January was a reasonably quiet month, although we did attend several local events. Among other things there was a conference at the CATO Institute and by Northern Virginia standards, quite a bit of snow.
Reston, VA — Jan 15, 2024. A vertical shot taken early in the morning after a snowfall in Reston Towon Center.
We also went to the Capital Arena in the District to watch the Washington Capitals face-off against the NY Rangers.
Washington, DC — Jan 8, 2024. The Washington Capitals face-off against the NY Rangers in a packed Capital Arena.
Washington Capitals vs the NY Rangers
The Capitals are planning to move the team to Arlington VA from Washington DC. Like the Rangers who play their home games in New Jersey but still insist on calling themselves the New York Rangers, the Washington Capitals plan to keep their name.
Washington, GC — Jan 8, 2024. A man on a bike peddles past the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
We went to the Kennedy Center where we watched the National Symphony Orchestra perform Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and Schubert’s Ninth Symphony. The Kennedy Center is a fabulous venue that consistently puts on top quality performances that do not even come close to challenging Manhattan’s stratospheric prices.
Washington, DC, The Kennedy Center—Jan 21, 2024. Photo taken inside the Kennedy Center as the guests began to arrive before the concert began.Washington, DC, The Kennedy Center—Jan 21, 2024. Photo taken inside the Kennedy Center as the orchestra begins to warm up.
Finally, the National Mall was the site for the annual March for Life which began in January 1974. The marchers braved freezing temperatures and snow for the march.
Washington, DC — January 19, 2024. Marchers show up in the snow and freezing weather to march in the annual March for Life in Washington DC.
We will be on the road traveling before too long, and expect to post photos from those trips when they begin in early March of 2024. In the meantime, here are some photos from January.
“Put on my blue suede shoes And I boarded the plane Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues In the middle of the pouring rain”
—Marc Cohen, Walking in Memphis
Toward the end of our Mississippi River cruise we stopped in Clarksdale, Mississippi while on our way to Memphis, Tennessee. While in Clarksdale, we saw one helluva show put on by Steve Azar and The King’s Men. A YouTube video of Steve and the Band playing “One Mississippi” follows below. Definitely worth a watch. You see a very different Mississippi than the one normally portrayed in the media.
Clarksdale, Mississippi — Dec 1, 2023. Steve Azar playing Guitar onstage in Clarksdale MississippiJason Young, Percussion
After Clarksdale we found ourselves in Memphis, Tennessee. Of course, we had to go and pay a visit to Beale St, minus our Blue Suede shoes. One place we visited that was particularly fascinating was the Rock ’n’ Soul Museum. The Museum traced the history of Rock, Soul and Pop with an emphasis on the social changes that occurred simultaneously with the development of Rock.
Man Walking On Beale Street
One of the more important players was the American producer, Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis. Sun Studio is now designated as a National Historic Landmark.
In his studios in Memphis, Phillips produced a raft of names that would become famous in Rock ’n’ Roll history. Those names included Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Howlin’ Wolf. By producing as many artists as he did who sang what was then called “race music” Phillips took a big risk. But it paid off, and he became one of the foremost proponents of modern pop. He wryly observed that parental angst over apparent teenage infatuation with Elvis Presley et al. gave Rock ’n’ Roll a big boost.
Memphis, Tennessee — December, 3, 2023. Photo of a B.B. King storefront on Beale street in Memphis on a quiet morning.
In recognition of his influence, Sam Phillips was part of the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was the first non-performer inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame; he was also inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the inaugural class of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
We also spent some time at the Metal Museum which included a metal workshop, art pieces made with metal works and a metal sculpture garden. Across the street from the Metal Museum, we visited Chickasaw Heritage Park, once the fortress of Chief Chisca. The park features two ceremonial mounds built in the 1500s. And that sums up much of our stay in Memphis until we boarded the plane for home.
A vertical format photo of trees in a park in Memphis in late afternoon.
Toward the end of our river cruise, we went ashore on an excursion with a tour group in Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the Civil War, Vicksburg was hotly contested because of its immense strategic value. During the war, the city was subjected to a 47-day siege by Ulysses S Grant. The siege ultimately proved to be successful. As a result, the North was able to control the Mississippi River; cut off the South from its trading partners and split the Confederacy in two.
A wide angle photo of one of a Vicksburg, Mississippi battlefieldTelephoto image of a house on the Civil War battlefield at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The cost of the campaign was immense, especially for the South, which put up fierce resistance to the North. In the end, there were about 37,000 casualties, about 86% of which were Southern.
