggage; carrying big bags on trains can be a giant pain. Getting it to the platform is hard enough, but then you have to find a place to store the suitcase. There is little or no storage space on local trains. On long-distance trains

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there usually is a small luggage closet in the front or back of the car with room for three or four suitcases. We discovered a good place to store large bags was behind the last row of seats in each car. Place smaller bags on racks above your seat. A better solution is to take advantage of wonderful Japanese companies that forward luggage to a destination – hotels, airports or home. It costs about $15 a bag and takes one or two days to get there. It is so worth it. Our trip could have been a nightmare dragging three large suitcases in and out of cabs, up and down stairs, on trains for weeks. Instead, we used the service to transfer two bags, traveling only with two carry-on size suitcases. The arrangements are easy to make; just ask the friendly desk clerks at your hotel, and they will do the rest. Municipal bus systems in most places we visited were extensive and cheap. We would not recommend them unless you have a couple of weeks to master their ins and outs. Trying to find the right bus at the right station at the right stop can be maddening and a big waste of valuable time. It’s much better to use a train or better yet, a taxi to get around in the cities. Taxis are fairly reasonable, and the drivers are professional and courteous. Plus tips are not expected. We found in Kyoto that you could fit in visits to only one or two venues a day; traveling to them by cab ended up costing about the same as a bus day pass and with far less hairpulling hassles. One often overlooked mode of transport when planning a trip to Japan, or anywhere for that matter, is walking. In Japan, you’re going to do a lot of it if you’re serious about exploring the country. Even if you plan to take taxis or Above photo courtesy Japan National Tourism Organization

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private cars everywhere, you’re going to have to walk – whether it’s up daunting flights of stone stairs to a temple or shrine, or through subway tunnels looking for the exit you need. I estimated we walked four to seven miles every day we were in Japan. Even on a travel day, you have to walk through huge railway stations. Plan on walking several extra miles due to getting lost. And of course, we had walk several blocks every evening to the nearest 7-11 to pick up a bottle of wine and a snack for our mandatory wine time and daily debrief. Wear good shoes and pace yourself according to your own needs. And if you run out of steam, find a café, grab a beer and then get a cab; your body will thank you for it in the morning. Tip: Always carry a card or print out in Japanese with the name of your destination. The majority of taxi drivers do not speak English. If you’re going out, have the doorman tell the driver your destination. For the return trip back to the hotel, be sure to carry the hotel’s business card with its address in Japanese. Another option is to use your smartphone Google maps to show the driver where you’re going. Lastly, don’t be intimidated by travel here. It doesn’t take long to figure out the basics. And ask for assistance; the Japanese love to help, even if they can’t understand a word you’re saying.

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SHOPPING

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J

apan is a shopper’s dream. There’s no shortage of high-

pers it attracts, especially on weekends when the bustling

end retailers here. Just walk around a main shopping

street is closed to traffic and becomes a pedestrian mall. Be

district like Chuo-dori street in Tokyo’s Ginza district, and

sure to explore the lower floors of most major retailers where

you’ll find the highest of the high end in swanky high-

you’ll find a foodie’s paradise of food and drink displayed in

rises on both sides of the street. Even if your wallet isn’t fat

row after row of sparkling glass cases. The problem was ta-

enough to shop these international fashion retailers, it’s still

bles and chairs were in limited supply or nowhere to be found.

fun to look around at the glitzy merchandise and stylish shop-

I guess all these culinary delights were take-out for busy Japa-

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nese who were too tired to cook when they got home. Just a block or two from Chuo-dori street, the retail mix changes dramatically. Tiny eateries are interspersed with

of Japanese souvenirs, arts and crafts and everyday stuff like cosmetics and chopsticks. One of our most interesting shopping experiences was in

mom and pop specialty shops, selling everything from

Kyoto at the Nishiki Market, also known as “Kyoto’s Kitchen.”

kimonos to antique samurai swords. Soon or later, in almost

The crowded five-block market was a cacophony of sights

every city we visited, we would run into a covered shopping

and sounds with smallish stalls selling every kind of Japanese

arcade sprawling for blocks and blocks selling a combination

food imaginable along with kitchenware, t-shirts and ornate

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souvenirs. Some of Kyoto’s best little eateries are either in or

sold spectacular regional pottery and other arts and crafts

just outside of the market. Most towns, and cities we visited

– some that were shockingly expensive. If you shop around

had some form of this type of market that services locals and

you can find some great deals like the affordable hand-paint-

visitors.

ed linen wall hanging and an antique metal teapot which now

We also discovered fascinating shopping along the main

graces our collection of travel memorabilia. Be sure to indulge

streets leading to temples. Tiny shops are crammed with

in some of the sweet treats for sale, including soft serve ice

tourist souvenirs, often cheap trinkets probably made in

cream cones in exotic flavors like wasabi and green tea.

China. But occasionally we came across wonderful shops that

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As a rule, merchants do not bargain in Japan. However,


we found that in some antique stores when we passed on

Ancient shopping streets of Takayama.

an item of interest because of price, the owner would offer

Opposite: Shops in Kyoto.

us a small 10% discount. One of the merchants surprised us and gave us an additional 10% discount on our purchase just because he liked us. You never know. Many small shops, stalls, and eateries take cash only, although higher-end stores will take credit cards; but it’s a good idea to check first. For that reason, most Japanese

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carry around a wad of yen and a little change for buses and train tickets and vending machines. If you’re running low on cash, look for ATMs at almost all neighborhood 7-11s located throughout Japan. The best cards to use at ATMs are from companies that charge no or minimal foreign exchange fees, about $3 for a $100 withdrawal. Tip: Withdraw in 1,000 (about $10) yen denominations, they’re preferred by merchants, taxi driver, etc. and you’re not as likely to accidentally pass along a 10,000 yen note by mistake.

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ACCOMMODATIONS

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ike shopping options in Japan, we found a great

didn’t mind since we were hardly in the room except to sleep.

array of choice when it came to places to stay. We

Some of our fellow travelers were uncomfortable. Room

wanted to experience a range of accommodations,

descriptions often include the square footage, so there are no

and we did - all comfortable, exceptionally clean and

surprises when you arrive.

well maintained. They all had space-aged toilets with more

During our visit, we experienced luxury hotels, business ho-

buttons and controls than most TV remotes. When booking,

tels, resort hotels and even an authentic Japanese townhouse

remember that rooms in most Japanese hotels, especially

with futons on the floor, rice paper walls, tatami mats in every

“business” hotels in city centers, are small, and sometimes

room and a wooden tub. Here are three very different accom-

pods. Our hotel room near Ginza in Tokoyo was tiny, but we

modations we enjoyed the most.

K’s Villa Hida-an Takayama

O

ne of the joys of travel is to get close to local life – how natives live, shop and dine. In Japan, we

sleep on the floor as part of the experience. We found our dream Japanese home in the amazing

wanted to stay in an authentic-style home with a

city of Takayama, where it’s possible, it seems, to immerse

courtyard garden and rice-paper screens, along

yourself in the Japan of yore. In and around this mountain

with a few traveler comforts like a small kitchen and laundry

town, visitors can walk the paths at the Hida Folk Village, an

facilities. We were willing to leave our shoes by the door and

open-air museum of nearly 30 thatched and shingled roofed

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farmhouses dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries or

two-and-a-half bath apartment, eager to remove our shoes

wander through the narrow streets of Sanmachi Suji, where

and explore what would be our home for the next four days.

throngs of visitors shuffle through authentic Edo-era (1603-

We admired the beautiful carved wood details throughout the

1867) buildings. Our authentic Japanese home, K’s Villa Hida-

apartment. The modern kitchen and bathrooms. Tatami mat

an, is located just a few blocks from Sanmachi Suji and the

floors, rice paper walls, and sliding doors defined rooms on the

train station.

lower flower and upstairs where each of four bedrooms was

After getting the keys from the staff at the next door youth hostel, we entered the foyer of the two-story, four-bedroom,

home to twin-sized futons for two. In the center was a tiny Japanese garden complete with rock lanterns and a grace-

ful Japanese maple. But it also had a beautiful handmade

especially when wearing socks. If you have mobility issues,

wooden table and comfy couches for our spoiled Western

this may not be for you. Tip: The youth hostel next door is a great place to get information on the best watering holes and eateries in the area. They have a detailed handout with all of their recommendations. Seeing that they cater to young folks with thin wallets, their recommendations are not only on the mark but

backsides. We stayed in Takayama with another couple, which meant this beautiful apartment cost no more than a standard hotel room. The only downside was the steep stairs to the bedrooms. The stairs were polished wood and very slippery,

very affordable.

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Hotel New Grand Yokohama

W

e love a comfortable place to stay with a fascinating history, and the New Grand

in Yokohama certainly hit the mark for us. Like most Japanese hotels most of the standard rooms were modest in size, but they were modern, clean and comfortable and could be had for under $100 a night. The staff is first-rate, friendly and professional. From many rooms, views of the Yokohama waterfront across one of the finest bayside parks in the world. Exploring the hotel with its rich history and amazing Asian art deco rooms and staircases was an adventure. In our mind’s eye, we half expected to turn a corner and bump into former guests like Charlie Chaplin, General Douglas MacArthur, and Babe Ruth.

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The Hotel has a part of Yokohama’s history as its place to be seen since it opened in 1927. There only a handful of rooms in the historic building, so most guests stay in the modern adjacent tower. A popular chapel fills most of the penthouse floor attracting four or more weddings a day. There’s so much wedding business that the Hotel has its wedding shop complete with designer kimonos. The hotel is an easy walk to the cruise port, Yokohama’s sprawling Chinatown, and several very good and reasonable restaurants. There are three convenience stores within two blocks which are great for ATM withdrawals and buying wine, beer, and snacks. If you’re arriving in Japan at Narita Airport, an express bus will bring you from the international terminal to the hotel’s front door.

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Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Kyoto

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f all the places we stayed in Japan, the Solaria Hotel in Kyoto was the biggest surprise. We picked it because of its afford-

ability and location, next to the Kamo River, nearby train and bus terminals and walking distance of several attractions. Kyoto’s most famous markets and restaurants were just a few blocks away. And for wine lovers, there was an affordable world-class wine and sake emporium just across the street. Because it is a business hotel, we didn’t have high expectations after our experience in Tokyo, but as it turned out, the hotel was one of the best on our trip. Only a year old, the modern lobby, elevators, decor, and furnishings had a sparkling new appearance. The lobby, although not huge by big hotel standards, appeared much larger due to a giant terrarium that stretched floor to ceiling across the entry doors. The decently sized rooms were super quiet, and each had either a city view or a view of the garden behind glass windows. The bathrooms were ultra modern with roomy showers with rain heads. And the toilets were heated and had more controls than some jet planes. The pillows were downlike; the beds were perfectly firm with 300 count linen bedding. Plus there’s an onsen on site if you’re in the mood for a good soak. You couldn’t ask more of a hotel.

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As much as we enjoyed the hotel and location, the staff

staff to call us a cab. I expected her to pick up the phone.

gets credit for making our stay exceptional. From the general

Instead, she walked to the lobby door, grabbed an umbrella

manager and the front desk to housekeepers and the door-

and went out the door into the pouring rain. Disbelieving, I fol-

men, they always made us feel cared for and at home. For in-

lowed her as she made her way to the busy street corner and

stance, during a heavy rain, I tried to hail a cab outside of the

flagged down a cab within minutes. Talk about walking the

hotel without success. I went in and asked one of the desk

extra mile for a guest. u

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Solaria GM, Kazuma Takada, and his staff.

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EATING JAPAN STYLE STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY RON JAMES

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DISCOVERING JAPAN PAR


E

RT 2

“...I was not prepared for the feel of the noodles in my mouth, or the purity of the taste. I had been in Japan for almost a month, but I had never experiences anything like this. The noodles quivered as if they were alive, and leapt into my mouth where they vibrated as if playing inaudible music.� ~ Ruth Reichl

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Tiny restaurants serving seafood in all forms at the Tsukiji market, the oldest and biggest fish market in the world. Left: Tempura, soba noodles and a beer was a favorite lunch as we traveled around Japan. Left bottom: Ron enjoys cooking his own in Takayama.

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J

apan is a food lover’s paradise. During our travels there, Mary and I discovered and tasted many amazing Japanese dishes, sampling some of the 30 types of restaurants with specialties ranging from tempura and raman to Japanese hot pots and yakitori (skewers of meat). Some were familiar, like teppanyaki where chefs dazzle customers with their knifework and grill beef

and veggies at the table a la Benihana, and sashimi and sushi dining places that served up the freshest seafood imaginable. Highlights for us during our trip were the amazing ramen bowls in Kyoto and Narita, and a grillyour-own-Kobe-beef dining spot in Takayama. One of our favorite dishes was from a hole-in-the-wall hambagu restaurant in Kobe that served an amazing dish of a melt-in-your-mouth tender hamburger on a bed of rice

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topped with a perfectly scrambled egg swimming in a rich sweet and savory brown sauce. Even if you only have a few yen, you will never starve Japan. There are eateries every few feet in the cities; sometimes they’re stacked one above the other in urban high rises. Some dining spots are grand, but many are tiny family affairs holding fewer than a dozen diners at a time. We enjoyed some of our most memo-

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rable meals in one-room restaurants a few tables and stools at a bar in front of the kitchen. Sitting at one of these bars is like being at a chef’s table – up close and personal with all the cooking action without the high cost you encounter in the US for the same privilege. We found the noodle shops fascinating and fun. Here, hungry diners savor steaming bowls filled with rich broths, noodles (udon, soba, yakisoba, somen or


Busy food booth at a food and sake festival in Tokyo. Right: Outstanding Spanish paellea in Tokyo and owner carving procuito.

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ramen), fish, meats, and veggies served up fast – but this is fast food that’s good for you. Noodle preparation and presentation is largely regional, so bowls vary from town to town. Our favorites were soba, udon, and ramen. We especially enjoyed watching chefs make the noodles from scratch, performing the precision cuts with a long knife in the front windows of their eateries. Think of watching women make tortillas in Old Town San Diego.

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Despite being familiar with some Japanese delicacies, there were many, especially in markets like Tashiki Market in Kyoto, that we had never seen much less tasted. More than a few struck us as strange, like the whole baby octopus stuffed with a quail egg and other seafood we couldn’t identify. A food tour might be the best way expand your palate to enjoy these unusual specialties.


Fish is the champion protein in Japan and no wonder. The country is surrounded by water and has limited land for raising cattle, lamb, and pigs. We found a variety of fish on menus with the tuna and yellowtail being the most popular for sushi and sashimi. In most markets, squid, octopus, sardines, and anchovies, in various forms including pickled, smoked, dried and raw, were on display. Beef, chicken, and pork are on menus

Happy chef cooking us up a fine Japanese meal in Takayama.

