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Wow Place #289: Camera Obscura, San Francisco, CA Not long ago, I watched an excellent, highly-provocative documentary called, “Tim’s Vermeer.” In it, the director, Teller (of the magic duo, Penn and Teller) follows Texas-based inventor Tim Jenison in his attempts to prove that the 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) […]

Wow Place #288: Casa Bacardi, San Juan, Puerto Rico There’s a phenomenon I’ve noticed in the travel world called “The Disneyland Effect.” Essentially, it’s when a place deliberately cleans and sanitizes its environment for the comfort of its foreign visitors, coaxing them to stay awhile, take pictures, and purchase generic drinks, meals and tchotchkes. Call […]

Wow Place #287: Old Sacramento, CA Not long ago, I was walking through the Higashiyama district of Kyoto, Japan – with its classic, wooden houses and traditional tea shops — thinking, “This looks just like the set of a Kurosawa samurai movie.” Is it touristy? Of course it is. Are there entirely too many gift […]

Wow Place #286: Lake Tahoe Flume Trail. CA “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” – T.S Eliot I am not, by nature, a thrill seeker. I’ve never rappelled off a cliff face. I’ve never sky-dived. I will never bungee. Although I’m fine going to “risky” […]

Wow Place #285: Lotus Temple, New Delhi, India I love when architects get creative with the shape of their buildings. The Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona looks like a sand castle. The Longaberger building in Ohio resembles a picnic basket. The Teapot House in Wuxi, China looks exactly like one might expect – […]

Wow Place #284: Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada There’s a scene early in the movie Avatar (2009) when our protagonist, Jake Sully, encounters the planet, Pandora, for the first time. As he walks through a beguiling, technicolor forest, goggling at the glowing, neon colors, the strange, fairy-like flora, we can feel his sense of awe, […]

Wow Place #283: Roman Colosseum Growing up, I was an avid fan of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, which played their home games at the Oakland-Alameda “Coliseum.” I vividly recall that June of 1973 when I went to summer camp and begged my parents to send me newspaper clippings of the A’s games I’d be […]

Wow Place #282: Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Japan When I think of Asia, I think of the color red. Red temples. Red palaces. And most especially, red gates. I wonder why there’s so much red? A brief internet query returned a slew of contradictory explanations. According to one site, red is the symbol of bravery. […]

Wow Place #281: Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan The Dalai Lama once said something to the equivalent of, “The most powerful love is that of a mother for her child. Love others as if they are your mother.” What an amazing statement! I mean, how can you think of hurting your mother…or anyone’s mother?!! I try […]