Liechtenstein, sort of

Last June we had the pleasure of visiting Vienna at the tail end of a month in Italy. Our flights for the trip came in and out of Zürich, so we took the train from Vienna back to Zürich for our flight home.  On the way we crossed Liechtenstein. As someone who confesses to be something of a country collector, the question was should I count this as a visit to that country?

Relevant Poll: Do you count it as "having been in a country" if all you've done is ride through it without stopping?

— Andy Rivkin (@asrivkin) June 30, 2016

The masses spoke, and it was hard to argue with them.  Nevertheless, I was somewhere and figured I'd document our cross-country trip even if it only lasted for less than 10 km.  The train did actually stop for a few minutes, though there was no opportunity to get out.

I'm still figuring out how best to incorporate pictures in this blog--most of my other blogs are much more text heavy. So how about I just include some pictures below and let the captions do the talking?

See?  At least my GPS thought I was in/over/under Liechtenstein.

There was no border, and no obvious demarcation between Austria and Liechtenstein in terms of "look and feel".

I looked in vain for a flag or anything showing I was in Liechtenstein. Nothing in this industrial park-looking area.

The main built-up area on the route was near the one train station (at which we didn't stop). I believe this area (Schaan) is the 2nd-largest city in Liechtenstein, in case you need that info for pub quiz sometime.

This is perhaps the most direct proof that I was in Liechtenstein--a picture as we chugged through the train station (without stopping).

After the train station, there's a stretch before the crossing into Switzerland where a view across the main valley of the country is visible. The Castle Vaduz is seen partway up the hillside in the center of the picture. I believe the city of Vaduz, the national capital, is below that castle (and not really visible).

St. Kitts

View from the Brimstone Hill Fortress toward the Dutch islands of St. Eustatius (r) and Saba (l).  While we tend to learn that the American Revolution ended at Yorktown, fighting between the British and French continued in the Caribbean afterward with the French liberating the two Dutch islands and capturing St. Kitts itself in the months after Yorktown. The fortress was upgraded after the British regained St. Kitts after the war ended. 

I have another trip coming up in a few weeks, but I'll go to a trip from few years for this post. After posts centering on Europe and Africa, this one is closer to home: the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, home to about 55,000 people (which is 188th out of the 195 sovereign nations recognized on Wikipedia) and birthplace of the wonderful Joan Armatrading. We visited St. Kitts on a cruise in 2011(?), and so only had part of a day on our visit.

One of two Carib petroglyph sites on the island (or, at least two that tourists visit). The meaning is unknown. As is likely obvious, the white was added to make the petroglyphs more obvious rather than being original.

While small (the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere by area and population), St. Kitts had a long colonial history.  As a history buff I wanted to see the Brimstone Hill fortress, and since neither Jen nor I are big beach folks we decided to go on an island tour run by Thenford Grey.

Berkeley Memorial in The Circus

Ruins of a 17th-century building at Wingfield Estate

We began in Basseterre, the capital of the nation. St. Kitts was home to both the first British and first French colonies in the Caribbean, with Basseterre founded in 1627 (between the foundings of New Amsterdam and Boston). The Europeans went from sharing the island (and sharing the effort to wipe out the indigenous population, of whom little physical evidence remains but some petroglyphs) to competing to dominate it, with the British winning out in the end. St. Kitts was the political center of the British Leeward Islands from the early 1800s on, and Basseterre retains many hints of its Victorian-era status.  For instance, "The Circus" was modeled after Picadilly Circus and contains a clock and memorial to one of the local legislators from the 1880s. Similarly, Independence Square was once Pall Mall Square (and site of the slave market).

Independence Square. Note the British-style phone booth.

Other colonial-era structures we visited included Romney Manor and the nearby Wingfield Estate, both near Old Road Town (the first British settlement in the Caribbean, founded a few years prior to Basseterre), and both once owned by Sam Jefferson (Thomas' great great great grandfather). The Brimstone Hill Fortress is also nearby, dominating the western part of the island of St. Kitts. That was our next stop and we happily stomped our way along the walls, enjoying the views and trying to imagine the history.