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as well but mostly used sparingly in soup, noodle and vegetable dishes. The most famous meat from Japan is Kobe beef which is expensive and a special occasion dish. A nice steak costs more than $200 in fine dining spots. We ordered our tiny Kobe beef slices by the milligram and still paid $40 for the experience at lunch. Yes, it does melt in your mouth. Like most Japanese, we had to balance our expensive dining with meals that wouldn’t

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break the bank. One source for cheap, fast Japanese food is the zillion convenience stores found on practically every block in every city in the country. 7-Elevens are filled with cheap snacks, ready-to-eat Japanese dishes, and beverages including wine. Family Mart and Lawson convenience stores also are a boon to weary travelers seeking wine and happy hour snacks. Clerks at all of them are very friendly and understand enough English to help you make your purchase.


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Social media, especially TripAdvisor, make it possible to identify good dining among myriad restaurants. Look for places with plenty of reviews by Europeans and Americans whose palates might more reflect Western tastes and expectations. The downside is that eateries with great reviews from locals and visitors almost always will have lines out the door during prime dining times. The proprietors know how to move customers in

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and out of their little gold mines, keeping the lines moving quickly and your wait at a minimum. In many Japanese towns, we came across farmers’ markets crowded with booths selling all sorts of foodstuffs. One stunning contrast with our markets are the amazing displays of blemish-free produce. You’ll eat with your eyes again and again, before finally biting into a perfect pear or apple.


Chef gives the thumbs up in Takayama. Right: Chef makes soba noodles from scratch in Nagano and Mary sips a beer in Takayama.

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Occasionally in some of the markets, we found food booths selling grilled yakitori beef skewers or some other tasty item. Unlike other Asian countries we’ve visited, Japan didn’t have many food booths or street food stalls. There were some exceptions in Yokohama and Kobe Chinatowns and some tourist-heavy streets that lead up to shrines and temples where shops tempt with soft ice cream in flavors like green tea, miso, and even wasabi. For about 350 yen per cone, we can confirm that miso ice cream tastes a bit like salted caramel and green tea like green tea. It’s the least we can do to inform fellow world travelers. Japanese, as good as it is, isn’t the only cuisine option in the country. An international lineup of restaurants is available in almost every city, town, and village. Pizza and burgers are big here; we even noted a few Mexican dining spots here and there. We enjoyed outstanding Spanish paella in Tokyo, nice Italian food in Yokohama and great Sausage and Egg McMuffins almost everywhere for breakfast. There were only a few cafes that served American-style breakfasts, which we preferred to the traditional Japanese repast of fish, rice, miso soup and pickled vegetables. As Mary and I ate our way through Japan, savoring every second of it, we felt like kindred spirits with Anthony Bourdain who said “If I were trapped in one city and had to eat one nation’s cuisine for the rest of my life, I would not mind eating Japanese. I adore Japanese food. I love it.”

Bento box lunch with sashimi,soba noodles, rice and pickled vegetables. Left: Our friends celebrating birthdays in Tokyo.

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WHAT’S THE BEEF?

Y

ou wouldn’t think that an island nation with limited grazing land would be world famous for beef. But that the case with Japan and the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness and flavor of Wagyu beef. Steak enthusiasts around the world – at least those with very deep pockets spend

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hundreds of dollars on a pound. In Kobe, the beef is a tourist draw, and its streets are crowded with dining spots asking $80 for 150 grams (2.3 oz) worth of marbleized heaven. There are many myths surrounding Japanese beef. Wagyu means Japanese beef, and it can come from any


region of the country. So Kobe beef is Wagyu, but not all Wagyu is Kobe unless it comes from that prefecture in Japan. We found Wagyu in almost every region, each with different names. Wagyu cows, despite common lore, are not massaged and fed beer to make the meat tender. Think twice before ordering the Kobe-beef burgers or

sliders; the chances are that you’re not getting the real deal. There are only about 4,000 cows produced a year in Kobe, so unless you’re paying a fortune for it, most likely you’re getting Angus or other Kobe wannabe in a blend with small to the minuscule amount of the real deal.

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The simpler the food, the harder it is to prepare it well. You want to truly taste what it is you're eating. So that goes back to the trend of fine ingredients. It's very Japanese: Preparing good ingredients very simply, without distractions from the flavor of the ingredient itself. ~ Joel Robuchon

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IZAKAYAS

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W

hen someone first mentioned an Izakaya bar to me, it sounded like a book in the Old Testament. My mind’s eye pictured a bunch of old men in a small, dimly lit room putting away kosher wine. But this was Japan, and

an izakaya is a cross between your neighborhood watering hole and a tapas bar without the Spanish plates. They are usually tiny affairs that serve cheap drinks and small plates or bowls of Japanese comfort food where the locals gather with friends to blow off a little steam after a hard day in the office. Most Izakayas serve a variety of tasty bites that go well with beer and sake. Favorites include seafood raw and cooked, yakitori, and oden (potatoes, vegetables, eggs, octopus and other things boiled in a broth). But our first izakaya had an extensive list of cooked and non-cooked goodies that Westerners can enjoy. Some izakayas also serve a quaffable imported wine for 500 to 700 yen – usually one red and one white. The only problem is that izakaya can be a bit intimidating for rookies. Standing outside some and looking in brings back memories of the song “Green Door” – “Green door, what’s that secret you’re keeping?” They seem mysterious, with their odd hours and lack of English signage and menus. Perhaps this keeps the regulars happy and discourages tourists. But most of the time they welcome friendly and thirsty visitors from down the block or across the ocean. Sometimes there is a 200-300 yen cover charge which pays for a small appetizer when you order your first drink. We tried our first izakaya in Takayama and had a blast; you’ll find lots of affable locals and more than a few fun-loving travelers ready to tell tales. Ask your hotel desk clerk for suggestions for nearby friendly izakaya. If there’s a hostel nearby, stop in for its recommended list. Young travelers on a budget love them.

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TEMPURA e love tempura. Not because it’s deep-fried, although we like pretty much everything fried, but because the fried coating is so light and crisp. The Japanese love it too and can thank three Portuguese sailors for the inspiration. On their way to Macau in 1543, the trio was blown off course and landed on the Japanese island of Tagameshima. The sailors liked it there and began trading goods. More Portuguese traders followed, and business flourished until the shogun banished them in 1639. One thing they left behind was their recipe for batter-coated fried green beans called peixinhos da horta. The Japanese refined it and renamed the dish tempura. Tempura can be made with almost any meat or vegetable, but fish and shrimp are proteins of choice. It’s usually served with a small serving of Tetsuya sauce made from sweet sake, ginger and soy sauce. According to Japanese etiquette, tempura is eaten with chopsticks, not picked up with your fingers, although it seems to be perfect finger food. I resisted, but in the end, decided to go with the flow and wield the tender morsels into my mouth the proper way.

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CHOPSTICKS

C

hopsticks, it could be argued, are emblematic of Asian cuisines. They still conjure up exotic Far East destinations and dining, even though they’re ubiquitous at mall and strip mall eateries across the U.S. Chopsticks go back a long, long way. The Chinese have been wielding them since at least 1200 B.C. when longer versions served as cooking implements – think early tongs. By 500 A.D., they were adopted as eating utensils and appeared in South East Asia and Japan. Chopsticks owe their popularity to Chinese poverty, population explosions, and Confucius. During baby booms, cooks were forced to be resourceful with their meager rations, chopping them into smaller pieces to save cooking fuel. Chopsticks were perfect for picking up bits of food and slowing down dining time. Plus Confucius, a vegetarian, put the kibosh on knives at the dinner table because they reminded him of slaughterhouses which gave him indigestion. He said that happiness and contentment should reign supreme at the table and, it seemed, everyone in Asia agreed. So knives were out, and chopsticks became the eating instruments supreme. Chopstick Etiquette Learning to wield chopsticks includes learning all the rules for their use. Here are some prime gaffes you should avoid when dining in Japan or anywhere in Asia • Don’t suck on the ends of chopsticks; it’s considered unpleasant. Don’t bite the ends of chopsticks either, especially when using reusable sticks; restaurant proprietors don’t want teeth marks on their implements or to pay for dental work. Don’t bite wooden throw-aways either; you might get splinters in your gums. • Stabbing or spearing food with the chopsticks is considered rude. And don’t hover your sticks over the dish like

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you’re spearfishing while searching for the bits to eat next. Food spearfishing gives the impression you’re judging the food or picking out favorites – all insults to the chef. Don’t point chopsticks at anyone; it’s considered bad manners just as jabbing your finger in someone’s face is in America. And don’t wave the chopsticks in the air either. Italians may have a tough time complying with this one. Standing chopsticks upright in rice is viewed as an ominous sign of impending death. When the Japanese do this, they are mourning the dead and helping them with their journey to the afterlife. Putting chopsticks down on your bowl or plate is not kosher either; use the chopstick rest or hashioki provided in even the dinkiest eateries. If there’s no hashioki, fold up the paper wrapper from the chopsticks and use it for a rest. Don’t bring your bowl to your lips and use the chopsticks to shovel food you’re your mouth. It’s rude and noisy, though I’m not sure why slurping soba or ramen is considered OK. And for god’s sake, don’t indulge your hidden Ringo Starr and use your chopsticks as drumsticks. That drives fellow diners nuts and can also chip the china. Don’t feel offended if your hosts offer you throw away wooden chopsticks. Family chopsticks are very personal to the Japanese and if you are fortunate enough to visit a Japanese family as we were, don’t wince when your chopsticks are inexpensive wood or plastic. You won’t find western eating utensils on the table at most Japanese restaurants, although almost all will provide a fork if requested. Also, it would be very appropriate to apply most of the chopstick rules to your use of forks, knives, and spoons – even when not dining in Japan.


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W

andering the streets of japan at night with seemingly every nook and cranny filled with mysterious tiny eateries is a real adventure -- it ‘s a treat for the senses , especially the palate. ~ RON JAMES

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ABOUT RAMEN

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amen, one of the top noodles in Japan, is especially well known by college students worldwide. The noodle is a relatively new to Japanese menus, introduced from China about 100 years ago when it was known as shina soba (Chinese soba). In the 1950s it became ramen. The thin wheat noodles can be used in several types of broths, including miso, shoyu (soy sauce), and my favorite tonkatsu (porkbone) with red chili sauce pictured here. Ramen is almost always served hot which is not the case for other noodle dishes including soba. Ramen can contain many different ingredients including meats, fish, vegetables, and spices. The traditional key element of the noodle itself is alkaline water known as kansui, sourced from the lakes of Mongolia. The alkalinity provides the noodles with a firm texture. Because Mongolian lake water is a bit hard to source, eggs often are used to get the same texture as the Mongolian water provides. Momofuku Ando (the Thomas Edison of the noodle world) changed everything with his 1958 creation of instant ramen. It took off like a rocket around the world; quick, cheap and tasty, it filled millions of students, mothers, and busy office workers. The Japanese once voted it as “the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century.� When we were in Yokohama, we even saw a museum dedicated to the great noodle.

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Ippudo Nishikikoji

P

erhaps our favorite food discovery in Japan was

your phone in Google Maps before heading out to reduce the

ramen. Ramen was completely off our food radar,

time you’ll spend wandering around.

associated with cheap eats in a foam cup of dried noodles reconstituted with hot water. On the recom-

We knew we had arrived at the right restaurant when we spotted the line out the door. The folks in the line assured

mendation of our hotel desk clerk in Kyoto, we found Ippudo

us that we had made an excellent choice. The line moved

Nichikikoji, just outside the famous Nishiki Market. There are

quickly, and before we knew it, steaming bowls of ramen and

dozens of tiny eateries in and around the giant market, so it

a serving of melt in your mouth fried gyoza dumplings were

took us some time to find our destination. It’s best to program

plunked down on the counter in front of us. It was a feast

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for the eyes and palate. The perfectly cooked ramen noodles swimming rich pork broth with red chili was a gastronomic epiphany; the gyoza was tender and flavorful. This delightful meal is etched in our memory, and the once lowly ramen now stands tall in our pantheon of favorite dishes.

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Ramen Bayashi

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O

n our last day in Japan on a stroll down the fascinating main street of Narita, we found Ramen Bayashi, a noodle house that rivaled our semi-

nal experience in Kyoto. There was no line, but we knew we had a winner when we eyed all of the airline paraphernalia donated by the airline personnel who overnighted here between flights and stopped by for a meal. Crew members were working on their bowls of ramen all around our table during our lunchtime visit. Our bowls were enormous and nearly matched Ippudo Nishikikoji in flavor. It gave us another reason to visit Narita; as if we needed one.

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FUGU: A MEAL TO DIE FOR

Fugu photo courtesy WikiMedia.

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J

apanese love the exotic, especially in cuisine and nothing exemplifies that like their passion for eating one of most deadly fish in the world. In America we know them as blowfish or pufferfish; in Japan, they’re

called fugu. Their unique toxins have killed around two dozen Japanese diners since 2000. Most of the victims were clueless fishermen who tried to prepare and cook their own; there are no known cases of diner deaths when the fugu is prepared by a licensed Fugu Master. One woman though got very sick after eating a tiny bit fugu liver in a top Tokyo restaurant. A fugu thrill ride can cost $100 to $200 or more. The fish isn’t that expensive, but the services of chefs who know what they are doing are most pricey. Most have three to five years of training before they can even apply for a fugu-preparation license. Fugu sashimi can be chewy and isn’t distinctively flavored, other than death-defying adrenalin rush that overwhelms diners before the first taste. And like the meat of venomous rattlesnakes, it is said that cooked fugu tastes like chicken. Some adventurers settle for slivers of fugu filet prepared as sashimi, seared, or in soup, but extreme fugu enthusiasts prefer fugu testicles just slightly charred with a torch. These tasty tidbits cost about $250 a pound wholesale. Did we try fugu on this trip? Are you crazy? We don’t particularly care to try testicles of any origin and wouldn’t want to risk our lives for something that tastes like KFC?

