Traveling is coffee for the soul.
There are many astonishing and wonderful things in the world, and I like to travel and see them. I am a middle-ageish man and I live in Northeastern Europe. My wife often travels with me, voluntarily. All pictures are taken by me, unless otherwise indicated.
I probably have stated this before: we are no sportspeople. We will walk considerable distances in cities or maintained paths, but leave more demanding activities like, say, mountain biking, to others. The High Tatras - Vysoké Tatry in Slovakian - is a very suitable mountain destination for people like us. Of course, there's plenty to do there for hikers and mountaineers, too, but I am not the one to write about that. The High Tatras are the highest part of the Carpathian mountains, and are divided by the border between Slovakia and Poland: the highest peaks of both countries are there. Most importantly the High Tatras are incredibly beautiful, whether viewed through a train window from the valley below or from the top of one of the mountains. See:
Tatra seen from the city of Poprad.
Lomnický štít (2634m, left) and Kežmarský štít (2588m, right) seen from Skalnaté pleso.
What makes the High Tatras particularly suitable for couch potatoes is the TEŽ, Tatra Electric Railroad. It has taken travelers up to the mountains from the city of Poprad for more than a century. A day ticket, allowing one to travel as much as one manages within a day, was 4€ in July 2018.
A TEŽ train in Tatranská Lomnica.
We stayed in Poprad, and took the train to the village of Štrbské pleso. The original plan was to get off at Popradské pleso and walk to Štrbské pleso from there - there apparently is a non-demanding hiking path connecting them. However, we changed our plans because the weather forecast promised rain and we knew that in Štrbské pleso we would not be too far from shelter. There was no rain. On the edge of village, there is a picture-postcard-beautiful mountain lake, around which there is a well-maintained, easy path.
The lake is surrounded by mountains.
Štrbské pleso - few vowels, plenty of views.
Hotel Panorama, the weirdest piece of socialist architecture in Štrbské pleso village.
The high point of our visit to Tatra was a cable car ride to the top of Lomnický štít, 2634 meter above sea level (pun entirely intended). It involves no less than three cable cars. First is a small and scary one from Tatranská Lomnica to an intermediate station, where you change to a fancy and modern one, which in turn takes you to the Skalnaté pleso mountain lake. From there you continue in a tiny, completely terrifying cable car to the top. Even if you are, like us, afraid of heights, I warmly recommend it because of the incredibly amazing views. Being a sea-level dweller, I felt quite dizzy, not sure if it was because of vertigo or altitude sickness.
Up on the top we were almost swallowed in a cloud.
The light up high is different, or at least feels so.
We were advised to book the cable car tickets as early as possible. Since I didn't get the online booking system to work, we went quite early on a Sunday to inquire about tickets. The next available ones were for Monday afternoon. This was in late July, just as the busiest summer season in Central Europe was beginning. Weekends may be more busy. If you can't get tickets all the way up to Lomnický štít, or if you're unwilling to pay the undeniably steep price of 49€ per person for return ticket, consider taking tha cable car to Skalnaté pleso only. Advance bookings are not necessary there, and Skalnaté pleso with has beautiful views, reasonably-priced restaurant and some easy hiking paths. It's worth braking your journey there anyway, either going up, coming down, or both.
With the exception of Lomnický štít cable car, the general price level in Tatras is pleasantly low compared to most of Europe: 10€ buys a good meal, with drinks, in most restaurants, the very tasty Slovakian beer is usually less that 2€ a pint, and even accommodation is affordable. We paid less than 30€/night for a room for 2, with bathroom, in Poprad.
We visited the High Tatras in July 27th to 31st 2018.
Blueberry pancakes, jam, maple syrup, coffee and grapefruit juice. Cincinnati, Ohio, 2016.
The United States is in many ways a controversial nation. There are lots of incredibly awesome places and things, but also huge problems and dark shadows of history present in the society. I know that some people wonder, whether they should travel there at all. I warmly recommend a visit to the US for everyone who has the opportunity. There are countless reasons to go there, but here, I only concentrate on one, which alone is easily reason enough to visit America.
The breakfasts.
An omelette, rosemary potatoes, bisquit ("bun" for most Europeans, I think), jam, coffee and grapefruit juice. Memphis, Tennessee, 2017.
Often, the United States thinks that it is the best, greatest and first of the World. Considering breakfasts, this indeed is the case.