View down the South East Peninsula of St. Kitts, toward Nevis

A fine spot to relax with a beer and enjoy the stunning view!

After our time there we swung back south to see the South East Peninsula, which narrows impressively to a half a kilometer or less in width before widening slightly, giving the impression that the island as a whole is pointing toward its neighbor Nevis. We spent much of the remainder of the tour relaxing at South Friar's Beach with a couple of beers, and taking it all in.  We made it back to the ship with no issues, and thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the island. We currently plan to take another cruise this December, which will bring us back to St. Kitts. We have no concrete plans for our time there, but I suspect whatever we do will eventually be reported here. :)

Johannesburg and Soweto

View of Johannesburg's skyline from the hop on-hop off bus

After a few posts on this year's travel I thought I'd go back to a trip from last year, when I spent a few days in Johannesburg prior to a (photo) safari in Namibia. I'd been to South Africa twice before on work trips to Cape Town and the observatory in Sutherland, and had worked, stayed and toured with my Capetonian friends and colleagues. Johannesburg seemed like a good spot to visit, with lots to do and easy access from outside South Africa and easy access to the safari start point. I'd kicked around going to Durban (which remains on my list) but Jozi (one of several nicknames for Johannesburg) won out. Another friend, who'd taken sabbatical in South Africa, suggested I stay in hipper Melville rather than the more sterile Sandton area. I made my plans and off I went.

The iconic Orlando Towers in Soweto
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Power_Station)

Johannesburg is big and energetic. If one isn't used to cities, it's intimidating. There are obviously areas that are more dangerous than others, and I'd be crazy to claim I had any real sense of the city after only a few days. I can't say that I ever felt threatened, though one noob mistake on my part while calling an Uber did lead me into the outskirts of an area the guidebooks warn against. The signs of an ongoing...contest (for lack of a better word) between people trying to protect their belongings and property and those trying to get at them were everywhere, though. Houses secured with high walls, streets with guardhouses at either end, super heavily armed guards standing by mall ATMs. I'll note, of course, that these same signs are present in Cape Town, and even in Windhoek.  One of my friends in Cape Town texted me regularly, wondering if I was still alive and dismayed that I chose to spend time in Johannesburg at all, though I attribute that to the general Cape Town vs. Joburg rivalry.  The Uber drivers I spoke to in Jozi were all happy to be there, and wouldn't give up the energy and opportunity the city provides (though the Zimbabwean drivers I met were all eager for Mugabe to kick off).

The Melville vs. Sandton comparison was indeed apt. Sandton could have been anywhere, save for the aforementioned ATM guards and the big statue of what was supposed to be Nelson Mandela but didn't really look like him. Mellville had much more of a neighborhood vibe and a fun bar/restaurant scene, but also bartenders who advised me against the 15 minute walk back to the B&B and suggested I take Uber back...

Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, with some
tourist blocking most of the view

A tuk-tuk on the streets of Melville. I had one tuk-tuk ride.

As far as sights, I ended up buying tickets for the hop on-hop off bus and doing (much of) its circuit. It had two main transfer locations--Gold Reef City (a casino/theme park) and the main train station downtown. The Apartheid Museum is on the route, and was absolutely a stunner. I knew the rough outlines of apartheid in South Africa, and followed its final decade vaguely from afar. But I had no idea about the day to day details.

Entrance to the Apartheid Museum, which made its point.
No photos were allowed inside.

My ticket included a guided tour of Soweto, which was the other main item on my agenda. The township today looks like a working-class neighborhood in suburban Jozi,  though it is surrounded by the ubiquitous shantytowns (not alone among cities in this regard) and it retains monuments to its turbulent and historic past. There was a lot to take in, and I'm certain I only got a small fraction. I would certainly return.