A photo of headstones in a cemetery reserved for Civil War veterans of the Union Army in Vicksburg, MississippiPhoto of headstones of Civil War veterans from the Union side.
There were both land and sea battles using iron clad vessels. One, the North’s USS Cairo, was sunk by an electronically detonated mine—the first armored warship to meet such a fate. It took only 12 minutes to sink to the bottom in 6 fathoms of water.
Photo of the USS Cairo, a metal plated Union Gunpoint that was sunk in the Mississippi
General Pemberton of the Confederacy finally surrendered to General Grant on July 4th 1863. President Lincoln referred to the Union victory as the key to the war.
The Siege of Vicksburg and the subsequent battle are today commemorated at Vicksburg National Military Park, which we visited on our tour. The people of the town of Vicksburg, both soldiers and civilians, suffered immensely from disease, starvation and death. Perhaps that is why the city of Vicksburg did not celebrate July 4th —Independence Day—for 81 years after its surrender.
Our initial stops in Louisiana included two plantation houses and grounds. The first was the Houmas House, named after the Houmas Indian tribe. The second was the Oak Alley plantation, named to reflect the magnificent collection of oak trees that form a canopy leading up to the entrance to the house.
St James Parish, LA, USA — Nov 26, 2023. A photograph of a plantation house restored to its pre-war condition.
The plantation houses were restored in order to look the way they did in the antebellum period. The Oak Alley plantation mostly produced sugarcane, while the crop of the Houmas House was more diversified.
St James Parish, LA, USA — Nov 26, 2023. A photograph looking down Oak Alley in Autumn
The main houses on the plantations were elegant dwelling places, The irony of course is that they were built by slave labor. Oak Alley had about 220 enslaved people at its height (or depth, if you prefer).
St James Parish, LA, USA — Nov 26, 2023. A photograph of tourists walking on top of a levee designed to prevent flooding of the Mississippi River.
We got to the mansions by walking over a levee to a parking lot where a Viking owned coach (AKA bus) waited to whisk us away to them. All in all the exhibits were stunning in their grace and elegance. But there were constant (and appropriate) reminders that it was slave labor that built the plantations.
St James Parish, LA, USA — Nov 26, 2023. A photograph of tourists examining restored slave quarters from the antebellum south.
So we traveled to New Orleans—on Thanksgiving day no less, to begin a Mississippi Rover cruise with Viking. Despite all the news reports of horror shows at airports, we had a very smooth flight. We got to the hotel early and our room was ready. That’s tough to beat.
We got to the Big Easy a couple of days early where we met my sister Barbara and her husband Tim. Then we proceeded to take a look around town. The city has not yet fully recovered from Katrina—back in 2006. But it was a pleasant stay anyway.
We caught a few moments of the annual Thanksgiving day parade where we spotted a lady in the audience with what may be the biggest dog in the world (photo below).
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA — Nov 23, 2023. Tourists, including a woman with a very big dog, line up to watch the New Orleans Thanksgiving Day Parade.
We also made our way to Jackson Square where someone was dressed up in a clown suit.
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA — Nov 24, 2023. A clown with a table, chair and pet dog, stands ready to entertain visitors in Jackson Square New Orleans, Louisiana.New Orleans, Louisiana, USA — Nov 24, 2023. A clown with a table, chair and pet dog entertains visitors in Jackson Square, New Orleans as a bemused pedestrian walks by.
And we went to the New Orleans Aquarium where a young boy posed by the jaws of what must have been an enormous shark.
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA — Nov 25, 2023. A boy stands next to a very large shark’s jaw on display in an aquarium.
Next stop, the cruise ship and our first cruise stop at a plantation Mansion in St James Parish, Louisiana. We’ll keep you (or as they say down here “Y’all”) posted.
The state of Virginia maintains an arboretum, complete with an experimental farm (The Blandy Experimental Farm) that is managed by the University of Virginia. There students and ecologists maintain the farm and conduct experiments using a wide range of trees and plants.
Blandy’s Ginkgo Grove is one of the largest public Ginkgo groves in America, with over 300 trees. Every Autumn the Blandy Experimental Farm has a GinkgoFest. This year it was held just recently, on October 28. We visited the arboretum with friends on Monday for a picnic and to see the Ginkgo grove and the changing colors of the Autumn foliage. The views were spectacular.
Here below are a few photos from the visit. Please note, photos on this site will generally be available for licensing by download (without the watermark) at the Evocative Photos website. In the future clicking on a photo in the travel blog will usually take you to a full resolution version of the photo at Evocative Photos.
