a) the scenic Rhine River valley by rail;
b) the spectacular Dom Cathedral in Cologne (second largest in the
world);
c) the quaint and historically well-preserved town of Huckeswagen,
Germany, where my
great, great, great grandparent's home still stands (now a restaurant);
d) Berlin, Germany where, hosted by long-time friend Tim
Malloy and his passion Andrea, we enjoyed the sights and rhythms of
this great city which is in full hyperkinetic urban renaissance;
e) Pomerainian Poland where we visited historic Szczecin (Stettin)
and the peasant villages (Ploty, Gosten) of my great-great grandmother
and her brother Otto;
f) South Bohemia (Jindrichuv Hradec) where Czech friends
(Jaroslav, Jana, Zdenka, Milos, Jan and others) never cease to amaze me
with their extraordinary hospitality and kindness;
g) My
favorite city of Prague, compelling me back more strongly with each
new visit;
h) the charming town of Brandys, Czech Republic, which was the home
of my stepfather Ben's great grandparents;
i) Nurenberg, Germany, beautifully rebuilt from its war-torn past,
and among Europe's more pleasant cities;
j) Bamburg, Germany, a city worthy of placement on my world's most
beautiful list;
k) the warm, friendly home of my good buddy Gary Brown, his wife Gisela
and their children David, Lara, Jennifer and their hound Buddy Brown; Gary
and I played guitar and sang up a storm.
The only downside of this trip was that my mother felt less than fully healthy for a good part of it, struggling with a ferocious nighttime cough and at times debilitating back pain.
-- TRAVEL TO MONTREAL, QUEBEC CITY AND OTTAWA, CANADA -- This late summer trip was most pleasureful and relaxing. These are great cities to visit. Both Montreal and Ottawa have some of the most extensive bicycle trail systems in the world, and I took full advantage of them (peddling for over 60 miles). Quebec City is the most European-like of any city in North America and packed wall-to-wall in the summer with tourists.
-- LOCAL TRAVEL TO HISTORIC HARPER'S FERRY, WEST VIRGINIA -- On the most pleasant of autumn days, I joined friends Carol, Janet et. al. in this dramatically scenic town, well preserved in its civil war era appearance; we also checked out, just for kicks, a pig sanctuary, operated by acqaintances of Janet.
-- VISIT BY FERNANDA FROM ARGENTINA -- I spent the Columbus Day weekend with an acquaintance I met on safari in South Africa. She's a charming and very talented photographer who is currently visiting the States (based in Boston) from her native Patagonian city of Bariloche. We went to many of the typical and untypical DC sites and bicycled our legs off.
-- DEMONSTRATION OF THE WEEK -- I fully exercised my First Amendment Constitutional right to peacably assemble by participating in several demonstrations this fall. Some of these involved causes that don't much matter to me (nor even about which do I agree), but they still seemed to be interesting if not worthwhile pastimes. The issues included:
a) Funding for Cancer Research -- tens of thousands showed up, far short of the hundreds of thousands hoped for by the organizers. Al Gore, Jessie Jackson and other politicos spoke, as did personalities like Cindy Crawford, Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts. The highlights were the performances of Aretha Franklin, David Crosby and Graham Nash. As a vegetarian, I found it interesting that the meat industry was so actively prominant in sponsoring this event.
b) World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies -- I'm not sure what I was doing at this demonstration which seemed to attract people from both extremes of the political spectrum. Those on the left are opposed to how these organizations attach strings to their lending policies that developing countries find imposible to meet and end up hurting a lot of poor people. Those on the right are opposed to globalism entirely. Somehow, I ended up on the evening news helping to guide a man with a six-foot-tall characatured Uncle Sam head on his shoulders.
c) Candlelight vigil for Mathew Shepard -- The young homosexual man who was brutally tortured and murdered in Wyoming brought together perhaps 3,000 people on the steps of the Capitol in a very touching tribute to him. People rallied for passage of the Hate Crimes Act. Lots of politicians spoke, as did Ellen Degeneres and other politically-active Hollywood types.
d) "A Day Without the Pentagon" -- about 300 peacenik types gathered in front of the world's largest office building to encourage substantial cuts in the Pentagon budget. Danial Elsberg (of Pentagon Paper's fame) and other well-spoken folks were there, and some of my friends were among the activists at this demo; but even though some people managed to get arrested when they blocked Pentagon workers from exiting the Metro (subway) and going to work, this event was a far cry from the height of the anti-war days in the early 1970s.
e) United Nations funding -- about 200 people, including various United Nations officials and actor/director Michael Douglas gathered in front of the White House to demand that Congress meet their debt obligations of over a billion dollars to the UN.
f) Demonstration of support for President Clinton and against the overzealous aspects of Kenneth Starr's investigation -- This demonstration hardly mustered even 200 people at any point in time, though it was punctuated with passionate speeches by some articulate but pissed-off folks (including some who were unjustly subpoened). Disappear Fear sang some great melodies.
-- VINCENT VAN GOGH EXHIBIT -- The hottest tickets in Washington this autumn are those offered by the National Gallery of Art. I was extremely lucky to get three of the last five tickets available for that day after waiting only an hour and twenty minutes. Some of the 1600 people in front of me had been waiting for several hours. The 300 or so people behind me were quite disappointed.
-- "1964 - THE TRIBUTE" -- These were some very tight, very well-rehearsed Beatle's imitators who provided my friend Jay and I with a memorable evening at the Birchmere.
-- OH YEAH, I also shaved off my beard and mustache recently.
It's the first time my chin has seen
the light of day in 12 years and my upper lip has seen it in twice
that long. It was a wild hair, or
perhaps several gray ones that caused me to do it.
ON TAP FOR THE NEXT QUARTER:
-- TRAVEL TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND HAITI -- sounds more like an adventure than a vacation. Hopefully, I'll make it back in one piece. At least, the hurricane season is supposed to be over, though they are still picking up the pieces from this summer's barrage.
-- POSSIBLE MOVE -- My landlord jacked up my rent $100 a month, so I consider that an opportunity to start looking elsewhere.
Season's greetings to all! Check in and let me know what's up with you. You can contact me by clicking on this E-mail address: doman@tidalwave.net.
Review previous newsletters:
Dean's News Vol. 2, No. 1, 09/01/98 -- A summer romance
Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 4, 06/01/98 -- New York City and Minnesota trips
Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 3, 03/01/98 -- Arizona and Colorado trip
Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 2, 12/01/97 -- Venezuela and Trinidad
Dean's News Vol. 1, No. 1, 09/01/97 -- Toronto and Niagara Falls
Best wishes to all,
Deano
