Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was pivotal in creating our new United States. Visiting the places where Franklin, Jefferson and other founders met is awe-inspiring. No visit would be complete without seeing the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. But be prepared. To protect these National treasures the security is high. It’s very similar to Airport security measures so factor this into your visit.

A good place to start, of course, is the visitor’s center to get oriented and a timed entrance ticket for the Independence Hall tour. Although these attractions are free they are organized from this location.

Do spend some time reading panels and plaques for a complete story and don’t miss Benjamin Franklin’s Burial Plot just down the street and the site where Thomas Jefferson completed the Declaration of Independence. Everywhere you turn in Philadelphia, History winks back!

That’s the same feeling you get in Madame Tussauds Wax Museums.  See for yourself when visiting Madame Tussauds Las Vegas, New York City,  or Washington D.C.  The historic and contemporary figures are so life-like, for a moment you forget they aren’t.  What’s more, by interacting with your favorite celeb as you step into their world cleverly created through high tech accouterments, intellect and fantasy somehow get all knotted up.  You know they’re just wax figures, but for a moment you believe!

Why are we so fascinated by these figures, especially the contemporary ones of alive people?   Because we’re groupies.

Just maybe by hanging out in the Oval Office with Barack, hugging Michelle, putting our arm around Bill, singing for Simon, standing between Angelina and Brad, dancing with Beyonce, or just being near the Jonas Brothers (omg!), we get close to our fantasy.  As I mentioned, it’s a little twisted.

Speaking of real, there really was a Madame Tussaud.  She learned the art of making life-like figures from wax in Paris in the late 1700s!  Her first wax figure was of Voltaire in 1777, and she created one of Benjamin Franklin, who first arrived in France in 1776 and stayed 9 years in search of aid for the Revolutionary War from the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.  France was very taken by the affable man, as was Madame Tussaud.

As Madame’s collection grew, she displayed these true to life figures in a traveling show throughtout Europe.  One at a time new figures were added, including a rather morbid group based on figures she copied from French Revolution corpses and exhibited in the Chamber of Horrors of her first museum which opened in London in 1835.  People queued up then just as they do now for today’s version of the Chamber of Horrors - Chamber Live!

Today’s Madame Tussauds London flagship museum and the ones in major major cities throughout the world continue to fascinate with their incredible liknesses of the rich and famous - historic and contemporary, sympathetic and monstrous, dead and alive.

Waxen images of pop culture icons of music, movies, sports and politics are a big draw, undoubtedly due to an obsession for proximity to celebrities –  real or not!  Set in realistic sets, surrounded by real props and wearing authentic costumes, the wax figures come alive through high tech magic, mood lighting, appropriate music, recorded real voice and special effects.

So, how do they do it?  The art of creating waxworks is an age-old technique used as far back as the ancient Greeks who made portrayals of gods from wax.  Ancient Roman nobles had their likenesses created to be stored with them posthumously, a tradition passed on to Europe.  In the early Catholic Church, wax was used for making faces of statues of saints.  Sculptors such as Michelangelo would not think of attempting a figure in marble without first creating it in wax, and in the 17th century in Europe, having your portrait done in wax was the rage.

Today waxwork figures go through a number of stages before coming out.  Artists study hundreds of photos and watch video footage to create an accurate likeness – one that’s really on the mark.  The first step to creating a life-sized figure is to make a metal armature, a skeleton, if you will, in the pre-determined pose.  This supports the next step, the clay.  The sculptor builds up the entire figure by modeling clay around the armature from which a plaster mold is created.  Hot wax, containing a variety of compounds for accurate skin color, is poured in the plastic mold and allowed to cool and cure.  The mold is then chipped away to reveal the body.

The head is a bit tricky as the head and facial expression is either ”on” or it’s not.  Once the details are exactly as the sculptor wants them, a plaster mold of several pieces is made from the clay head.  The pieces are removed and reassembled to receive the molten wax.  When the wax has cooled, the plaster pieces are carefully removed.  Then, with input from dentists, hairdressers, tailors and dressmakers, realistic details are applied.  Hair, real hair, is put in one piece at a time!  Then come the teeth, the glass eyes, the make-up.  Costume designers dress the figure in iconic attire, preferably something once worn by the individual, purchased or borrowed.  The figure is then ready for placement in a scene distinctly theirs.