The exterior to the Gold Reef City casino

Indeed, I'd return to Johannesburg and try to catch some of the sights I missed. I didn't get to do anything but drive past Constitution Hill on the bus, and I'd be interested to see the nearby Cradle of Humankind and Pretoria.  I've had mixed experience with the Johannesburg airport, I suppose it's not impossible my next visit will be part of a missed connection. ;)

Cafe at Apartheid Museum. I was pleased to see the heroes of the
anti-apartheid movement were joined by President Obama

One of the shanty towns near Soweto.
Millions still live in crushing poverty across, well, the world.

The bedroom in Nelson Mandela's pre-imprisonment home.
He returned here briefly upon his release in 1990 but quickly moved due to privacy concerns.

Florence

The classic view of Florence, from the Piazzale Michelangelo

We've been back from Europe for a couple of weeks but just about ready for the next (work) trip.  While I have a moment I figured I should post here again! Today I'll show off some pictures from Florence, one of the classic stops for tourists for hundreds of years. While we did not meet up with Lucy Honeychurch (possibly for the best), we did dip our toes into some of the amazing culture there.

As participants in the Vatican Observatory Summer School, our first stops were science related: The Arcetri Observatory (part of the University of Florence, and just a bit outside the city) and the town of Arcetri itself. In Arcetri we stopped at the Villa Galileo, where the famous scientist served out a sort-of comfortable house arrest after his infamous Papal trial.

Me outside the Villa Galileo

The villa has several rooms, plus a second floor (where the servants are presumed to have lived), but it was noted that it wasn't insulated and winters got pretty cold. It was better than prison but Galileo wouldn't have been really living it up, especially in the first few years when he was not allowed visitors. To top it off, while there were vinyards, apparently Galileo's wine wasn't terribly good and he still had to buy wine from outside sources.

An alchemical version of the periodic table, before the nature of
elements were understood

After the observatory, we had a stop at the Museo Galileo.  The museum has no link with Galileo, save for being a science museum in a city where he lived. Nevertheless, it had a spectacular collection of historical scientific equipment, from telescopes and astrolabes to anatomical models and chemistry sets. Definitely worth a visit, even for those of you who aren't scientists. :) The museum is also pretty centrally located, near the Arno and the Uffizi Gallery.

Pierro della Francesca's "The Dukes of Urbino",
which I recognized as "Hey, that painting".

 

The way that the public can access or not access various famous
works of art is pretty fascinating to me. You can get pretty close
to Botticelli's masterpiece here.

In terms of Renaissance-era art, of course, Florence is one of the must-visit places in Europe. Under the patronage of the Medici, the Republic of Florence was a leading city in the Renaissance, and under the terms by which the Medici's art collection was given to the city none of it can be given or sold out to the city (at least if I remember the story correctly). We went to the Uffizi Gallery, which is basically filled with amazing art by all the artists you've heard of. While the focus is on the paintings there is also a world-class sculpture collection, which was the original point of the museum.

View of the Palazzo Vecchio from the Loggia dei Lanzi.

There are several other art museums in Florence, our ~2.5-day trip only allowed us to scratch the surface.  We did spend time in the Loggia dei Lanzi just off of the main square, which is basically a covered patio full of ancient sculptures and looking out at a copy of David from 1910, standing where the original stood for centuries before being moved to another museum in the city.  It was a wonderful spot to relax in the shade and get off of our feet, though it was also a popular stop for walking tours and in theory we were only allowed to sit for 15 minutes...

Within hours of our arrival, Jennifer was lobbying for a future return, a sentiment I'm in full agreement with. Given the shortness of the visit and the touring pace we find comfortable, there were a lot of things left for future visits. First is a visit to the Duomo, which dominates many views of Florence but we were simply unable to get to during its opening hours without skipping something else of equal priority for us. We did walk around the outside, at least.  We also made it across Ponte Vecchio and up to Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens while doing some souvenir shopping, but didn't make it into either of those sites.  So, there's plenty to do for next time.

View over the city from the Uffizi Gallery.

Jennifer and the striking exterior of the Duomo.

The Ponte Vecchio.