A wide angle colorful photo of a trees in the lush Virginia State ArboretumA wide angle photo of a picnic area in the lush Virginia State ArboretumA wide angle vertical format photo of Ginkgo Grove in the Virginia State ArboretumA photo of Ginkgo Grove against a blue sky backdrop in the Virginia State ArboretumA wide angle vertical format photo of falling Autumn leaves in the Virginia State Arboretum
We are finally back after spending most of September in Tuscany, Italy. We had actually planned to get to Florence from Aix-en-Provence by train but a rock slide in the Alps covered the train tracks leading from France to Italy, so that plan got shelved. In the end we managed to fly to Florence from Marseilles, so everything worked out in the end.
There were lots of photo taking opportunities, so I took more than a few. Here (below) is a link to a web page that has some of them.
We recently spent 3 weeks living in Provence in a trip sponsored by the Smithsonian. Among other things we took a French language immersion course, a cuisine course and a course in French art and culture.
Marseille, France–August 27, 2023. A photo of Palais Longchamp celebrating the arrival of clean water in Marseille
After 3 weeksm=, we headed off to Florence, Italy. For more photos from. Provence, please follow the link below.
Back in the USA for almost a full month, we paid a visit with friends to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) in Winchester, Virginia. By car, the Museum complex is about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Reston Town Center, but it feels like a different world. Reston Town Center is decidedly urban; Winchester Virginia, next door to where the Museum is located is rural. Instead of high rises, it and the surrounding area is a mix of rolling hills, working farms and vineyards.
A photo of a pond situated in the gardens of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
The Museum has periodic exhibits and various types of activities. (For a schedule of events, exhibitions and directions see https://www.themsv.org/). In addition to the Museum gardens we saw an exhibition entitled Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects ® Made with Lego Bricks ®. The exhibition celebrated nature with a display of various wildlife animals, all constructed with Lego ® Bricks.
Photo of a polar bear and cubs constructed entirely from Lego bricks
The animal statues were actually pretty difficult to photograph because the temptation is to get up close to take a picture. But that is like getting a close-up view of an impressionist painting. You wind up getting a view of the individual bricks (or dots of paint or pixels) while missing the overall effect. And the overall effectis pretty amazing.
Beyond the animal statues were the gardens, which were immaculately laid out and maintained. There were walking paths, flower gardens, streams, a pond and park benches to sit on and just observe the surroundings.
Wide angle photo of a park bench in a seating area in the garden of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.Photo of Black-Eyed Susan flowers in the gardens of the Museum of the Shenandoah ValleyPhoto of a stream running through the gardens of the Museum of the Shenandoah ValleyA wide angle photo of a walking path in the gardens of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
All in all, the MSV was pretty impressive and well worth a visit if you are in the area.
When we sailed into Barcelona on May 30 we were ready for a planned 3 day stop with a side trip to Girona. Except for what we needed for the next few days, our luggage was on its way back to the States.
We checked into a 5-Star NH Hotel with a fabulous location on the Rambla de Catalunya, a wide boulevard that is the equivalent of the Champs Élysées in Paris, or the via Veneto in Rome. It was within walking distance of a lot of places we wanted to see. And it had a rooftop bar overlooking the city, which we, of course, visited. The Rambla, like the Via Veneto, also had plenty of outdoor dining spots, which we frequented as well.
Overlooking Barcelona from a Rooftop Bar; Segrada Familia is in the background
One of the first things we did was to go on a guided walking tour of Barcelona. (We did a lot of walking tours). The tour included a visit to the exterior of the Sagrada Familia, designed by the famous Catalán architect, Antoni Gaudi. Later we got tickets and saw the interior of the church.
Outside Sagrada Familia
Vertical of Church DoorBarcelona. Spain — June 1, 2023. A wide-angle photo of stained glass windows taken inside the famous Sagrada Familia designed by Antoni Gaudi.
After visiting the church we did a walking tour that included some older neighborhoods. In our travels we walked through numerous town squares with outside dining. One street we came upon was shielded with colorful umbrellas.
Colorful Umbrellas Cover a Side Street
We also paid a visit to the MACBA Museum of Contemporary Art. The architecture of the building was very interesting; the exhibits less so. As it happens, the area outside the MACBA Museum is popular with skateboarders. There they practice their skills jumping onto ramps with skateboards. Not a sport for the faint-hearted.
Skateboarders
Trip toGirona
The second day of our visit we went to Girona where we did a walking tour of the old city. It was a stunningly beautiful place. We walked through neighborhoods that had been revitalized with artisan shops, along a river running through the city, as well as historic UNESCO designated neighborhoods with stunning architecture.