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DRINK

G

etting your favorite beverage in Japan is usually

expect to pay top dollar if you visit a view bar at the top of a

not a problem. Wines, beer, sake, and liquor are

trendy skyscraper in Tokyo. We celebrated at one of these

readily available in supermarkets, bars, restau-

posh drinking holes and almost gasped when we saw the bar

rants, convenience stores like 7-Eleven, and

menu. Cocktails began at $25, and a glass of wine started at

specialty stores similar to BevMo. Hard liquor and mixed drinks cost about the same as we pay in America. However,

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$20. Plus we couldn’t find a bottle for less than $100. We are primarily wine drinkers, but as we traveled Japan,


we found a beer to be a great thirst quencher and a perfect

cities, including Kyoto, Tokyo, and Yokohama have lively craft

pairing with somewhat salty Japanese food. Every city seemed

beer scenes that carry not only Japanese brews, but many

to have a popular regional beer in addition to the popular

imported craft beers from America and Europe. You can even

national brands, pale-colored light lagers including Asahi, Kirin,

find a limited selection of craft beers in a convenience store

Sapporo, and Suntory. Microbreweries have sprouted up all

like Lawson and Family Mart.

over Japan as have craft beer bars and pubs. Japan’s major

Wine is readily available and reasonably affordable. Su-

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permarkets and specialty wine stores have good selections of

intricacies of the sake. We know it as a fermented rice drink in

wines from around the world including some high-end Cali-

a tiny cup served in Japanese restaurants around Ameria. In

fornia wines. We found some very drinkable whites including

Japan, sake describes all drinks with alcohol including beer and

Sauvignon blanc, chardonnays, and blends from South Africa

wine. The Japanese call what we know as sake nihonshu. How-

and Argentina at convenience stores in the $5-$10 range. Most

ever, they serve you what we know as sake when you ask for it.

restaurants, other than fine dining establishments, offer a few

There are as many kinds of sake as there are varietals in

affordable bottles of red or white wine for under $30 a bottle.

wine. It is classified by the brewing process, type of rice and

We found house wines offered by many eateries were pretty

degree of rice polishing. Among the types are junmai or pure

good at $5 or less a glass.

rice sake; honjozo which contains a bit of distilled alcohol;

Then there’s sake which is synonymous with Japan and

ginjo, premium sake that uses at least 70 percent polished rice;

its cuisine. For novice sake drinkers, deciding what and how

and daiginjo, an expensive super premium sake from carefully

to drink it can be a bit daunting but fun experience. We were

milled rice. There are many more types and subtypes, like one I

fortunate to bump into a sake and food festival while strolling

accidentally ordered in a sake tasting room in Takayama. Nigori

through a Tokyo park where we sampled a half a dozen and

is a milky looking unfiltered sake that ranges from creamy to

walked away with souvenir sake cups to boot.

chunky. I had the chunky one and don’t recommend it.

As with wine connoisseurship, it can take years to learn the

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When we order sake at home, it’s usually served very warm from a cute little flask. In Japan, friends told us, don’t order

ture you prefer. Suit yourself and ignore the sake snobs. A few pointers. Don’t microwave sake or heat it in a pan.

warm sake because the locals will think a yokel from across

Fill you sake flask and slowly heat it in a pan of water. When

the Pacific. So, hot, cold, warm or room temperature? In Japan,

served, the cup or glass makes a difference just as glasses do

we discovered, the answer is all of the above. Just avoid the

with wine. I prefer the classic little cup or ochoko, but many

extremes of hot or cold just as you would with wine. Like

sake heavy-hitters prefer a small glass with thin walls.

wine, it appears the right temperature for sake is the tempera-

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That brings us to something we had never heard of, the masu, a small square wooden box open on the top that was used to measure a 180 ml sake pour. Some dining spots we visited practiced an ancient tradition of placing the sake cup or glass in the box to fill it with sake, often overpouring into the wooden container. In Takayama, a tasting room we visited served pours in the wooden box. I found the taste disagreeable, so I purchased a sake cup to continue. We ended up liking sake a lot. It was great with meals or quaffed by itself. Next time you’re in the mood for happy hour with a taste of Japan, start with sake and a toast. Kanpai (cheers!) friends.

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Ron and Mary James sampling sake at a Tokyo food and sake festival.

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IF YOU GO Our thanks go out to Kay Allen and the Japan National Tourism Organization who helped us plan our wonderful adventure in Japan. Their website is one of the best to help plan your trip. JNTO maintains 20 offices in key cities around the world to promote tourism in Japan. http://us.jnto.go.jp/top/ TRAIN JR East and JR West, visit; JR East: http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ JR West: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ FLY We flew direct from San Diego to Tokyo on Japan Airlines for a great price and loved the flight. http://www.ar.jal.co.jp/arl/en/ Airlines with direct flights to Japan from USA Hawaiian Airlines will run new flights three times a week between Kona and Haneda (Tokyo/Yokohama) https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/ ANA opened new routes from New York and Chicago to Haneda. Both new routes are operating daily with Boeing’s 777-300ER aircraft. http://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/ Accomodations Hotel New Grand Yokohama https://www.hotel-newgrand.co.jp/english/ Solaria Kyoto http://www.solaria-h.jp/english/ Ks Villa Takayama http://www.ksvilla.jp/hida-e/index.html Destinations Himeji Castle http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/spot/castles/himeji.html Nara Travel Guide https://narashikanko.or.jp/en/ Kyoto Travel Guide https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html

Photo: Okunitama Shrine near Fuchu Station just outside of Tokyo.

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Nara’s Todai-ji WHERE THE DEER AND THE PILGRIMS PLAY

I

Story & Photography by Michael Burge

t would be difficult to find any other place in Japan that merges the sublime with the zany quite like Nara.

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Visitors to Todai-ji, one of Japan’s most popular sites, must contend with deer who roam the temple grounds and occasionally harass them. It’s part of the fun of visiting Todai-ji.

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The Great Buddha Hall is one of several structures located on Todai-ji’s expansive grounds. Nigatsudo, right, a short uphill walk from the great hall, offers spectacular views of Nara city from its balcony.

About 30 miles south of Kyoto in Western Honshu, Nara has a deep history, serving as Japan’s first capital and center of Buddhism in the eighth century. The Buddhist influence has always been strong there and the city is home to the iconic Great Buddha, which is housed in the massive Todai-ji, or “Great Eastern Temple.”

No sooner did we begin our trek than we were accosted by a herd of deer stalking us for handouts. They appear docile, but looks are deceiving, as these deer wouldn’t hesitate to steal candy from a small child – something even my pit bull knows not to do.

But visiting the great temple is not a solemn pilgrimage, as my wife, son and I learned when we stepped off the train at the station and began the one-mile walk to Nara Park, the temple’s home.

The deer are so insistent that the city has erected signs informing tourists about the dos and don’ts of deer interactions. The signs should be directed at the deer, but humans have to

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bear the brunt of the warnings, and the deer’s bad manners. This nuttiness only got nuttier when we arrived at the temple grounds. To enter we passed under the massive Nandaimon Gate, a 70-feet-tall wooden tower with two guardian statues on either side. The guardians proved powerless against the fauna, as we wound our way through a throng of visitors, deer and vendors, some of whom were selling crackers to feed the animals. Of course, this only reinforced bad deer behavior, but

that is part of the fun of Todai-ji. It’s a sort of “San Diego Zoo meets the Great Buddha,” with live animal meetups. The “Great Buddha Hall” is billed as the largest wooden building on the planet, and given its size – 16 stories high, 190 feet long, and 165 feet wide – who can argue? It is large enough to house the giant Buddha, and four other statues besides.

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“The Great Buddha is an imposing figure, with a head nearly 20 feet high and a face that is the epitome of serenity.”

When we first entered there was indeed a hush, as people and

The 500-ton bronze sculpture was first cast in 749 and is

worshipers stood in awe of the Great Buddha, a massive five-story

original except for the massive head, which was toppled from

bronze sculpture that commands silence and respect. Some visi-

the torso in an earthquake in 855. It was restored shortly after

tors bowed and prayed before the image of the deity while most

that. The Great Buddha Hall was built in 752 and has been

shuffled past, eyes and mouths wide open.

rebuilt over the centuries as the structure suffered damage. In 1180 the hall was burned to the ground in an attack on the

The Great Buddha is an imposing figure, with a head nearly 20 feet

temple, but the sculpture survived. A similar event occurred

high and a face that is the epitome of serenity. The seated figure

in 1567, but because of ongoing warfare, the building wasn’t

raises its right hand in a gesture that seems to say, “Fear not.”

restored until 1709.

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The Great Buddha is the most prominent statue in the Great Buddha Hall. Other sculptures include bodhisattvas in gleaming gold leaf and wooden sculptures of heavenly guardians.

Flanking the Great Buddha on either side are two gleaming

was about as solemn as a high school football game in Texas.

bodhisattvas, each of which is impressive but overshadowed by

The temple grounds are expansive and include a museum and

the Buddha. Two other statues, of heavenly guardians, stand in

several other structures, besides the Great Buddha Hall. It was

corners of the hall.

easy for us to lose ourselves for the day at Todai-ji, exploring the grounds, absorbing the culture, and dodging the deer. u

While the scene inside the hall was calmer than outside – the deer are barred from the hall – it was by no means serene. In one corner schoolchildren were staging a drama, and lines of people strode past as if enjoying a carnival. All in all, the scene

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HIMEJI CASTLE A Heroic Relic of Japan’s Feudal Past Story by Michael Burge Photography by Michael Burge and Ron James

A

fter spending three days visiting Hiroshima

one reason: Himeji Castle, a 500-year-old edifice widely re-

and Kyoto under the protective custody of our

garded as the finest of Japan’s remaining feudal fortresses. It

Japanese-speaking son, my wife Kathie and I

underwent a massive restoration and reopened to the public

ventured forth into the wilds of Western Honshu island armed

in 2015, and today it is the largest and most visited of Japan’s

only with our wits, Wi-Fi and a Japan Rail Pass. Destination:

ancient citadels.

Himeji. Himeji is on the list of top Japanese tourist sites for only

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A fort has stood on the castle site since the 1300s, and that original fort gave way to a castle, which evolved into the


present-day grand castle in the early 1600s. This was a period

this sublime form of architecture, of the thousands that dotted

of feverish castle construction, as vying lords feuded with

the Japanese landscape during Japan’s feudal period.

each other for advantage, employing thousands of samurai to press their causes. In 1609, when Himeji was completed, Japanese castles

Castles gradually faded over the ensuing centuries, however, falling to earthquake, fire and lassitude. In the latter 1800s, when political power was returned to Japan’s emperor

were as common as Beverly Hills swimming pools. Today

during the Meiji Restoration, ending the rule of shoguns –

only a dozen castles stand as authentic representatives of

military dictators – the new emperor regarded the old castles

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as symbols of a decrepit, degenerate past, and ordered them torn down. Himeji was slated for demolition to make way for – what else – new development, but it was eventually spared. Besides its reputation as the grandest of Japan’s surviving castles, Himeji acquired an aura of having divine protection after it survived a World War II bombing attack. During an aerial raid on Himeji city on July 3, 1945, a bomb struck the castle but failed to explode, leaving the magnificent tower intact while more than 60 percent of the city was incinerated. When surviving residents emerged from the ashes and saw the castle still standing, they drew inspiration from the fortress and adopted it as a symbol of resilience. Sort of like a “Himeji Strong.” Getting to Himeji from our base in Osaka was easy, once we had mastered the bullet train and Shin Osaka train station, the major hub for Western Honshu island. Because Himeji is small compared with major Japanese cities – about a half million people – not all bullet trains stop there, so we had to make sure to get to the right track. The train covered the 60 miles to Himeji in about a half hour. We emerged from the train station into a driving rain, opened our umbrellas and began walking up Otemae Dori, the wide boulevard to the castle, about a kilometer away. But as we walked it became apparent that there were very few people on the boulevard beside us. Where had everyone gone? I peered down an alleyway and could see waves of people promenading up a passageway to our right, so we ducked down the alley and discovered a beautiful arcade along Miyuki Dori – a parallel route to the castle – lined with shops and filled with people. These arcades, called shotengai, are common throughout Japan. By now it was close to noon and we were hungry. We didn’t want to take our chances at the castle, so we decided to eat in the arcade. Finding a restaurant wouldn’t be hard, but selecting the right one would be challenging, as we had no Japanese and the English signage was enigmatic. So it would be eat by pictures. We eliminated several places, especially those featuring raw octopus, and settled on a ramen place. We entered – the space was smaller than the train car we had just ridden – and were greeted by a server who directed us to what looked like a vending machine with slots. The greeter had less English than we had Japanese, and through hand signals she explained that the machine only accepted cash and we were to select our dishes from a menu with photos and numbers – the items had English labels – and insert our money into the correspondingly numbered slot on the machine. This wasn’t complicated. It was just, um, foreign.

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I took out a 10,000-yen note and she stopped me. The box couldn’t take such a large size note. Ten thousand yen, for those of you unfamiliar with the exchange rate, is roughly equivalent to $100 US. Why, then, would I take out $100 for a $5 bowl of soup? We had recently arrived from South Korea, where 10,000 won roughly equals $10 US. So $1.00 US is roughly 1,000 times a single won, which is about one-tenth the value of a yen. Confused? Of course. So you can see why I was. Let’s just say that substituting won for yen could mean an error with a magnitude of 10 in my favor – an error I unwittingly committed more times than I care to confess. These errors prompted more than one nasty look from Japanese sales clerks too savvy to fall for that old trick. “This is not yen,” one sales clerk scowled. So I put away my 10,000-yen note and found something more reasonable. We picked our ramen dishes and I put the money in the respective slots. The machine spit out a ticket for each selection, plus change, and I picked up the tickets. Now this is where the ramen “vending machine” gets really complicated. After the machine spit out our tickets, the greeter took them from me, walked them over to the ramen cook and showed him the tickets! This wasn’t a vending system; it was a cash box with a human servant. I know that in Himeji, one should do as Hemijians do, but I still puzzle over why we went through all those steps of selecting our dish, confusing our money, finding and inserting the correct money, watching the machine dispense our meal tickets, handing the tickets to the greeter, and the greeter walking our tickets to the counter to hand them to the chef. Surely there’s an efficiency boost I’m missing here, because I didn’t see how this enhanced ramen efficiency by a single noodle.

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A couple walks up a path to Himeji Castle’s splendid tower. The wall to their right includes openings through which samurai could shoot at invaders in ancient times. The couple made it safely to the tower. Opposite: Illuminated display of the castle and visitors removing shoes at entrance.

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Nonetheless, the meal was quite good – hearty and filled with meat and vegetables. We left the restaurant and continued up the arcade, a colorful mall offering a wide variety of local goods, and

the grounds. This was a defense stratagem intended to trick would-be invaders into believing that they were advancing on the keep, only to be led into an ambush. Himeji features several other defense systems that

proceeded to the castle. When we emerged, the rain was still

were new at the time. The keep is enclosed within three

falling hard, but we could see the castle on a bluff, glowing in

moats and has walls within walls, almost all of which feature

white finery above the disconsolate gray day.

narrow portholes for archers and gunmen to shoot at invad-

Imagine an enormous fortress built entirely of wood

ing warriors. Firearms had recently made their appearance in

and stone. That is

feudal warfare, so the castle is built

the stuff that ancient

on a massive stone foundation, to

Japanese castles are

put its samurai out of range of the

made of.

guns. And castle walls include drop

The castle is the

chutes for samurai to dump rocks

color of new snow

or boiling oil on any soldier trying to

and six stories high,

breach the walls.

resulting in a series

All these precautions and

of graduated, flow-

Himeji never saw battle. Until the

ing roof lines. To the

World War II bombing raid, that

Japanese, this visage

is. For hundreds of years it led a

suggests a bird in flight, so it has acquired the moniker “White Heron Castle.”

charmed life among Japan’s castles, surviving earthquakes, fires, and political intrigue.