Even at worst, American breakfast is better than other breakfasts. Pancaces, maple syrup, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, French toast, coffee and orange juice. San Francisco, California 2015.
The American breakfast is usually constructed around pancakes, waffles or French toast. Eggs, sausages or bacon are often served with them - but only imagination sets the limit (I've seen a breakfast menu featuring T-bone steak served with pancakes). Serving sizes are such that those used to modest European breakfasts will easily manage until late lunchtime, or longer. As the United States is a very multicultural nation, there are countless local and cultural variations of the American breakfast, such as blue corn pancakes served by the Zuni in New Mexico - recommended!
Texans have, of course, over-Texasified the breakfast, too. A waffle shaped like the map of Texas. San Antonio, Texas 2017.
Nothing in this world is perfect, not even the American breakfast (even though it gets close). It is not the epitome of healthy eating, as there generally is a lot of sugar and fat. Thankfully, lighter options are usually available, as is fresh fruit. And, although the American coffee is sometimes very good, it often isn't. Luckily there usually is enough of it, breakfast often includes unlimited coffee.
The Field of Angels, a memorial to enslaved children who died in their infancy.
Can you even begin to imagine, what it would have felt like if, when you were five years old, you would have suddenly been taken away from your family and friends, it would have been explained to you that you have been sold to a new owner who will take you far away and you will never see your parents and siblings again?
Me neither. Thank God.
Countless people, however, have experienced such things, and worse: the slaves. Whitney Plantation is one of the best places to try and understand the sinister and repulsive history of American slavery. It is one of the many tourist-oriented plantations by the Mississippi between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Whitney is, however, the only one of those whose point of view is not that of the rich owners but that of those on whose work the wealth was based on - the enslaved.
The beautiful gardens of the plantations bear few traces of the horrors of the past.
In my opinion, museums at best can help visitors better understand things, to make history more real to them. I think Whitney Plantation does a good job in this. I already knew most of the facts the guide and exhibitions told me, but the visit helped me to better understand those facts. Of course, there is - thankfully - no way for me to completely understand what the slaves really experienced and felt.
Unlike most other plantations, the visitors are first taken to the miserable slave cabins, only later to the prestigious big house.
Even more than the violent and savage treatment of the enslaved - which, of course, is horrific - I felt disgusted by the complete denial of their humanity. The enslaved were cynically treated like merchandise, or pack animals, or machinery. The practice I find most repulsive was the breeding of human children for merchandise. An enslaved person was an expensive investment, worth a lot of money for the owner. Therefore, it was in the plantation owners' interests to produce more enslaved people, for their own use or to be sold. This was generally not very difficult, as anyone born to an enslaved mother was automatically considered a slave. Who the father was, did not matter. Consequently many enslaved women had to live, or die, as breeding machinery: they may have had more than ten children, many of whom were sold or otherwise taken from the mothers at a very early age. Enslaved men and women may have been forced together, on the peril of violence, to produce offspring. If an enslaved woman failed to have children by other means, the owner may have raped and impregnated her himself, and consequently place his own children in a position comparable to that of cattle or machinery, or merchandise. These cases were not exceptional at all.
There are statues of enslaved children on the Whitney Plantation. This one depicts Anna, who was given as a house pet - our guide indeed used the word "pet" - to the childless woman who owned the plantation at the time. Later, at 14, Anna gave birth to her first child, whose father was the middle-aged brother of her owner.
A visit to the plantation always includes a guided tour, explaining the gruesome everyday life on a slave plantation: hard work, in Whitney's case on sugarcane fields, as usual in Southern Louisiana, often on cotton field in more Northern parts; many enslaved workers could not stand the inhumane working conditions alive for more than a few years. The guide described the violence, the awful food, the unworthy living quarters. In the exhibitions, there are many oral history quotes from 1930s interviews with Americans who were born enslaved. They are used to give voice to those who were so often silenced. There are several books based on the interviews, and some have been used in a documentary film.
A quote from the 1930s interview with Hannah Chapman, who was born enslaved.
The visit to Whitney Plantation made an enormous impression on me, even though as a Finn I feel no direct connection to the history and legacy of American slavery. I can only imagine what the visit is like for the descendants of enslaved African-Americans, or the white slave owners. From New Orleans, the visit takes a few hours: we left the city after breakfast and were back for late-ish lunch. I consider the time well spent. If you don't have an access to your own or rented vehicle, there are tours by bus, which may include visits to other places, too.