Tivoli and the Villa d'Este

My first visit to Tivoli Gardens was when I was 14 or so. I enjoyed the rides and developed the tiniest quantum of a crush on the 30-something woman who was the only person in the tour group willing to go on the roller coaster with me. It is one of my fondest memories of Copenhagen, and there it stood for decades as far as I was concerned.

It is only in preparing for this trip that I learned that that Tivoli Gardens isn't the Tivoli Gardens, in much the way I suppose that the Kew Gardens I first visited isn't necessarily the Kew Gardens people first think of.

Yesterday the VOSS gang visited the original Tivoli, a bit outside of Rome. There are two things to see in Tivoli--the Villa Adriana, which was something of an original version of Versailles built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The second is what we went to--the Villa d'Este, built by a cardinal in the 16th century and borrowing inspiration (and borrowing ransacking material) from the Villa Adriana.

The Villa itself is, of course, spectacular. Even if it's basically "another palace". The art inside is very impressive, with frescoes giving praise and adoration to the cardinal, who was a grandson of a Pope*.  They were made to look like tapestries (like the one here), or with painted columns or doorways and windows.

The real star of the show were the gardens.  These had a series of fantastic hydraulic features and fountains, taking advantage of a river that went nearby to divert plenty of water. Some of the fountains were restored in the 20th century with modern technology (like the ones in the Neptune fountain above), but most retained their period feel.

One axis of the gardens had a fountain representing the town of Tivoli on one end, and another representing Rome.  Here's the Rome side, with Athena and to her right (from our point of view) the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus.

After spending the morning on the lovely day walking around the gardens, Jen and I repaired to lunch followed by an extended stay at a cafe where we had a round or two while waiting for the bus. The students hung out across the piazza on the stairs. We probably would have bought them a round if they'd joined us. :)

The students seemed to have a good time.  Here's a subset gathered for a group selfie (groupie?) while others took pictures of them taking the selfie because 2016 I guess?


*One of the students came up to me afterward, confused.  "How could he be the grandson of the Pope? I thought that Popes..."  I am glad that she is not cynical by nature, and am a little sad that I had to break the bad news about some of the medieval popes to her.

The May-June 2016 Leg of the World Stupendathon Tour

The Vatican Observatory refractor, which is on the roof of the Papal Summer Palace in Castel Gandolfo.

OK, let's see if we can get this going.

I have a long trip coming up, albeit one that has us (mostly) staying in the same place. Jennifer and I have the pleasure of being guest lecturers at the Vatican Observatory Summer School in Albano, Italy, about a half hour south of Rome. The school runs the month of June, we're currently planning to spend some time prior to the school in Zürich and about a week after the school doing some additional touring (right now we're thinking of Vienna).

The students will have access to quite the library. This is something we pulled off the shelf on a previous visit to the Vatican Observatory HQ in Castel Gandolfo.

This will not be our first trip to Italy, nor the first time as the guests of the Vatican Observatory.  We visited in 1996 and stayed in Castel Gandolfo in-between conferences in Versailles and Berlin. I also had the pleasure of a visit to Rome in 2011 and a visit to Castel Gandolfo as part of that trip. Finally, I was in Rome last year, as well as the nearby town of Frascati.

I don't know what our schedules will be like there, but I at least hope to post on occasion.  I also do plan to talk about some past trips here once I get into the blogging routine!

So What's All This Then

I've been a lot of places.  The map up there represents most of the places I've been in my life, however briefly.  I enjoy travel, and have been fortunate enough to have been able to do a lot of it both for work (I'm an astronomer) and for pleasure. Faced with a massive amount of travel in 2015 I started referring to the various trips as the "World Stupendathon Tour" on Twitter.  2016 looks to have a similar amount of travel, and so I figured I'd start this blog to share some of the thoughts that are too long for Twitter. I'm not sure what I'll do with the blog, though I imagine it'll be a mix of what I'm up to and past trips. Maybe a post on my thoughts about Johannesburg followed by pictures from Singapore or something. I don't currently have a place to talk about science (I do have another blog, but it's for music/poetry), it's possible I'll have some science posts as well.

Anyhow, welcome to the blog.  Let's see what happens.