The castle is familiar to Westerners through several film and

Unlike some other Japanese castles, such as Osaka,

television productions, including the 1980 series “Shogun,”

Himeji Castle was restored to keep the structure as authentic

which starred Richard Chamberlain.

as possible, and curators do everything they can to preserve

The grounds are expansive, and on our arrival, we were

it. When we entered from the driving rain, attendants issued

introduced to one of the fortress’ tricks. When completed in

us plastic bags to cover our shoes and gear, so we wouldn’t

1609, Himeji embodied the latest in state-of-the-art castle

drip all over the polished wooden floors and spoil the resto-

technology, including labyrinthine pathways that appear to

ration. This made for some comical moments on the narrow

lead to the main tower, but misdirect you to another part of

stairways, but it was worth it.

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The floors and walls are bare, except for an occasional

narrow and claustrophobic, as the floors diminish in size the

exhibit or explanation. The castle is unfurnished, which is

higher you go – is a shrine shrouded in purple garb. Osakabe

apparently authentic, as so much of the castle served as

Shrine, as it is known, has its own rich history. For hundreds

an armory. The rooms were breathlessly quiet, giving the

of years before the castle was built, a shrine stood on the hill

impression that we were walking in the ghostlike footsteps of

and local people worshiped there, but after the castle was

princes and princesses, which we likely were.

erected the shrine was off limits to ordinary folk.

On the tower’s top floor – which is understandably

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About 260 years ago the lord of the castle was ordered


to leave, and as a gift to the townspeople, he relocated the

of the largest in Western Honshu. Some years ago the shrine

shrine to the center of Himeji. To celebrate, the townspeople

reappeared on the tower’s top floor, where it still holds special

held a festival, but because the relocation happened on such

significance. Himeji residents had long honored the shrine’s

short notice they did not have time to prepare formal kimo-

god as the castle’s protective deity. Since Himeji Castle sur-

nos, so they were permitted to don casual kimonos, known as

vived a firebomb, that deity has been honored as the “god of

yukatas. This event, known as the Yukata Matsuri festival, is

disaster” who protects the castle from fire and other destruc-

still celebrated annually during the summer solstice and is one

tive forces to this day. Such is our good fortune. u

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By Wibke Carter

NEW PLYMOUTH Where walls turn into waves

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ull disclosure first: I am married to a kiwi, who is from New Plymouth on New Zealand’s North Island, and he wants to retire there. Nearly ten years ago, my husband took me to his hometown, showed me the best of everything on offer … but I simply could not see myself moving there.

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY LAUGHINGHOUSE

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F

ast forward to 2017, we’re back again, and this time it is a whole new experience as New Plymouth has seen an astonishing development. In fact, the Lonely Planet chose Taranaki, the area of which New Plymouth is the capital, as the second best region in the world to visit in 2017. “Our town has always been a domestic insider tip for surfers and garden lovers,” says Antony Rhodes from tourism organization Venture

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Taranaki. “But the opening of the Len Lye Centre in July 2015, awardwinning Puke Ariki museum and the Coastal Walkway have now put New Plymouth firmly on the map for international visitors as well. We have seen a more than 20% increase of them in the last year.” Having heard and read so much about the new museum and gallery honuring pioneering filmmaker and kinetic sculptor Len Lye, I am pulled like from an invisible hand to New

Plymouth’s most recognizable building. An extension of the internationally acclaimed, contemporary Govett Brewster Art Gallery, there is no missing the Len Lye Centre with its imposing façade finished in highly polished stainless steel and concrete. All around, and just like me, visitors struggle to get the perfect shot, or selfie, of the waves of mirrored curved panels that create an ever-changing reflection of light and movement. Walking inside I am struck by the


tall, more than 32ft high, concrete walls to the left-hand side of the entrance and gentle noises in the distance lure me to walk on. The globally significant Len Lye collection and archive comprises more than 18,000 items of which many paintings, writings, films, and photography are on display. I am particularly fascinated by the kinetic sculptures made of steel springs, rods and bands. For one sculpture, Roundhead, Lye even used his second wife’s, Ann, wedding band as the innermost

of four rings. Fitted with different mechanisms, the sculptures swirl, vibrate, shudder and sway into various figures and patterns of movement under colored lighting and accompanied by carefully selected soundtracks. Leaving the Len Lye Centre in a daze, I continue to Puke Ariki, a white steel, metal, glass and concrete extravaganza which is museum, library and visitor information center in one. Four permanent exhibitions cover Taranaki’s natural, geological and human

history from the earliest Māori settlements to the unique flightless birds that roam New Zealand’s forests. On the lower ground level temporary exhibitions are staged and just my luck, during my visit “Bugs – Our Backyard Heroes” is on. I cannot stifle a small moan of disgust at the sight of live crickets, cockroaches, and Eugene, the giant poisonous centipede, in glass containers, but children love it, a staff member assures me.

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Part of the Puke Ariki complex is Arborio, one of New Plymouth’s best restaurants – perfect for a lunch with some family members. “How’s your day going?” my husband enquires over NZ Green lip mussels steamed in a white wine. “Fine”, I answer coyly, not wanting to reveal that I’ve been blown away by my experience already. The fantastic sea views from Arborio to the waterfront and the innovative cuisine only add to that. To walk off lunch and get some fresh air after the gallery and museums visits, I hit the expansive seaedge promenade and set foot on the award-winning Coastal Walkway. Swaying opposite Puke Ariki is Len Lye’s outdoor artwork Wind Wand. Measuring 157ft in height and made of red fiberglass, the kinetic sculpture is one of the icons of New Plymouth. Like so many of Lye’s creations, the Wind Wand is “alive”: lighting up during the night and bending in high winds. New Plymouth’s Coastal Walkway runs from Ngāmotu Beach to Bell Block or vice versa. As a pedestrian, the 8 miles walk would take around 3-4hrs but access points to shorten the experience are aplenty. Parts of the walkway, notable for the use of robust materials with strong lines and textures to stand up to and reflect upon the character of the west coast, have been open since 2001. However, it was not until the construction of the iconic Te Rewa Rewa Bridge that the walkway became a visitor’s favorite. Surrounded by runners, rollerbladers, cyclists and skaters of all ages, a fresh breeze tussles my hair. To the

Photo by Wibke Carter

Photo Credit Rob Tucker

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Music festival audience with Puke Ariki in background. Left: New Plymouth Coastal Walkway and Children playing at Ngamotu Beach in New Plymouth. Photo Rob Tuckker.

Photo Credit Rob Tucker

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left lies the grey-blueish Pacific Ocean sending crashing white waves to shore and to the right towers the snowcapped, near-perfect volcanic cone of Mt Taranaki. Crossing the Te Henui stream and passing Fitzroy Beach, one of the area’s many black sand beaches, I reach Te Rewa Rewa Bridge after an hour’s walk. Approaching it via the walkway from the side, the beauty of its form, reminiscent of both a breaking wave and whale skeleton, does not become apparent until I stand right in front of it. After walking through the tied

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arch bridge, I turn around and see majestic Mt Taranaki through the “ribs”, fully comprehending the architect’s intention to represent the sacred relationship between the land, sea, and wind with the Ngati Tawhirikura tribe as the different design elements perfectly compliment each other. The next morning, I join a walking tour of historical New Plymouth, guided by Mike Nightingale, a retired teacher and local resident since 1974. The city is visibly, like most of New Zealand, marked by its English heritage. Origi-


Te Rewa Rewa Bridge and Mount Taranaki. top right: Puke Ariki library and museum New Plymouth waterfront . Right: Mike Nightingale on Cathedral Church of St Marys cemetary. Photos by Rob Tucker

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nally called Ngāmotu (the islands) by local Māori, it was not until 1841–42 that planned settlement by the Plymouth Company brought 868 immigrants from Devon and Cornwall (UK) to the ‘New‘ Plymouth. Time flies as we stroll along historical sights like Richmond Cottage, Marsland Hill and Alpha Mill while Nightingale recalls stories like that of Rev. Bollard who insisted the Cathedral Church of St Mary was built in stone rather than wood (“Only the best is good enough for God”). My most vivid memory of my inaugural visit to New Plymouth is the Festival of Lights at Pukekura Park. Walking at night through a beautifully illuminated botanical garden, surrounded by light installations and artists’ performances was something truly magical. Time to figure out if the park could live up to its reputation as one of the best in the country at daytime. “When we were children, my friends and I used to get lost in Pukekura,” recalls local Danny Robbie when I ask for the best way to approach the park. Evidently, at 128 acres and with a diverse range of landscapes including formal gardens, lakes and walking trails, it is rather huge. Luckily, plenty of maps and signs help the lost wanderer. I stroll from the Fountain Lake to the Mishima Gate, a traditional red Japanese torii gate before reaching the main lake. From the pier at the recently refurbished Teahouse on the Lake, I can see Mt Taranaki surrounded by clouds above the red Poet’s Bridge from 1884. I continue around the lake through a medley of exotic flowers, foreign tree specimen, and native bush. It is so quiet at times, it is hard to image I am in the middle of a city with nearly 70,000 people. Birds chirp and sing along the way. On the evening before our departure, my husband and I meet friends who moved to New Plymouth a few years ago. Having lived in other major cities throughout the country, they feel at home here. “It really was a lifestyle choice for us,” say Angus and Natalie McLeod. “The houses are still affordable, we commute 15 min to work and are spoilt for outdoor choices between beach and mountain”. My better half winks at me. “How about New Plymouth now?,” he asks. “Okay, okay,” I laugh. “I’m in”. u

More information: www.visit.taranaki.info/ Fountain Lake at Pukekura Park. Bottom: fish pond at fernery in Pukekura Park. Photo Wibke Carter.

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By Carl Larsen

The Awesome

Biltmore ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

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or more than 80 years, visitors to America’s largest house have marched up its grand staircases, imagined the lavish parties that took place in its glass-ceilinged Winter Garden and, on clear days, surveyed the unspoiled panorama to Mount Pisgah, 17 miles in the distance. A legacy of one of the richest of American families, the 250-room Biltmore House today stands in Asheville, N.C., amid its thousands of well-manicured acres not so much as a relic of the Gilded Age, but as a testament to the genius of its creator, then-bachelor George Washington Vanderbilt II, architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted, both seminal figures in American design. Olmsted was the designer of New York’s Central Park and the U.S. Capitol grounds, while Hunt, the go-to society architect of his day, designed the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and the facade of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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In rural North Carolina, these three left not only a mansion like no other, but also an intricate tapestry of landscape design that included the first roots of organized forest management in the United States. One might think that such a place, costly to maintain, would have been set aside as a national or state park, or run by a foundation. But, like the best of old money, the Biltmore mansion and surrounding grounds remain owned by Vanderbilt’s heirs, attracting 1 million visitors a year. Commissioned by young Vanderbilt to build the finest private house in the United States, Hunt styled a Renaissance French chateau, a design compared to the Chateau de Blois. On four levels, It would have 4 acres of floor space, 33 family and guest bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces and three kitchens. Beyond the imposing front entrance, as well as out back, were 125,000 acres of forest, a farm and commercial dairy, 250 acres of wooded park and five “pleasure gardens.”

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A staff of hundreds was required to keep it going. Today, “all” that is left of this barony is 8,000 acres, maintained by a staff of 2,000. Biltmore is a house built from a man’s vision, working with other men. Not until 1898, nearly three years after his palace was completed, did a woman enter the hierarchy when Vanderbilt was married in Paris at age 33 to Edith Stuyvesant Dresser. Imagine her surprise while riding in a carriage with her new husband as they coursed down Olmsted’s three-mile approach road and drew up to Biltmore for the first time. From the guidebook: “When they arrived at the Estate in October, after their honeymoon in Europe, Mrs. Vanderbilt saw her room just as it appears today,” decorated in the style of Louis XV. Most country estates of the era were near the cities


Vanderbilts dressed in white. Left: George Vanderbilt. Bottom: Cornelia Vanderbilt’s wedding breakfast in the Biltmore House Winter Garden, April 29, 1924.

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where their captains of industry had amassed their wealth. Biltmore set a first, said Prof. Richard Longstreth, an architectural historian at George Washington University. Far from the city, it was a working estate, with a lumber mill, dairy and farms. In doing so, Vanderbilt’s vast enterprise set a course that would influence western North Carolina’s economic development as well as its politics.

“In many ways, it’s a stage set,” Longstreth said. Distance from the other ballrooms and country estates of East Coast society proved not to be a problem for the Vanderbilts. At Biltmore’s zenith, guests were met at a nearby train station in Biltmore village, to be escorted to the Vanderbilt house from their private railway carriages, the Gulfstreams of their age. With servants and stacks of trunks, they came for days to party, to ride on the well-groomed trails or hunt on the grounds extending into four counties and, as Vanderbilt and his mother did, to take in the mountain air. There were other diversions, such as a series of rooms known as the Bachelors Wing, where the Billiard Room is the central focus. Today, the stale odor of cigars and cigarettes is long gone, but the mounted trophies, deep-leather seats and 24 racked cue sticks around billiard and pool tables still beckon visitors. Elsewhere, guests could use a 70,000-gallon indoor swimming pool, featuring then-rare underwater lighting, a Brunswick bowling alley with hand-set pins and a nearby gymnasium supplied with equipment by A.G. Spalding. For those with a literary bent, there was Vanderbilt’s 20,000 volume library, specializing in the arts and sciences. For six years before its formal opening on Christmas Day in 1895, a magazine noted, “British and Scottish stonemasons chipped and hammered in the Asheville woods while Mr. Vanderbilt toured Europe, sending back carload after carload of French furntiure, Gothic cabinets, Jacobean tables and Japanese ivories.

Walled Garden in the fall and spring, and family in front of Biltmore

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Today, Biltmore presents much of its original theme. Requiring a large curatorial staff, original furnishings, artwork and mechanical systems remain, not lost to successive rounds of belt-tightening as has been the case at many of America’s historic homes. Here are prints by Albrecht Durer, a chess set once owned by Napoleon, Flemish tapestries and paintings by Renoir, Sargent, Whistler and Zorn, and plaster copies of the Elgin Marbles. Beyond the ornate mansion, filled with its art treasures, the estate, run by Vanderbilt great-grandson William A.V.