John Cummings, the founder of Whitney Plantation museum. He told that his goal was not to promote guilt but understanding: "Those responsible are in Hell, if you believe that".
One of the highlights of the tour was a chance encounter with John Cummings, the current owner of the plantation and the founder of the museum. Mr. Cummings, a retired lawyer, is a very good speaker and gave us an interesting account of the founding and goals of the museum. Sometimes, in American public debate, it is asked should the African-Americans not be able to leave the legacy of the slavery behind, as it was abolished 150 years ago. According to Cummings, this sentiment is based on unfamiliarity and inadequate understanding of the realities of slavery. That's why he says: "I, personally, will no longer be content to live in ignorance. Do not ask the question, 'why can't they get over it', unless you know what the 'it' is".
In the video below Cummings and other staff at Whitney Plantation share further thoughts and information.
We visited the Whitney Plantation on May 24th 2017.
Washington DC, the capital of the United States, was intentionally designed to impress visitors. It does. The city is full of monuments to various events in American (and some non-American) history - there are many more than those covered here.
National World War II Memorial, Washington Monument in the background.
Probably every war the USA ever fought has a memorial. Interestingly, they seem reflect the perception of these wars in American public consciousness. The National World War II Memorial is a victory parade sculpted in Marble, a homage to the enormous strength of the United States. No human characters are depicted, only laurels of victory accompanied by names of battlefields.
Korean War Veterans Memorial.
The Korean war was not as obvios a victory for The US. The Korean War Veterans Memorial made a great impression to me, because, as I understand it, it depicts the soldiers as not only heroes but also victims. The faces of very lifelike statues seem, at least to me, depict the fear, anguish and confusion those who fought must have felt.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I wondered if this couple was looking for a particular name - perhaps a brother, a friend, a schoolmate? Their generation supplied the soldiers who fought in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War ended over 40 years ago, but for many Americans it still is a difficult, controversial and divisive matter. At best, it is seen as an embarrassment and a failure, at worst, an imperialistic raid the United States should never have participated at all. It hardly is surprising, then, that the opinions on Vietnam Veterans Memorial are divided, too. The monument consist of nothing but black stone walls, bearing inscribed names of all American military personnel who died in Vietnam in 1959-1975, orderd by time of death. The opponents have called the memorial "a nihilistic slab of stone", among other things: on the other hand, it has been included on a top 10 -list of American architecture.
Washington Monument.
Many presidents have their memorials as well. The most visible one is - unsurprisingly - the 169-meter (555-feet) obelisk erected in honor of the first president, George Washington. In a way, it is also a memorial to setbacks. The construction began in 1848, but was stopped in 1854 due to lack of funds. It took 25 years before it resumed. An embarrassing stub stood right in the center of the capital city, visible from the president's White House. The break is visible in the completed Monument, as the marble used in early stages was sourced from different quarries than the stones used later. Consequently, the lower third is of a lighter color than the rest of the obelisk. In 1885, the monument was finally completed. At the time, it was the tallest building in the world. The troubles did not end there: recently the monument was damaged by an earthquake in 2011, and has been closed to the public since 2016 because of elevator malfunction.
Jefferson Memorial.
Jefferson himself.
The monument to Thomas Jefferson is a cupola-topped building, in which third president and the author of the Declaration of independence stands as a larger-than-life-sized statue. The walls are inscribed with quotes from his writings. At the time of our visit, there was a demonstration going on in front of the monument. Apparently, this is not exceptional. This time the demonstrators were motivated by issues related to health care.
Abraham Lincoln.
The site where Martin Luther King gave his "I have a dream" speech is marked on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial.
Abraham Lincoln, who presided over the victory in the Civil war, who freed the slaves and who died by the bullet of an assassin, is probably the second most admired president among the Americans, after George Washington. No surprise then that his monument is quite impressive, too. It looks a little like a Greek or Roman temple and houses a larger-than-life statue of Lincoln. The Lincoln memorial, too, has seen numerous demonstrations. One of the most famous is the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom, best remembered for Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech.
All monuments mentioned above are situated relatively close to each other along the National Mall. They can easily be explored on foot, but the monumental cale of Washington DC may be deceptive. Lincoln Memorial, for example, may seem to be right next to World War II Memorial, but they are actually about half a mile apart.
In addition to wars and presidents, there are monuments to many others, like scientist Albert Einstein, but I still couldn't figure out the theory of relativity.
We visited the monuments of Washington DC in May and June 2017.