The secret is to capture the individual nuances of body language, facial expression and hand placement.  If these are right, we believe.  If they aren’t, our critical eye bursts the bubble.  For a preview of just how real these waxworks are, check out the photos on Flickr, especially those in Sebastian Niedlich’s Madame Tussaud Berlin Set used in this article.

Madame Tussauds list of notables is amazingly long and the figures don’t stay still.  They keep up with the times. High profile celebrities with star power are cleverly placed in changing scenes mimicking the real life situations of their globe-trotting flesh and blood counterparts interacting with each other at news-making events.

You, too, can have a paparazzi moment.  Walk Oscar’s red carpet with A-list stars, play pick up ball with Shaq, stand with Johnny Depp if you dare, or marry George Clooney (bridal gowns provided)!

You’ll see.  The the line between reality and fantasy is really blurry - just what Madame had in mind.

The best chance of finding a keeper in the U.S. is along Florida’s beaches.  But first, there are some things to know.  Shelling along Florida’s Gulf coast is a totally different experience from shelling along Florida’s Atlantic beaches.  The sand is different – grainier and darker on the Atlantic side; whiter and powderier on the Gulf side.  The water is different – bigger waves roll in all the way from Africa on the Atlantic side; smaller ones build over the shallower, bowl-shaped Gulf of Mexico on the Gulf side.

And, the shells are different.  Atlantic coast shells are larger, thicker, are more intense in color and have stronger markings, a result of their more turbulent journey.  Eastern Banded Tulips, Crown Conchs, Florida Fighting Conchs, bright orange Lion Paws are great finds.  Gulf coast shells are smaller, more delicate in texture, paler in color.  Spiky Murexes, square-patterned Scotch Bonnets, pastel-pale Coquinas, glistening Olives and patterned Calico Scallops (with luck with both halves still attached) are barely dipped in soft pinks, mauves, pale yellows, light tans.

Complicating the quest even further, every beach is different, each known for particular finds.  Dedicated shellers go on quests, knowing just where to look for specific species; novices find them by chance.  Those chances are greatly improved by reading Chuck and Debbie Robinson’s “The Art of Shelling.”

Any list of Florida Gulf coast shelling hot spots always begins with the most famous: Sanibel Beach off Ft. Myers.  Jutting out in a westerly direction (rather than the north/south lay of the rest of the Gulf coast barrier islands), the prevailing winds and currents push up against the island making it a giant shell catcher.  So many shells have washed up over the eons that the sand is made up of minute shell particles which crackle and crunch pleasantly underfoot. 

So plentiful are the Murex, Tulips, Angel Wings, Turkey Wings, Lettered Olives, Cowries, Whelks, Scallops, Sunray Venuses, and Spiny Jewel Boxes on Sanibel that along the hotel lined beaches everyone does the “Sanibel Stoop”- the bent-over-at-the-waist, head-down, eyes-glued-to-the-sand, shell-seeking position! 

Not quite as crowded is the beach along Blind Pass, separating Sanibel Island from Captiva Island, or the more secluded Bowman’s Beach off Sanibel-Captiva Road.  Likewise, at the east tip of the island Lighthouse Beach, the site of the historic, still functioning Sanibel Lighthouse picturesquely nestled among the sea oats, is another somewhat less-traveled shelling spot. 

Collecting live shells on Sanibel is prohibited.  As a matter of fact, it’s just good practice not to collect live shells anywhere.  If a shell appears to have an inhabitant, leave it be.  There are plenty of empty ones out there for the taking.  The same goes for the popular, easy to find sand dollar.  If they are tanish-green, with a sanpapery surface, leave them in the water to see another day.  Look for those that are bleached out white, they’re pretty, delicate, and no longer alive.  Handle them gently as they’re also brittle and crumble easily.

Traveling in Florida with kids?  A stop in Venice, under an hour from Ft. Myers is a must.   Kids will treasure the fossilized sharks’ teeth they find, and find them they will!  There are so many sharks’ teeth along Venice Beach that the sand is a smoky gray!  Look for them, too, just north of the Venice Fishing Pier, where the long narrow stretch of black sand is loaded with these pre-historic finds. Carpsen Beach, just south of the Venice Airport, is another great place to find both shells and sharks’ teeth.