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Cecil Jr., has added new diversions to keep pace with the expectations of a modern society. Visitors can sample Biltmore-produced wines at what is billed as the most visited winery in the U.S., try their luck fly fishing, go biking on paved paths or mountain trails, and test their driving skills at a “Land Rover Driving School,” as well as visit several restaurants. There were times when Biltmore’s future was uncertain, even early in its life. At the start of the 20th century, writer Howard E. Covington Jr. notes how Vanderbilt’s bankroll was nearly unwound.


“Then it all stopped abruptly,” he wrote of the continual construction work in his book “Lady on the Hill.” “It was said that Vanderbilt refused — or was simply unable — to pour more cash into the estate that had consumed perhaps as much as half of his entire fortune.” Vanderbilt died suddenly in 1914 at 51, from complications following an emergency appendectomy, leaving the estate to his widow, Edith, who remarried Rhode Island Sen. Peter Gerry in 1925. Vanderbilt is interred in the family mausoleum on Staten Island in New York. Leaving nearby Asheville, the tree-lined road to Biltmore, past the estate’s imposing gate, takes visitors through Olmsted’s successive landscapes. It’s a twisting, turning course that makes the approach seem much longer than the reality. At its finale, the house and its magnificent front lawn burst on the scene, not dead ahead, but at a right angle, forcing all, like a military salute, to quickly go “eyes right.” That is a theme that Covington notes as well. “A hundred years later, Hunt’s mansion would leave visitors in awe, but it was Olmst-

ed’s creative genius in the use and rehabilitation of land that would set the estate apart.” Longstreth similarly was wowed: “When you go through that lengthy procession, it’s like being in a park. The experience is part of the whole thing,” he said. For those making their first visit to Biltmore filled with anticipation, those first few miles through the century-old man-made fairy land truly show that “the past is prologue.” 3u

IF YOU GO The Biltmore Estate is located in Asheville, N.C., and is open every day. Hours and prices of admission vary by season. Reservations are required on many days to tour the house because of the large number of visitors. A comprehensive website, Biltmore.com, lists admission prices, activities that include an extensive Christmas holiday program and outdoor concerts, and specialized tours of the house and grounds. Accommodation on the grounds include the Village Hotel, the Inn at Biltmore Estate and the Cottage. Photos courtesy of The Biltmore Company

Biltmore fall facade from the Lagoon

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By John Muncie and Jody Jaffe

THE GREENBRIER AMERICA’S RESORT SINCE 1778

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“Spread out over 11,000 acres; The Greenbrier is a combination hotel/resort/recreation center/sports center/luxury sporting community/shopping mall/casino. ”

Horseback riding is among the dozens of resort activities. Left: Grand, be-flowered entryway to The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, WVA..

H

olding

complimentary

flutes

of

champagne at check-in, we take it all in. The entryway’s massive Greek

columns, the colossal crystal chandeliers, the grand spiraling staircases, the exuberant explosion of flowers everywhere: in the carpets, the wallpaper, the curtains, the doors. It’s a floral fever dream, and one of us feels

ed this place,” Jody exuded, “Liberace? I love it! It looks like they raided my closet.” It turns out the decorator was Dorothy Draper, famed founder of the country’s first interior design company who, in 1948, brought her “Modern Baroque” style – curlicues meet stripes, pink meet turquoise -- to The Greenbrier, the ornate colossus of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

like she’s gone to flower heaven. “Who decorat-

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Spread out over 11,000 acres; The Greenbrier is a combination hotel/resort/recreation center/sports center/luxury sporting community/shopping mall/casino. Does it have pools, tennis courts, training centers, and pro golf courses? Of course. A movie theater and a bowling alley? Natch. Hungry? Try one of its 13 restaurants. Interested in skeet shooting, horseback riding, white-water rafting, glass blowing, gourmet cooking, fly-fishing in trout-stocked streams, touring backcountry

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trails in an ATV? Here are the sign-up sheets. The Greenbrier offers just about anything but skiing. Wait. . . .what? Oh, they organize ski trips, too. Set among deeply wooded ridges of the Allegheny Mountains, The Greenbrier is a scenic one-hour drive from our house in the Shenandoah Valley. We’d motored past several times over the years, ogled it, but never stopped in. This past summer we took the plunge.


Before there was a renowned resort here, there

built in 1835, the Cupola is, in the words of resident

was a mineral spring. White settlers began arriving in

historian Robert Conte, the “center of the universe” for

the late 1700s to “take the waters,” like the Shawnee

The Greenbrier. The Cupola symbol is repeated eve-

Indians before them. By 1808, people came to what

rywhere on the resort, from carpet patterns to insignia

had become The White Sulphur Springs spa to cure

on employee uniforms.

afflictions from rheumatism to ulcers.

After breathing in the mild sulfur fumes, we head-

A grand hotel -- nicknamed “The Old White” --

ed over to the Art Colony shops that line the complex’s

was built near the springs in 1858. The C&O Railroad

north side. Currently, the Greenbrier has 710 hotel

purchased the place in 1910 (the hotel is walkable from

rooms and 33 suites, enough for the biggest confer-

the White Sulphur Springs train station), then tore

ence wing-ding or golf tourney. But in The Old White

down The Old White and began the current Green-

days and afterward, the prized accommodations were

brier hotel building in 1913. A year later came the first

in surrounding cottages. The cottages, which now in-

golf course.

clude some of the resort’s oldest buildings, are in rows

Over time, the hotel expanded, added facilities, was used as an Army hospital in World War II and played a – shhhh -- secret role in the Cold War. (A secret we’ll reveal later in this story.) The Greenbrier is dizzying enough in its history, opulence, floral wallpaper, and size, but the Great American Eclipse of 2017 made our stay even more extraordinary. When we set out on our first morning to explore the place we had one eye on the surroundings and one on the sky. First stop: the Cupola. This Classical Greek-looking domed building covers the original sulfur spring. First

scattered about. The seven Art Colony shops are converted cottages of the former Alabama Row. After strolling among paintings, wind sculptures, polished fossils, hand-made furniture, and jeweled bracelets the folks at Virtu, a glass gallery, directed us to an adjacent glass blowing facility where we watched blobs of molten glass being transformed into art. Then came sports. The tennis, golf and outdoor pool facilities are clustered at the edge of The Old White TPC golf course, the first of The Greenbrier’s five courses. Would it surprise you to learn that the

The “Cupola” marks the original mineral spring. The “center of the universe” for the Greenbrier. Below: Entertainment for afternoon tea in the main hotel lobby.

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carpets at the Golf Club had an irons-and-golf-

Roanoke, Virginia. Cunningham, a golfer, and

balls theme?

regular Greenbrier visitor told us he had or-

When we got to the pool-side Tree Tops Café, we were ready for lunch and eclipse

dered up a 1:15 tee time so he could see the eclipse in the middle of his round.

viewing. We hadn’t thought to bring eclipse

By the time his group hit the ninth hole,

glasses, but fellow lunch-goers loaned us a

the eclipse had reached its peak. “The breeze

pair and we oohed and ahhed along with eve-

felt cool,” he said, “but by the 13th hole it was

rybody else, including staffers, as the moon’s

hot as hell again. All the years coming here

shadow began to eat away at the sun.

we’ve done everything once, that’s the first

The Greenbrier was in the 90% zone, so

time for that.”

the day dimmed but never went black. Still,

We had met Cunningham at the mas-

that muted light in the middle of a hot, bright

sive spa wing of the main hotel. “Massive”

day was weirdly beautiful.

isn’t an exaggeration. It’s got a column-lined,

As we returned to the main hotel – dodging shuttle buses and horsemen – we walked across thousands of mini-eclipses that filtered down though tree-leaf prisms and onto shaded pathways. Later we shared our eclipse experience

gilded indoor pool (real gold, they say), saunas, steam rooms, “relaxation pavilions,” and 42 treatment rooms. Along with conventional spa services like massages and facials, the facility’s MedSpa offers microdermabrasion, laser treatments, botox and chemical skin peels.

with fellow guest Steve Cunningham, from

A sculpture of massive golf tees marks the entrance to the resort’s Golf Club. Dancers perform the “Greenbrier Waltz” each night in the casino.

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We opted for conventional (is getting fire-hosed by some-

Not only was The Old White one of America’s first spas, but

thing called a “Scotch Spray” conventional?) which included a

it was also visited by five presidents BEFORE the Civil War. Af-

soak in the resort’s mineral water. “Thirty minutes of bliss,” said

terwards, veterans like Robert E. Lee traveled here to recoup and

fellow guest Jeff Brant, a funeral director from Ohio who has

reconcile with former enemies.

been to the Greenbrier more than 75 times. “Oh honey, you have to try it.”

Rail accessibility and moderate summer temperatures have attracted vacationing statesmen and glitterati ever since -- the

Masseur Robbie Hunter confirmed that the spa’s water was

presidential total is now up to 26. Its golf courses have attracted

still pumped out of the original sulfur spring, which speaks to

pros from Ben Hogan to Tiger Woods and amateurs from Bob

one of The Greenbrier’s greatest attributes: Long-lasting appeal.

Hope to Dwight Eisenhower.

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This sense of rootedness is enhanced

Carlo meets Gone With the Wind.” A de-

by the staff. Of the nearly 2,000 employed

scription enhanced by the dancing cou-

here, roughly 14 percent have worked at the

ples, who appear at 10:00 each night,

Greenbrier for 25 years or more. Hunter,

sashaying down red-carpeted stairs and

whose Scots-Irish ancestors, arrived in the

waltzing under the Cupola while gam-

area in the 1700’s. and who “grew up five

bling guests sip more complimentary

minutes from here,” has been at the Green-

champagne.

brier for 19 years. Historian Conte is a 39year veteran. “I’ve been here longer than half of the furniture,” he says. But even Conte’s number pales next to official greeter, Frank Modley, who’s worked here 59 years.

On our way out we bragged to a casino guard that we’d won $12 at video poker. He gave us a thumbs up and exclaimed, “Hey that’s enough to buy a bottle of water.”

On the other hand, when bazillionaire Jim Justice bought the Greenbrier in 2009, one of his first moves was to turn things upside down and build what’s now called “America’s only private casino.” Opened in 2010, the casino attracted a red carpet crowd that included Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, Shaquille O’Neal, Jack Nicklaus and Raquel Welch. Justice is now West Virginia’s governor. He held his inaugural ball

The next morning we sampled the elaborate breakfast buffet in the main dining room, its wallpaper broken up by dark oil paintings with stern 19th-century faces. Then we browsed the three dozen shops and boutiques in the lower lobby, most of them owned by The Greenbrier and featuring labels such as Lilly Pulitzer and Ralph Lauren.

at the Greenbrier. His daughter, Jill Justice, an

But we didn’t succumb. Instead, we

osteopath, was married in the on-premises

headed to the Greenbrier’s West Virginia

chapel her father built for the occasion and

Wing.

she is now president of the Greenbrier. After dinner in the main dining room --

Because it was time to visit The Bunker.

jacket and tie required (they have a box of

Which means it’s time for us to reveal

ties for the tieless) -- the Greenbrier Casino

The Greenbrier’s Cold War secret, code-

Club was our last stop of the day. Built be-

named “Project Greek Island.”

low the hotel’s grand entryway, the casino is only open to guests or members of visiting conference groups.

In the mid-1950s, with the threat of nuclear war looming, federal officials looked around for a safe place to stash

Along with the usual blackjack tables

Congressmen and Senators in the case

and slot machines, the casino features a

of an attack (they would hide the Presi-

down-scaled Cupola, fancy chandeliers,

dent separately).

a gargantuan clamshell fountain and, of course, floral wallpaper. It’s been a characterized as, “Monte

The Greenbrier, 250 miles from Washington, D.C., and accessible by rail and road seemed like a good choice. Just behind the main hotel building, a plaque commemorates the original “hostelery,” built in 1858 and nicknamed “The Old White.”

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“In the mid-1950s, with the threat of nuclear war looming, federal officials looked around for a safe place to stash Congressmen and Senators” Plus it already had significant infrastruc-

tive aide, Selda Botkins, who’s been giv-

ture, had already been a federal facility in

ing the tour for two years. “When I stop

WWII and, tucked away in the Allegheny

getting goose bumps,” she said, “That’s

Highlands, was a tough target for enemy

when I quit.”

missiles and planes.

The Bunker does have goose bump

The Greenbrier agreed. Construction

qualities. It’s an eerie look into a grim

on what was essentially an enormous

past. The tour takes you through de-

fallout shelter began in 1959. The Green-

contamination rooms, 5-foot-thick steel-

brier and the feds disguised the project

reinforced concrete doors, communi-

by cleverly hiding it in plain sight. They

cation rooms, dorm rooms, weapons

built the below-ground bunker as part of

rooms, and storage for 40-50 days of

the Greenbrier’s new hotel addition: The

provisions. Among its most curious de-

West Virginia Wing.

tail: tranquilizers were the most-stocked

According to Conte, local people

medication.

probably suspected something more

Today, much of the underground fa-

was happening than just a new wing.

cility is used by the CSX company as a

It was the size of two football fields

data storage unit for Fortune 500 com-

stacked one on the other, so construc-

panies. But for decades it was manned

tion involved “a pretty big hole,” he said

24/7 by federal agents disguised as

But the bunker, provisioned and staffed for decades in anticipation of the war that never came, remained a secret outside the area.

Greenbrier TV and telephone repairmen. As the Post characterized it in 1992, “inside the hill time stood still.” But outside, time rolls on.

Finally, in 1992, a Washington Post

Golfers on The Greenbrier’s special

reporter spilled the beans. In the ensu-

Oakhurst Links course still use hicko-

ing notoriety the bunker was decommis-

ry-shafted clubs and hit gutta-percha

sioned and given back to The Greenbrier,

balls as they did 130 years ago, but the

which got an idea: let’s turn the bunker

clubs in the bags lined up at the hotel

into The Bunker. And BOOM! They fi-

entrance are all titanium and graphite.

nally got an explosion, an explosion of

You can hitch a carriage ride, but many

curiosity.

guests tour around on Segways. Of

Today The Bunker is The Greenbrier’s top attraction. Some 40,000 take the 90-minute tours each year. That includes up to 70% of all hotel guests and numerous bus groups. We joined an 11:30 tour of around 25 led by former West Virginia legisla-

course, the Draper’s restaurant has fried green tomatoes and cornbread, but by the outdoor pool you can lunch on fish tacos. On the other hand, after 70 years they still have floral drapes, floral wallpaper, and floral upholstery. u

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Woo the Wood WITH A WEST COUNTRY WASSAIL

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Story and photos by Amy Laughinghouse

I

nebriation, ammunition, a blazing bonfire, and a beauty queen. Throw in a healthy dose of pagan mysticism and barrels-full of cider, and

you, my friend, have got the recipe for one rockin’ wassail, as I discovered on a visit to Somerset, England one wintry January night. What, you might well ask, is a wassail, other than a health and safety inspector’s knee-knocking nightmare, combining alcohol, flames and firearms? It can refer to a form of Christmas caroling, but in the UK’s West Country—counties such as Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire—a wassail usually denotes a lively fete held in an orchard on Twelfth Night, which can be interpreted as either January 5 or, for those who prefer the old Julian calendar, January 17. The ritual dates back to at least the 1800s, but its roots (ahem) are likely much deeper. The term “wassail” means “good health” and may have originated as early as 1,000 years ago.