Along the River in GironaOutdoor Dining in GironaTourists in Independence SquareTourist Photographs 2 Buskers in a CourtyardBridge Across Onyar River
Later that afternoon it was back to Barcelona where we spent the following day visiting a farmer’s market type of a place, traveled around the city on a hop-on, hop-off bus. Then we had a fabulous dinner at La Cabrera Barcelona, an Argentinian steakhouse.
Plaza Castellana in BarcelonaLa Cabrera Argentinian Steak House
After 3 days in Barcelona and Girona it was time to fly back to Dulles and life in Virginia. But, as they say: Wait–there’s more! We will be traveling through France and Italy in August and September. You can keep up just by going to joebenningphotography.com where we will continue to post. And if you want to log-in to the site, just send an e-mail to [email protected] with the word “Register” in the Subject line.
We arrived in the Spanish province of Granada on the European mainland on May 28, 2023. Now I know how Columbus must have felt after he landed in the New World and finally got a halfway decent WIFI signal. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.
So upon docking in Granada we settled back to have a couple of Bloody Marys (to fight scurvy of course) and went on tour. Maybe another slight embellishment. Anyway, we had already been to Alhambra so we went on a tour that included a small village in the mountains as well as the Nazari Gardens.
Small Village in Granada Province
We also visited the Bodega Senorio where we toured the vineyard, tasted some wine and bought a bottle to take back to the ship. Surprisingly enough, the wine was gone by late evening.
All told the village was charming, the Nazari Gardens were refreshing and well laid out. The tour guide from the gardens was excellent.
Village CenterA Stream in Nazari Gardens
The vineyard and hotel complex were well maintained, and the wine was delicious.
Vineyard at Bodega SenorioBodega Senoria
It was very nice to get back to mainland Europe. Now it’s off to Barcelona for a few days before we fly back to Virginia to complete our trip.
We sailed into Morocco on Thursday, the 26th of May, for our last day on the African continent. Overall we found the people living in Africa to be extraordinarily friendly and welcoming. They constantly waved hello and seemed eager to tell us about their countries. But the contrast in material wealth between Africa and Europe (just around the corner) is just staggering.
Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice in the Souk
Upon seeing this, the temptation is to blame it all on colonialism. It is a temptation often shared both by Westerners and people who live in what is now called the Global South—formerly called the third world or the developing world.
But I’m not so sure that colonialism is all there is to it. Surely Europe wreaked plenty of havoc wherever and whenever they set up their colonies. For one thing, they created artificial countries rather than true nation-states. As the colonial era drew to a close and former colonies gained independence, the borders that remained often reflected great power politics that ignored local conditions. Tribal and ethnic histories were all but ignored. The same can be said about the Middle East, South America and parts of Asia.
There are other factors that bear consideration as well, including culture and political economy. The departing European powers had often attempted to suppress local culture and languages. By and large these efforts were largely unsuccessful. It is reasonable to suppose that this engendered African distrust of Western institutions. It is also reasonable to assume that is one (among many) variables that explains why so many former African colonies adopted socialist-authoritarian models upon achieving independence. That didn’t really end until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. But the wreckage of that experiment is still visible. Something to think about.
On a brighter note, Mary Anne and I went on a brief tour of Agadir, Morocco. From what we observed, the country is in far better shape than most of the other African countries we visited. We went to a fantasia, which involved a show of dancers in native costume, acrobats and a horse riding show that featured synchronized movements and simulated charges for battle.
Running Horses in Agadir, MoroccoA Moroccon Snake Charmer
Then we went to a souk—a real souk that was maybe a square mile in size. It looked like whatever you wanted, you could buy. Basically a quasi outdoor shopping mall. Everything from household furniture, freshly squeezed juices, souvenirs and clothing were on sale.
After the souk we went to a Casbah, which essentially refers to a castle. But Casbahs are not isolated; generally they were built inside cities that were walled-off for protection against would be invaders. Casbahs tend to be on hilltops for the same reason. This Casbah (largely reconstructed) had cannons facing out to the Atlantic Ocean to protect against invading navies.
Outside the Casbah Walls
There were plenty of tourists and merchants in the walled city. In fact, the Casbah seamed to be mostly for tourists. In some ways it looked like a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. Among other attractions there were donkeys, camels and goats meandering around while under the watchful eyes of their owners. A number of tourists went for the camel rides on offer. Not us.
Going for a Camel Ride
After leaving the Casbah we headed back to the ship. It was our last day in Africa, and it really leaves you thinking. Next, we to set sail for Spain.