In the Sarasota area, the expansive curve of Turtle Beach on Siesta Key yields Calicos, Coquinas, Kitten Paws, Slipper Shells, and Sand Dollars.  In St. Petersburg, just over the Skyway bridge spanning the mouth of Tampa Bay is Fort DeSoto State Park, historically interesting, with fort remnants to see,  trails to walk, coves to kayak, places to fish, and beaches to shell.

Just to the north of Fort DeSoto, Shell Island, an uninhabited boomerang shaped island, is  accessible only by boat, the Shell Key Shuttle, which makes round trips from the bay side of Pass-A-Grille 3 times a day.  While there are no creature comforts on the island, it’s a delightful shelling experience especially on weekdays, when pleasure boats filled with party people aren’t anchored just off the beach.

Caladesi Island State Park just off shore from Dunedin and Clearwater Beach was Dr. Beach’s  “Top Beach in America” pick for 2008, and with good reason.   With a few more amenities than Shell Island, it, too, is accessible only by ferry departing from nearby Honeymoon Island and from Clearwater Beach.  Feeling far removed from the hubub of one of Florida’s most populated areas, it’s a joy to walk the still-pristine beach lined with sea oats and crisscrossed with purple beach morning glories, watch the wading egrets and herons carefully pursuing their catch, swim in clear Gulf waters, and find plenty of shells.  

Although your finds along Florida’s Atlantic beaches won’t be as numerous, your keepers will be big, beautiful, deep water shells.  In Palm Beach, the flats off Peanut Island at low tide might yield a Florida Fighting Conch or a Banded Tulip, but you have to take a water taxi to get there.  Here, the grassy flats are a better place to look than along the sandy beach, but you must wear tennis shoes for any flats wading as broken glass and sharp objects could lie buried just beneath the surface.

The beach along A1A between Fort Pierce and Vero Beach is dotted with stairs that lead up and over the beach dunes.  While there are homes and high rises along this stretch, there are still some areas with public accessibility.  The beach stroll is delightful; the chance of finding a keeper high.  A bit further north, along the 21 mile stretch of beach at Canaveral National Seashore/Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, you’re sure to find Prickly Cockles, Shark Eyes, Turkey and Angel Wings, Lightning Whelks and Calico Scallops in tidal pools and on flats just off the beach.  Wading shoes are a must. 

The beaches around St. Augustine are good shelling places too – Vilano Beach, St. Augustine Beach, Anastasia Island Beach.  Quaint and historic St. Augustine, America’s oldest city, is an added bonus.  Imagine, you can shell around Matanzas Inlet used by the Spaniards as a back door entrance to their settlement guarded by still-intact Castillo San Marcos, made of coquina shells, a favorite regional 16th century building material!

Practice the Sanibel Stoop! 

Bring along your patience and a strong back.

Slather on sunscreen, slap on a hat.  

Start looking for those keepers.

Like a siren’s song, they call to us.  By day, we are compelled to climb to the very top to gaze out to sea, hoping to see we know not what. In the pitch black of night the unique rhythmic cadence of their flashing beacon signaling out into the unknown is at once haunting and comforting.   

The oldest known lighthouse, the Pharos of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was constructed by the ancient Greeks in the third century B.C. on the islet of Pharos marking the entrance to the major Medierranean port of Alexandria on the western tip of the Nile delta.  Rising 383-440 feet above the delta, it was one of the tallest man-made structures on earth for centuries.  Originally a daytime marker, the Romans later added fire and reflective mirrors for nighttime use.  As commerce and trade in Europe grew throughout the Middle Ages, lighthouses were built along the coasts of France and Italy.  During the competitive European maritime commerce of the 17th and 18th centuries, the number of lighthouses dotting the coastline of Europe increased dramatically.

The lifeblood of colonial America was dependent on maritime commerce.  As colonies grew, 11 lighthouses cropped up to safely guide vessels around dangerous rocks and shoals into the harbors of colonial towns.   

Boston Lighthouse

The first of these was a tower at the entrance to Boston Harbor on Little Brewster Island, built in 1716 and lit by tallow candles.  Accessible today by boat only, tours of this National Historic Landmark are offered June through October.  

Remarkably, the massive masonry stone light tower of the original 1764 Sandy Hook Light in New Jersey is still intact.  While an offshore light has lessened its importance, it still greets vessels entering New York’s busy harbor.      