Amy pours a pint of cider from a tap affixed to an apple tree. It doesn’t get any fresher than that. Top: The Wassail Blues Band belts out tunes like “Mustang Sally.”

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Eager to experience this uniquely English ritual for myself,

where Magner’s Shepton Mallet Cider Mill was holding an

I headed to Illminster on a bleak and rain-lashed evening,

invitation-only wassail. Anorak-clad guests basked by a bon-

where a crowd of more than 200 revelers had gathered in a

fire that burned bright as Beelzebub’s hearth or huddled within

sodden apple orchard. The jaw-dropping Christmas debts had

leaky-roofed farm buildings that had been converted into a

come due, the days were damp, cold and dark, and it was ages

canteen, concert hall and standing-room only pub, where the

until the next holiday weekend. We should, by rights, have

orchard manager dispensed several varieties of free-flowing

been crying into our pints.

Gaymer’s cider.

But despite the dismal winter gloom and the unrelenting

Gradually, a buzz began to build as a band of English folk

downpour, the mood was downright jovial in Stewley Orchard,

dancers known as Morris men (and women, in this case),

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gathered among the cheering revelers. Tarted up in rainbowcolored rags and top hats, they engaged in a series of carefully choreographed advances and retreats, hooting and

Members of a local band play traditional music upon a hay stage. Top: Wassail queen Karen Jensen pours cider onto the roots of an apple tree.

clicking sticks whenever they were within striking distance. Perhaps inspired (or alarmed) by their derring-do, Bob Cork, Shepton Mallet Cider Mill’s general manager, stepped out into the rain in his wool coat and wellies to deliver a short safety speech, warning all in attendance not to poke their eyes out with low-lying branches as we headed into the

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grove. Never mind that he would shortly be heading up a firing squad—but more on that later. And with this announcement, the wassail had officially begun. “It’s designed to drive the evil spirits from the orchard and encourage good spirits to bring lovely blossoms and fruit,” according to Adrian Somerfield, a jolly, white-bearded fellow, Somerset born and bred, who served as the evening’s master of ceremonies. The wooing of the woodland spirits is primarily the job of the wassail Queen. On this particular year, Karen Jensen, production administrator at the cider mill, was nominated for the role by her colleagues. The dusky beauty admitted that she’s not particularly superstitious. “I don’t walk under ladders, but that’s more common sense,” she said, adjusting the floral garland that crowned her long brown tresses. “But it’s nice to be involved with the old West Country traditions. It’s a bit of a privilege,” she acknowledged—although, naturally, the honor required a strict training regimen. “I’ve been drinking lots of cider in preparation,” she grinned. Yet the wobbling horde had no trouble hoisting her slight, velvet cloak-clad frame upon their shoulders, transporting Jensen a short distance to the orchard, where she deposited cider-soaked bread into the branches of a tree to attract robins, which are thought to embody benign spirits. She then tipped a mug of cider at the base of its trunk. “That’s putting some goodness back in the ground,” noted Bob Chaplin, fruit and orchard manager.

Morris Dancers Don Church and Tim Wingfield with Wassail queen Karen Jensen. Right: What to wear to a wassail? These young Morris dancers have opted for Wellington boots and colorful rag jackets. With a flurry of sparks and a flash of blue smoke, wassailers fire blanks into the orchard to scare away bad spirits.

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After Jensen’s tender display, the next step was—rather horrifyingly—to shoot the unsuspecting tree, albeit with blanks. This, as the master of ceremonies explained, was to evict the evil spirits (squatters rights and sleeping neighbors’ eardrums be damned) and make way for the good spirits to swoop in. Then, as the smoke cleared, the increasingly jocund crowd concluded their courtship by serenading the leafy object of their affections. “Old apple tree we wassail thee, and hoping thou will bear hatfuls, capfuls, three bushel bagfulls—and a little heap under the stairs!” The rain was falling harder, but it hardly dampened our spirits. For several hours more, we kicked up the hay-strewn dance floor as the Wassail Blues Band, attired in dark suits, sunglasses and de rigueur fedoras, regaled us with hipswiveling tunes like “Mustang Sally” and “In the Midnight Hour.” Surveying the weaving crowd, Bob Cork looked on with an expression of amused benevolence. “Wassailing could be considered an organic way to get rid of pests, as we couldn’t find anyone who produces a spray to get rid of evil spirits,” he quipped. “But most importantly, it’s about having a good time and enjoying ourselves.” If the success of that wassail was in any way proportionate to the next morning’s hangover, I reckon it produced a most abundant harvest. u

IF YOU GO For more details on where you can attend a wassail next January, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk. For tourism and travel information, see www.visitbritain.com and www. visitengland.com. Photos Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.

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Highlights in Gray Rain PLANS EVOLVE AS RAIN POURS IN HONDURAS

Story & Photography by Maribeth Mellin

S

carlet macaws swooped and squawked over the trail to the Great Plaza at Copan, a Mayan ceremonial center in the rural highlands of Honduras. Few humans wandered amid the stone temples and pillars covered with intricate hieroglyphic carvings. A German tour group clustered around a guide at the ball court, while a Colombian TV crew scouted high angles. I listened to my guide with barely adequate attention, knowing I could read about history and archeology any time. I wanted to absorb Copan with all my senses. A constant rainfall kept them alert. At times, a silver mist softened the scenery, though downpours ensured sopping wet shoes and pants. Tuck-

ing my umbrella’s handle beneath my chin, I snapped away with my phone and camera, praying they’d survive the abuse. A little water wasn’t going to dull my enthusiasm. I’d been longing to visit Copan for decades, but just couldn’t get around to it. Though I’ve traveled extensively in Latin America, Honduras always seemed small and obscure, overshadowed by Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru and a half-dozen other countries. But I’d been hearing a Honduran buzz of late, and lots of chatter about Roatan, one of the world’s top scuba destinations. A quick trip to the country’s top two highlights—Copan and the Caribbean—left me longing for more.

A carving on a wall at Copan depic

between two leaders. A carving on

depicts a meeting between two lea

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cts a meeting

n a wall at Copan

aders.

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Underwater Adventures It takes a bit of effort to reach Honduras from Southern California. My itinerary included a long layover in Miami before an overnight in San Pedro Sula, the nation’s second-largest city and a major commercial thoroughfare. I had time for a fabulous beef dinner at El Portal de Las Carnes, sampling one of the main exports from Honduras. And I delighted in a rain shower unlike anything that falls back home. The rain continued into the next morning and pounded the prop plane as it landed on Roatan. Fellow passengers stayed in their seats, biding their time. Sure enough, the shower halted in just a few minutes. The dry spell lasted long enough for me to reach the small airport, where scuba bags dominated baggage claim. Then the weather took charge, dissolving my itinerary. Suffice to say, I never strapped on a snorkel and mask. I did admire the gray-green sea and damp sand, ogling blue hammocks draped above water that should have been a see-through aquamarine. A delightful rum punch and Chilean wine lunch helped soothe my disappointment at Little French Key, a meticulously arranged boutique hotel, animal rescue center, and beach club with several small coves properly appointed with hammocks and palapa-shaded belly bars. Little French Key can accommodate up to 1,000 day-trippers when multiple cruise ships stop at the island. My Saturday visit (weekends are often cruise-free) was peaceful and languorous, and several hours passed while I gazed at the ever-changing sea and lunched on pineapple, coconut and shrimp.

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Clockwise: Little French Key in the rain. A restaurant mural in Punta Gorda. Teacher Nilsa Leiva answers visitors’ questions about Garifuna culture.

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After digesting, I got in a few laps in a sinuous pool at the Mayan Princess Resort, where my room included a full kitchen, dining nook and furnished balcony. I could easily imagine settling in for a week or more, exploring the world’s second-largest barrier reef system. I’ve dived and snorkeled at several sections of the Great Maya Reef, which extends from the northeast tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula south past Belize to the Bay Islands of Honduras. Roatan and its sister island Utila rank in high on Top 10 lists for underwater adventures at the reef, and I had envisioned breathtaking coral walls, all sorts of curious-looking tropical fish and spooky, iridescent night dives. Instead, I joined local families at Sunday Mass in Punta Gorda, the oldest permanent community in Honduras. Some 3,000 Garifuna traveled from their home island of San Vicente to the “Fat Point” in the late 1700s, establishing a town that retains Garifuna culture and traditions. Children learn their ancestors’ language in elementary school and perform traditional dances at a small, rustic restaurant on the beach. The Sunday ritual included joyful Garifuna singing that drowned the sound of the pounding rain. Several churchgoers joined me at Yurumei restaurant, where cooks mashed plantains for machuca, a rich soup of coconut

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“ The Sunday ritual included joyful Garifuna singing that drowned the sound of the pounding rain. �

Dancers and musicians perform during Sunday lunch in Punta Gorda. Families appreciate the dancing. Left: A young dancer in full costume.

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milk, fish and plantains that had plenty of flavor without the spicy yellow chile cabro on offer. Fishermen unloaded their catch from cayucos (small skiffs) at the pier below the restaurant as patrons ordered whole fried fish and garlic shrimp. Children in elaborate headdresses gathered in one corner, eager to perform traditional dances for their families and visitors. While sheets of rain dropped like stage curtains outside the open-air restaurant, drummers and dancers filled the restaurant with rhythm and color. I may have been denied underwater adventures, but my time in Punta Gorda was just as fulfilling and fun.

On to Copan A short flight and long drive transported me from the Caribbean to the hillside town of Ruinas de Copan in lush green highlands of Honduras, where some of the world’s finest coffee beans are harvested at huge plantations. Small red tuk-tuks ferried school kids and shoppers up and down steep cobblestoned streets past simple white and pink houses and storefronts with terracotta tiled roofs. The town reminded me of Peru’s Cusco on a far smaller scale, with touristy shops and restaurants, a small museum, a central plaza and a slight hippie vibe. Nearby Santa Rosa de Copan has been called the Berkley of Honduras. I’ll definitely catch it next time around. Copan’s legendary macaws were in full voice and color when I arrived at the archeological site the next morning. Sky-high cedar, guanacaste and ceiba trees lined the trail to the Acropolis, where structures nearly 100 feet high towered above the grassy Great Plaza. The temples and pillars were covered in amazing carvings and reliefs depicting rulers wearing ornate headdresses, serpents with wide mouths opening to the underworld and all sorts of creatures including jaguars and bats. Stone macaws, skulls and Maya deities adorned various structures, while narrow underground tunnels revealed bits of painted walls and sculptures from temples buried beneath those rising above the Great Plaza. Those who love all things Mayan know Copan is a truly special archeological site. Thanks to its remote location in a less-traveled country, Copan is remarkably well preserved and untrammeled. It’s smaller than the more famous sites

One of the structures in the Acropolis at Copan.

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like Guatemala’s Tikal or Mexico’s Chichen Itza, yet it has been

The Honduran government now owns Copan and wisely

called “the Athens of the New World.” At its peak around 550

built a museum at the site to house the original sculptures

AD, the city was home to some 20,000 residents and served

and stelae (carved pillars) uncovered by archeologists. Like

as a cultural center with stunning architecture and unparalleled

many visitors, I was disappointed to realize I was admiring and

artwork. Few explorers found their way to Copan until the 1839

photographing replicas of the artwork as I wandered around

arrival of famed Maya scholar and author John Lloyd Stephens

the ruins. Then I walked through a tunnel-like entryway into

and artist Frederich Catherwood. Stephens was so impressed

the modern Museum of Mayan Sculpture beside the ruins,

he supposedly bought the entire archeological site from a lo-

and faced a full-scale model of a buried temple, its carvings

cal campesino for $50.

covered in red, yellow and green paint. I’d grown accustomed to admiring Mayan art and architecture in its stripped-down

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Tourists admire Copan despite the rain. A seafood lunch in Punta Gorda. Dirt trails lead to partially excavated structures in Copan.

form, appreciating the gray and brown stones covered with

coffee plantation with hiking trails and a Mayan archeological

moss and vines. But the original Mayan cities were vibrant,

site called Los Sapos (the Frogs). The staff prepares a bounti-

colorful places with rulers and warriors in immense feathered

ful multi-course dinner of Honduran specialties served on a

headdresses and capes negotiating treaties and entertaining

candlelit terrace; those lucky enough to spend the night in one

visiting royalty in regal style. The museum, with its underworld

of the eight simply elegant rooms can also partake in break-

and aboveground levels and impressive collection of sculp-

fast. I know where I’m staying on my next visit to Copan, which

tures and artifacts, was nearly as riveting as the outdoor site.

will include time to explore other nearby Mayan sites, colonial towns, hot springs, cloud forests and mountain villages. I’ll add

I dined that night at Hacienda San Lucas, a tranquil refuge

a few days on Roatan to delve into underwater wonders. Most

on a bluff overlooking the town. The hacienda is set amid a

of all, I’ll make sure I return in the dry season. u

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High Flying Docs Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service: Celebrating 90 Years of Saving Lives

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By Sharon Whitley Larsen

S

everal years ago, when I was in the Australian Outback at Kakadu National Park, cautiously trekking up a rough, rocky hill, enduring searing heat in the middle of nowhere with Warren Djorlom, my barefoot Aborigine guide, I remember thinking, What if I fall and break an ankle? Or, even worse, am bitten by a poisonous snake? How could I get help?

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Thankfully nothing happened. I learned later that, God forbid, had I had an accident, there would have been emergency treatment available. Even there, in the middle of nowhere. The charitable Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS)--celebrating 90 years—is the first, largest and most comprehensive aerial medical organization in the world. Tourists and Australian residents alike can be treated throughout isolated parts of this vast country for serious illnesses and accidents. That can

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include car accidents (the number one response call), broken limbs, heart attacks, strokes, burns, sheep shearing accidents, complicated childbirth—even crocodile attacks! Recently my husband Carl and I journeyed on the Indian Pacific train from Perth to Sydney for three nights. At stops in Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill are Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Centres, popular tourist destinations. We didn’t have time to visit them since it was a short train stop, but on a previous trip we were lucky to tour another one. (There are several open for visits, including Alice Springs and Dubbo). It was intriguing to see what the RFDS was all about and learn of its history.


