The Imperial Hotel is an absolute knock-out. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, it is obviously beautiful. But everything about the place is first-class. The Japanese toilet with heated seat had all the buttons that make water spray into the right places and then it had an arm that offered warm air to drive those delicate […]…
Category: travel-notes
Travel notes: The Japanese Countryside–Nagano and Kamakura
JULY 2010– Flying in to Haneda Airport is an entirely different experience than landing at remote Narita airport, which is located in a largely agricultural area two hours north of central Tokyo. The plane circles over Tokyo Bay, offering the traveler a panoramic view of the Tokyo skyline. It is a vast city, one of […]…
Who’s For Puerto Rican Independence?-
OLD SAN JUAN, January 6, 2009—I came here for a break in the sun but, as often has been the case, I stumbled into a story. Better to be lucky than smart. A new governor, Luis Fortuno, has been elected and he was inaugurated during my stay. One of the planks of his candidacy was […]…
Germany, 2008
APRIL 2008 — I’m on the Inner-City Express (ICE) headed for Paris. I got on one train headed south from Frankfurt and then changed trains in Mannheim. This train is making a direct shot for Paris, stopping in a few places like Kaiserslautern and Saarbrucken (both of which sound like kinds of cole slaw.) Judging […]…
France, April 2008
APRIL 2008–After the rugged countryside along the German border, the terrain in France flattens out. As a result, the train starts to really move along, hitting speeds of at least 100 mph. On the few times that I see an expessway, the train races ahead of the cars traveling at or near the speed limit […]…
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