An interesting, short video called “A Day in the Life of The Flying Doctor” explained the valued work of these medical teams. We peered inside a 1977, medically-equipped Beechcraft Queen Air aircraft on display--and perused the artifacts, which included newspaper clippings, letters, photos, and equipment. “You need to be very self-sufficient if you’re going to live in a remote area,” explained our guide as she showed our little group a metal medical chest with over 90 essential pharmaceutical items and supplies, each numbered for clarity. These chests, introduced to Outback stations in 1942, are a vital tool, to be used only with instructions from an RFDS medical officer over the phone or radio. Over 3,500 of them are strategically placed as the first response for emergency treatment, until medical personnel can arrive for victims throughout remote Australia--which may include mining camps, cattle stations, and Aboriginal communities. Also included in these chests, and on display, was the famous diagnostic Body Chart, drawn by Sister Lucy Garlick in 1951. With the body numbered by sections, a doctor in contact by radio or phone could ask a patient to tell him by number exactly where the pain was. I also saw the Traeger Pedal Radio, which provided communication in the early days, making the RFDS possible when it was begun in 1928 by the Rev. John Flynn, a Presbyterian minister. In 1911, at age 31, he had started his ministry by doing missionary work in remote, rural areas, even traveling via camel in the Outback. He was saddened and helpless to see seriously ill or gravely injured people unable to get desperately needed medical care. Back then things were especially desolate and primitive.

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In the early days it would take a nursing sister or doctor all day to travel in the unbearably hot sun 100 miles to tend to a seriously ill child or accident victim. Today that same distance would take only minutes by turboprop! It wasn’t until 1917, when a tragic case gained national attention, that the urgent need for a flying doctor service was realized. In the Kimberley, Western Australia, a young stockman, Jimmy Darcy, 29, fell from his horse, incurring serious injuries. A nightmare ordeal ensued to get him medical treatment. It took 12 agonizing hours to transport him just 45 miles away to a telegraph station, where the postmaster, F.W. Tuckett, had taken a first aid course. But all that could be done for Darcy—besides giving morphine for the pain--was summoning, via telegraph service, Dr. John Holland far away in Perth. Over the next seven hours Dr. Holland, with the help of the Perth telegraph office, was able to diagnose a ruptured bladder and relay instructions to postmaster Tuckett--2,000 miles away--how to perform the emergency surgery. And that was done with no anesthetic, just morphine—and with a pen-knife and razor! Although deemed successful, complications later occurred, and Dr. Holland journeyed to the patient to provide further medical treatment. Traveling ten exhausting days—via cat-

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tle boat, car, horse and foot--Dr. Holland arrived too late: Darcy had died just the day before. The story received outraged nationwide attention. Flynn, among those who crusaded for better, faster medical treatment, coincidentally had received a letter from Lt. Clifford Peel, a young medical student in WW I with an interest in aviation. Peel had proposed the idea of using airplanes in the remote areas to provide medical help. (By 1920 Qantas Airlines had started service— adding to the idea and definite possibility of successfully merging medicine, airplanes, and the primitive Australian rural lifestyle.) After Darcy’s appalling incident, it took Flynn another 11 years of collecting other horrifying medical stories, traveling, writing impassioned articles, giving speeches, and persevering until ultimately a flying doctor service was launched. In 1928, when he was 48, Flynn was appointed the first superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) of the Presbyterian General Assembly. (He later had an aircraft named for him, and is featured on the Australian $20 bill). The first flying doctor, Kenyon St. Vincent Welch, took off with pilot Arthur Affleck on May 17, 1928, in a medicallyequipped aircraft, a Qantas DH 50A

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named “Victory,” to perform two surgeries. During the first

“There is no charge for Australian citizens for emergency evacua-

year, there were 50 emergency flights, with 1,500 miles flown.

tions,” explained Kerrie Smith, spokesperson for RFDS, “although

At least four lives were saved, with 255 patients treated.

we do attempt to recoup money from private health insurers. Medicare pays for medical appointments. In regard to overseas

With the airplane service—later known as RFDS—beginning

visitors, their travel insurance covers costs and we have a reciprocal

in these remote areas, transportation was not the problem, but

arrangement with some countries.”

communication was. How would people in the bush—with no telephones or radios—be able to summon emergency help?

Available year-round, every flight—whether to assist a heart attack victim at a remote camp or to attend to a car accident on a lonely

In late 1928, Alf Traeger, a brilliant electrical engineer, invented

dirt road—not only has the latest medical equipment, but the staff

the pedal radio, hooked up to a

includes a doctor

Morse code machine, that was

on the more serious

inexpensive and easy to use.

calls, and nurse.

It also provided social com-

Rotating on call

munication for lonely, isolated,

24 hours a day, 7

depressed residents in the rural

days a week, they

areas.

may suddenly be contacted while at

“It was like an early form of

home or grocery

emailing,” noted our guide.

shopping but, once alerted, they hop

And today, of course, satellite

to it.

phones and the Internet have revolutionized communication.

It’s not rare in the

Currently covering a distance of

Outback to have

over 4 million square miles, the

to shoo kangaroos

RFDS, with a staff of 1,225, and with 23 bases all over massive

from the air strip to take off—or to land on a pitch black night, with a

Australia, continue to carry out Flynn’s vision. Thousands of health

road or air strip lit by a line of car headlights or kerosene flares.

clinics throughout the remote areas are staffed by visiting RFDS medical teams who offer a variety of health care, including dental,

“We have the best office in the world, at a scenic 30,000 feet,” not-

vision, preventive medicine, and childhood immunizations. They

ed one doctor on the video. “And we get to do our job as well.” u

educate patients about nutrition, diabetes prevention; conduct cancer screening; offer cholesterol checks and counseling ser-

For more information:

vices. Some 40% of the patients are Aboriginal. During 2014-2015, nearly 93,000 patients in rural and remote areas utilized the RFDS

https://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/

telehealth services. Some 292,500 patients had contact with the

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/

RFDS, including 4,336 emergency evacuations via a fleet of 66

royal-flying-doctor-service

aircraft, with over 14 million miles flown. “I hate to think of what would have happened if the flying doctor hadn’t been here,” said Joanne Ratsch of Mt. Gambier on the RFDS video, whose two children were prematurely born at just 26 weeks

To locate a visitors’ centre to tour: https://www.flyingdoctor. org.au/about-the-rfds/our-bases/ More links on Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitors Centres:

and are doing well today.

Alice Springs: http://www.rfdsalicesprings.com.au/

“They really are a godsend,” added another grateful mother.

dubbo-area/dubbo/attractions/royal-flying-doctor-service-

Dubbo: http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/ dubbo-base-education-centre-dubbo

The RFDS, with a heroic medical staff, is supported by government, corporate, public and private sectors.

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Photography courtesy Royal Flying Doctor Service


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COME FROM AWAY BY MARGIE GOLDSMITH

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f you don’t come from Newfoundland

This crazy-looking home-made instru-

and Labrador, you “come from away,”

ment sounds like a bass drum when

which also happens to be the name of

banged on the ground, and the jangling

the award-winning Broadway musical

bottle caps create perfect percussion. The

in which the residents of Gander took care

Ugly Stick dates back hundreds of years

of 7,000 unexpected air passengers on

when residents in small isolated outposts,

9/11. During Come from Away, one of the

most inaccessible by road and with almost

musicians plays an Ugly Stick, a musical

no opportunity for outside entertainment,

instrument made from an upside-down

held impromptu gatherings to sing, dance,

mop with a painted face and bottle caps

tell stories and drink. They were called

and tin cans which jounce and jingle when

kitchen parties because they took place in

hit with a stick.

the kitchen, the warmest room in the house,

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The North Head Trail of Signal Hill looking at Fort Amherst. Opposite: Author Margie Goldsmith with her Ugly Stick at Costal Cottages Ugly Stick-Making workshop.

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Almost every family had an accordion or fiddle and eve-

barbequed beans. The second table was covered with beer

ryone could play spoons, but most people had no access to

caps, driftwood, nails, screws, colored pipe cleaners, plastic

drums so they created the Ugly Stick.

googly eyes, tassels, pompoms, feathers, various doo-dads,

All the traditional folk songs were passed down at kitchen parties and the music helped define the eclectic sound of

hats, caps, gorilla glue and a glue-gun. Sue handed me a mop, pointed to a pile of boots on the floor under the table

Newfoundland musicians.

and told me to pick one. I chose

I loved the idea, so when I

a classic olive green Wellington

learned about an Ugly Stick-

boot.

making workshop in Newfoundland, I signed on.

Sue was a pro with the electric drill. In seconds, she’d drilled the

My home was a cottage

boot to the bottom of my mop

overlooking Conception Bay

handle and I banged it on the

where you could see whales

ground, imitating a kick drum.

spouting in the distance. In the

Perfect. Next was the fun part –

back yard was a shed where

decorating. She drilled a large

the Ugly Stick workshop was

empty tin can beneath the mop

to take place. The participants

strands for the face. I braided

were me and three locals and the workshop was led by

the stringy hair and fitted a bathing cap onto the ugly Stick’s

Sue, who was also the owner of my cottage. In the shed, her

head because my Ugly Stick was going to be a diver. I glued

neighbor was cooking Toutums (pronounced like “POUT-

on googly eyes and then covered them with an old pair of

ums”) on a hot plate. This Newfoundland specialty is leftover

swim goggles. For the mouth, I shaped a red pipe cleaner

fried bread dough served with molasses, and they were so

into an “O” big enough to hold a snorkel.

good I ate at least seven. There were two large tables, one set for a dinner of Toutums, home-made pea soup, freshly-baked bread, and

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One woman was making a “diva” with a feather boa and mini pie tins running up the shaft. Another made a Newfoundlander with two pompoms for eyes, a bright yellow


Quidi Vidi Village, St. John’s

Southwester hat and no other decoration. A third chose to substitute a face with a small plush Snoopy and a bedroom slipper instead of a boot. Maybe it was meant for sleeping. I screwed in some small rubber fish along the stick and on the boot -- finished, and just in time because two musicians arrived. Wanda, a fiddler (the owner of the only grocery/hardware store in town) and Renee Batten, considered the best accordionists in the province. Other locals showed up. Wanda and Renee played jigs and reels and we kept time by banging our Ugly Sticks up and down and hitting them with small pieces of driftwood (or “beaters”). We whopped and hollered and burst into laughter as all the pie tins fell off the diva Ugly Stick and she was left only with her boa. The musicians played non-stop and Sue danced up a storm back and forth across the room. Then everyone quieted down as a story teller (story telling is another kitchen party tradition) regaled us with stories about his semi-fictional family. Giddy from the music, we went outside just as a fiery orange ball, the full moon, rose directly over the ocean. And as I stood watching it next to my new friends, I knew that I might have come from away, but when you meet people in Newfoundland, you’ve got friends for life, and at this moment, there was no place in the world where I felt more at home.

Newly-made Ugly Sticks at Ugly Stick Workshop, Coastal Cottages Opposite: Toutems cooking at Coastal Cottages. Blackhead, Conception Bay North, Newfoundland.

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Taking the Cure

on Rügen Island By Kathi Diamant Photos by Kathi Diamant and Byron La Due

T

hree days was not enough to see all of Rügen Island, but it was enough for a miracle cure. Like most Americans, I had never heard of Germany’s most popular and largest island by area. Located on the

northern coast of Germany’s Baltic coastline, it is one of a dozen spa resort towns along the Baltic coastline. We hadn’t even planned to go. It was our second choice after Sylt jilted us. My husband Byron and I longed to visit Sylt, a narrow spit in the Baltic Sea close to Denmark. Seduced by stories of Sylt’s remote and wild beauty and first-class dining options, we impulsively bought our flights to Hamburg, the closest major city, before securing hotel reservations. Even at the tail end of summer, Sylt wasn’t available to us; it was completely booked, with not one room anywhere on the island. Rügen, even though it is officially Germany’s most visited island, was also busy, but at least it could accommodate us in two differ-

ent hotels in Binz, one of seven seaside health resorts on the island. Only three hours by train from the Hamburg airport, or two hours from Berlin if you set out from there, Rügen turned out to be serendipitous and proved to me its centuries-old reputation as a center for rest, relaxation and, in my case, healing. Leaving the Pomeranian mainland from the charming Hanseatic city of Stralsund, we crossed the short span to Rügen, the largest inland town on the geographically diverse island, and continued east to Ostseebad Binz. For the next two nights, we stayed in different spa hotels and took advantage of two of the offered wellness treatments. One of the treatments, either the Chalk Body Wrap at the Hotel am Meer, or the Shiatsu treatment at Upstalbooms Meersin, or both of them together, I don’t know, healed me, although I didn’t realize it at the time. While off the map for most travelers from the United States, Rügen has been a draw for northern Europeans, who have come for sun, sand and health, both physical and spiritual, for thousands of years. Rügen’s diverse landscape

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Strandkorbs on the Binz beach. These ubiquitous “beach baskets� are a color-coded local product, still made by hand in a nearby Baltic factory, and can be seen on almost every Baltic beach in Germany. On Sylt the strandkorbs are blue and white, on Rugen, they are yellow. The furniture has become so famous that almost 3,000 are exported as souvenirs each year.

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features lagoons, marshes, beech forests, peninsulas and

A mile-long boardwalk curves around the uninterrupted

headlands, and long white sand beaches, but it is most fa-

white sand beach. Anchored by a wide pedestrian prome-

mous for its towering chalk cliffs, a remnant of the prehistoric

nade leading to a long working pier, the boardwalk extends on

plateau also responsible for the White Cliffs of Dover. On the

both sides of the pier. It curves around a forested beachline to

peninsula across the bay from Binz, you can see white chalk

the south, and to the north where grand hotels, vacation villas,

cliffs, including King’s Chair, the island’s landmark feature in

and restaurants nestle shoulder to shoulder, offering healthy

Jasmund National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one

cuisine, unique spa treatments, and branded wellness regi-

of two national parks on the island.

mens. The classic white seaside architecture alone is worth a

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Left: Kurhaus Binz has a century old tradition of grand hospitality. In a prime location on the beach and pier. The Kurhaus Binz offers a full spa and wellness program, along with panoramic views of the Baltic. Top: Binz Boardwalk and Promenade was built in 1886. The Promenade extends over a mile along the beach, with the northern end lively beer pubs and restaurants, to the more sedate ahd peaceful southern end, pictured here.

The entrance to the pier in Binz.

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Bridge from Stralsund to Rügen Island. Opened in 2007, this 2.5 mile bridge allows for both car and train traffic.

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visit, with half-beamed buildings, Victorian homes and guest houses next to crumbling Soviet-era structures, interspersed with suave luxury hotels. A couple of miles further north, another beach scythed into the forest is Prora, a former Nazi youth camp, long abandoned and decaying, now transformed into affordable hostel lodgings, condos, and timeshares. It’s a living time capsule, a history of conquest and prosperity, decline and renewal. Our first Binz hotel, Upstalsboom Hotel Meersinn, was an easy ten-minute walk from the train station. Comprised of three 19th century villas, linked together by walkways and bridges, the hotel was easy to find on Schillerstrasse, which runs parallel to the Strandpromenade, the beach boardwalk. Modern and casual, filled with light and art, the hotel strives to be completely organic, from the pillows to fine dining downstairs. Everything here is tuned to cleaning and clearing out toxins by good living. Centrally located, the hotel is only one block to the Hauptstrasse, or Main Street, where you’ll find a festival of shops and restaurants, pubs and guest hotels, all leading to the Pier. The hotel’s restaurant was the first and only restaurant on the island with 100% organic food and beverages, and serves only locally sourced fish and produce. The interior bridge across to the neighboring building, a working brewery, which advertises locally crafted beer from the island’s hops, was most useful. Daily activities are posted on a blackboard in the lobby each morning, offering biking tours, yoga, pilates, hikes. The spa, Artepuri Med, is sleek and polished, which is how I felt after my Shiatsu treatment. On top of a full menu of body scrubs and massages, the spa offers a range of Far Eastern traditions, with a European touch. The session was unlike any I’d experienced. As I lay on an oversized mat on the floor, the therapist, a long-limbed Nordic blonde who spoke as little English as I do German, applied pressure with her thumbs, hands, elbows, knees and to pressure points on my body. Shiatsu also focuses on rotating and stretching legs, arms, and joints. I slept through it; it was so relaxing and fabulous.

The famous seaside “Baeder” architecture in Binz offers a mixture of styles including Modern and Art Noveau. Right: Ruegener Healing Chalk Opposite: Healing spa at Hotel Am Meer, site of the miraculous Healing Chalk Wrap. A menu of different saunas here are free to the hotel guests, including Finnish, Infrared, and hot steam rooms, in addition to a full menu of massages and therapeutic healing treatments.

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The next day we checked into the Hotel Am Meer, another

lights turned back on, and it was time to go, I didn’t want to

4-star hotel right, on the boardwalk overlooking the trees to

move. When the therapist suggested I might buy a bag of the

the beach. The spa in this classic seaside boutique hotel was

healing chalk I’d just rinsed off in the warm shower, I agreed,

the site of my second and truly memorable treatment. The

not caring how much it cost. I couldn’t believe it was only 6

Rügener Three Crowns Healing Chalk body wrap, which in-

Euro, and even then I would have paid much more. I didn’t

volved laying flat on my back on a large water-bed style tub/

realize it until I got home, and visited my podiatrist for confir-

massage table, slathered from my ears to the bottom of my

mation, that I knew that I’d experienced a full cure. Not to get

feet in the native fine chalk, mixed with oil and warm mineral

too personal here, but a skin condition on the bottom of my

waters. They wrapped me like a mummy in sheets, the water-

feet had completely healed, and my surgery, put off for years,

bed began to fill, encompassing me with warm water, holding

and scheduled for my return to the US, was canceled. A note

me securely and tightly for a blissful 45 minutes. When the

of caution, however. When Byron carried my bag of healing

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Kings Chair (courtesy German Tourism) The Kings Chair at Jasmund National Park, a World Heritage Site. The Koenigsstuhl is the iconic landmark of the island. Opposite: Nature Lab TowerNature Laboratory’s Tree Top Walk offer a ½ mile path through the crowns of an old beech grove to 40 meter high tower offering views of Ruegen’s landmarks, lakes, lagoons, forests and the unusal and unique shallow bay landscape. The interactive exhibition was both artistic and innovation, and is free. Located in a former restricted military area near the former Nazi resort of Prora, the Nature Laboratory is barrier free and family friendly, open every day except Christmas Eve, and costs 10 Euro.

chalk back in his suitcase, he was detained at security, until

upward through the canopy to the crown of ancient beech and

they realized he wasn’t transporting heroin, but rather a finely

spruce trees, home to woodpeckers, cranes, and osprey.

milled white chalk.

Wind and kite surfing takes place at 15 locations around the island including lakes and lagoons, bays and open water, at

Nature’s Laboratory

more than 15 surfing locations around the island. A network of cycling paths forms a circle all around the island.

Beyond the curative powers of Rugen’s natural resources,

We left Binz reluctantly, with so much left to see, believing

the area around Binz offers natural attractions for all ages.

we probably wouldn’t return, since there is still so much else in

Along with dozens of excited children, we wandered along the

the world to explore. But given what we experienced in taking

half-mile-long Tree Top Walk at the Naturerbe Zentrum ( Nature

the cure in Rügen, and how close it is to Berlin, we’ll be back. u

Laboratory) and interactive exhibition near Prora. A Natural Heritage Site opened in 2013; the Tree Top Walk circles gently

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HIKING PALM SPRINGS from sand to snow

Story & Photography By Priscilla Lister

I

f you hear the wind rumbling through

ranges hide lots of amazing secrets —

Tahquitz Canyon in Palm Springs,

natural and cultural — that have long

Cahuilla legend says it is a woman

lured me to explore one of America’s

crying for her soul.

most interesting hiking destinations.

The woman would be a victim

True natural wonders, five

of Tahquitz, the first shaman created by

climate zones from sand to snow,

Mukat, creator of all things, according

and evidence of an industrious native

to the Cahuilla people who have lived

people are reasons enough to hike in

here for thousands of years. A powerful

Palm Springs. Add the allure of spring

guardian spirit of all shamans, Tahquitz

wildflowers, year-round flowing streams

used his powers to help the people. But

and remarkably sunny weather almost

then he became selfish and abused

all the time and you will want to discover

his power to harm the Cahuilla people,

these trails, too.

who banished him to this canyon. It is

said his spirit still lives here high in the

Springs for many years, and will likely

San Jacinto Mountains in a secret cave

never traverse all the trails that criss-

below the rocky summit known today

cross the Coachella Valley. Indeed, there

as Tahquitz Peak.

are more than 140 trails covering 1,250

If you feel an earthquake — a

miles within a 60-mile radius of Palm

common occurrence in Coachella Val-

Springs, according to Philip Ferranti’s

ley — some say it is Tahquitz stomping

“140 Great Hikes in and near Palm

about the canyons. But it also might

Springs,” his latest edition published in

have something to do with the San

2014 by The Colorado Mountain Club

Andreas Fault, which runs right through

Press. I have used Ferranti’s “100 Great

this valley along with several other

Hikes in and near Palm Springs” since

faults.

its first publication in 2000.

Geologic uplifts here have

I have been hiking in Palm

Ferranti’s is one of several

created some very dramatic, rocky

guidebooks I’ve consulted. But one of

scenery featuring countless canyons.

the best ways to learn local lore is to

These indentations in the foothills of the

take a guided hike with a tribal ranger

San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountain

through Tahquitz Canyon.

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Tahquitz Falls has long been the trail’s destination in the canyon of the same name. Sycamores still thrive here, too.

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For some 30 years, Tahquitz Canyon was officially closed to the public by order of the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians, which owns most of this canyon. Tahquitz Canyon had attracted hordes of visitors who sometimes abused it. After rousting out the squatters who had made a mess here, the Agua Caliente people reopened the area in 2001.

Tahquitz Falls has long been the trail’s desti-

nation. The hike is a 2-mile round-trip loop with about a 350-foot elevation gain, including several sets of steep rock stairs, that culminates at the 60-foot-long falls, featured in Frank Capra’s 1936 “Lost Horizon.”

“Jim Morrison of The Doors stretched out

right on that rock,” our ranger guide, Robert James Hepburn, told us when we reached Tahquitz Falls. “Timothy Leary used to hike up here, too.”

Ranger Hepburn also knew the names of

every plant we encountered on the trail as well as how the Cahuilla used them. In fact, he’s written a book, “Plants of the Cahuilla Indians” (Enduring Knowledge Publications), that also serves as an excellent field guide with photographs of virtually every plant in the canyon.

Hepburn pointed out many highlights of the

Tahquitz Canyon trail. These included Sacred Rock where rock art dates back 1,600 years; remnants of a ditch originally built in 1830 by the Cahuilla to bring water from the canyon to the village where downtown Palm Springs lies today; and an ancient rock shelter where 2,000-year-old artifacts were found.

He pointed out the burro weed, a favorite of

bighorn sheep, which we were looking for because they’d been seen in the canyon earlier that day. Some honey mesquite trees near Tahquitz Creek were over 8 feet tall. “They were the most important food plant,” he told us, “and their branches were used to make bows.”

California fan palms, aka Washingtonia

filifera, were sources of food and building materials for the Cahuilla as well, but they are the reason to hike Indian Canyons.

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The city of Palm Springs lies just a couple of miles east from Tahquitz Canyon.

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Just a short distance from Tahquitz Canyon, Indian

I’ve hiked all of these canyons, but not all of the

Canyons, also owned and managed by the Agua Caliente

trails. There are 21 trails through this area, ranging from easy

people, is home to three main canyons — Palm, Murray and

to strenuous.

Andreas. Year-round streams flow through these true natural

wonders where thousands of California fan palms — our

trail — once you wind down the steep, paved trail from the

state’s only native palm tree — make them downright as-

parking lot to the canyon floor. It follows Palm Canyon Creek

tounding.

and all those thousands of palm trees. You can hike 1 mile or

12 miles one way — your choice.

All four of these canyons — Tahquitz, Palm, Murray

Palm Canyon is an amazing wonder with a fairly flat

and Andreas — are listed on the National Register of His-

toric Places. Palm Canyon has also been cited as the world’s

late 1800s, is a far shorter and even easier trail that almost

largest California Fan Palm Oasis, where between 2,000 to

anyone can enjoy. Its 1-mile trail has only a 50-foot elevation

3,000 native palms line the creek through 15 miles of canyon.

gain, and it features one of the prettiest of the fan palm oases.

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Andreas Canyon, named after a Cahuilla chief of the


Murray Canyon Trail in Indians Canyons features a year-round running stream populated by native fan palms and lots of dramatic rock formations.

A bonus of this trail is beyond its chain-link fence’s end: You’ll

see in the hills a scattering of stone houses that truly blend

neer, Welwood Murray, a Scotsman who came to the desert

into the terrain. These are the 21 homes built in the 1920s for

in 1886 to open a sanitarium called the Palm Springs Hotel

members of the private Andreas Canyon Club. A tribal ranger

that featured the curative powers of the sun and dry climate.

told me years ago here that these remarkable homes are

The historic downtown library on Palm Canyon Drive is also

never sold, only handed down from generation to generation.

named for Murray as is the cemetery he established in 1894

next to the desert’s oldest golf course, O’Donnell Golf Club in

But Murray Canyon has always been my personal

Murray Canyon is named for a Palm Springs pio-

favorite. Its trail to the Seven Sisters Waterfall is about 2 miles

Palm Springs.

one-way (4 miles round-trip) with about a 500-foot eleva-

tion gain. It’s a little less traveled than either Palm or Andreas

about a half-mile, and then follows them along the Murray

canyons and offers a lovely fan palm-laden canyon along its

Canyon Creek. You’ll see a few morteros near the trail that

year-round creek.

speak of villages that once flourished here. And you’ll cross

The Murray Canyon Trail hits its first fan palms after

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that creek several times before you reach the falls. These creek crossings are especially easy since very big boulders are the steppingstones.

The final climb to the falls is very rocky and very steep, and I often quit just

short of them. But even without that desert wonder, the creek and its palms and the enormous cliffs of craggy rocks that seem to burst out in bunches provide plenty of awe.

But then you ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and enter an entirely

different natural world.

From its Valley Station at 2,643 feet in elevation — more than 2,000 feet

higher than the desert floor of about 440 feet — to its Mountain Station at 8,516 feet, the tram takes hikers through five climate zones up to Mount San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness Area where 54 miles of hiking trails beckon.

It’s usually 30 degrees cooler here than in Palm Springs, which can be

especially inviting in summer. But in winter, there is the thrill of snow just 15 minutes from downtown Palm Springs.

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Palm Canyon in Palm Springs’ Indians Canyons is the world’s largest California fan palm oasis. Thousands of native palms follow the creek 15 miles through the canyon. Opposite: Mountain Bob points to a creosote bush, a very valuable item in Cahuilla life, as he stands in front of an ancient mortero where Native American women ground acorns.

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Dodging snowballs atop Mount San Jacinto is a wondrous treat when staying in Palm Springs far below.

If there’s a lot of snow, the trails are obliterated so

with minimal elevation change.

the top is better for snowball fights than for hiking. But in

spring, summer and fall, there are a couple of very easy trails

for seasonal hunting, and their trails still cross the mountain.

at the top that also afford fantastic views across the desert

valley below.

the “Cactus to Clouds” trail that begins in downtown Palm

I usually combine the 0.6-mile Nature Trail loop with

Imagine that the Cahuilla used this mountain area So if you’re up for it, you might actually want to hike

Springs and ends up 22 miles later, about 10,400 feet eleva-

the 1.5-mile Desert View loop trails, where the latter actually

tion gain, and about 13 hours of hard hiking, to the top of San

affords a view down into Tahquitz and Indian canyons as well

Jacinto Peak. You can ride the tram back down. u

as the entire city of Palm Springs. These are both easy trails

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IF YOU GO • •

No dogs are allowed on any of these trails. Tahquitz Canyon, 500 W. Mesquite, Palm Springs, CA 92262; (760) 416-7044; www.tahquitzcanyon.com. It’s open daily, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., October through July Fourth weekend; Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only from July to September. Admission is $12.50 adults, $6 for children 6-12. Ranger-led hikes are included in admission and leave from the visitors center at 8 and 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. You can also hike in on your own, leaving no later than 3:30 p.m. Indian Canyons lie at the end of South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs; (760) 323-6018; www.indian-

canyons.com. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 1-July 4; open only Friday, Saturday and Sunday from July 5-Sept. 30. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 seniors, $5 children 6-12, and $11 for equestrians. Palm Springs Aerial Tramway lies at the end of Tram Way off North Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs; www. pstramway.com. The first tram is up at 10 a.m. MondayFriday, and 8 a.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The last tram is up at 8 p.m. and last tram down at 9:45 p.m.; they run every half-hour. Tickets are $25.95 for adults, $23.95 seniors, $16.95 children 3-10.

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17 20 d ar ry w nt ds l A E ar se ed w ei h A G blis ok he Pu Bo f T st o r o Be ieg ne r D in Fo an S W

Here’s what people are saying: “Perfect guide for hiking in San Diego city and county. Have followed Priscilla Lister’s column for years and recommended it to others. Her knowledge of urban, suburban and country trails is unparalleled. Because of her enthusiasm and engaging writing style, I am learning more about the history of San Diego, its topography, and people.” “I’ve lived in San Diego all my life and never realized how much of it I was missing. Excellent book. I’ve purchased multiple copies as gifts for friends too.” www.takeahikesandiego.com.

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