Colonial lighthouses not ravished by nature were destroyed by the Civil War.  However, their role was so important that new ones were rebuilt on the same sites and many more added in the late 1800s.  To the delight of lighthouse lovers, many picturesque 19th century structures – some operational; others not - remain along America’s coastline and around the Great Lakes.  Made of brick, stone and masonry, distinctively painted in stark white, pitch-black, bright red, or painted in black and white stripes or diamonds, each holds a certain mystique.  We can only imagine what their eye has seen!

Florida’s extensive wrap-around coastline is dotted with historic lighthouses.  The oldest known structure in America, a Spanish watchtower in St. Augustine, appeared on a 1589 map belonging to Sir Francis Drake!  This precise location was so important for protection and navigation that subsequent towers were built on the same site by the English between 1763 and 1784, and the Americans after 1821, only to be washed away by coastal erosion.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

The current St. Augustine Lighthouse was built in 1876, about ¼ mile away from the original Spanish watchtower on more stable land, and is open to the public.  This distinctive black and white spiral banded lighthouse on Anastasia Island is said to be haunted, with good reason. The spirits of the keeper’s young daughters who perished there have been seen by some; the smell of cigar smoke from a keeper who fell to his death while painting the tower is detectable by others.   

While the history of the St. Augustine Lighthouse site is certainly older, the oldest existing lighthouse in Florida is the Cape Florida Lighthouse at the tip of upscale Key Biscayne in bustling Miami.  It, too, is open to the public. 

Cape Florida Lighthouse

Established in 1825, this little lighthouse, peacefully nestled among the sea oats on a sandy beach at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreaton Area, has seen its share of violence and tragedy.  During the second Seminole War in 1836, it was under siege by the Indians who murdered the keeper’s family and left the assistant keeper for dead.  His account of his horrifying experience is told in the lighthouse museum.

Sombrero Key Light

Perched atop the submerged coral reefs paralleling the Florida Keys are a series of pile tower lighthouses, skeleton-like structures built in the late 1800s to keep mariners traveling the busy Gulf Stream shipping lanes from straying into the jagged reefs.

Prior to their existence, Spanish galleons traveling northward on the Gulf Stream, heavy with gold and jewels, where blown off course and torn apart by reefs, scattering their bounty along the path of destruction.  Some of their treasure, recovered buried under the sand by legendary Mel Fisher, is on display in the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum.  Similarly, later merchant schooners lost cargo and lives on the reef, leading to the lucrative salvage or wrecking industry in early Key West.

Since their construction, the skeletal arms of these lighthouses – Fowey, Carysfort, Alligator, Sombrero, American Shoal, Sand Key – have sustained ferocious hurricane winds, seen their keepers and their families perish, embraced Cuban and Haitian migrants trying to reach America, alerted against illegal drug boats speeding ashore for secret rendezvous, and mark some of the best snorkeling and recreational dive spots in the world.

Key West Lighthouse

 

The historic Key West Lighthouse is landlocked and open to the public.  The view of quaint Key West from the top is 360° wonderful!  The first lighthouse was built in 1825, only to be destroyed by the violent hurricane of 1848, which killed 14 people sheltering inside. The present tower was built in 1848, but over time the sea built up land around it, rendering it ineffective.

Garden Key Light atop Fort Jefferson

Seventy miles off Key West, perched on top of the brick walls of the remarkable Civil War-era Fort Jefferson is Garden Key Light.  The fascinating fort, appearing out of nowhere, a sliver of red brick appearing where blue sky meets turquoise sea, is a sight to behold on the day-long trip aboard the Yankee Freedom .  The isolated fort, 70 miles from land, is an engineering feat - visually incongruous, eerily isolated, extremely historic.   

Picturesque lighthouses dotting the outer banks of North Carolina belie the navigational challenges that lie offshore.  The lighthouses of Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, Cape Fear, Ocracoke Island, Bodie Island – all witnesses to the tragedies of this treacherous navigational hook of perilous shoals wicked currents, fierce winds, and dense, disorienting fog.  Besides the perils of nature encountered along this heavily traveled sea lane, mariners also contended with pirates, most nortorious among them, Blackbeard, who lurked among the coastal inlets, ready to pounce on passing merchant ships. 

During Civil War, the lighthouses of the Outer Banks were caught in a blockade/blockade-running tug of war between the Union and the Confederacy.  As recently as World War II, German U-boats prowled the Carolina coast in search a way to stage a submarine attack on the U.S.  In their efforts they sank so many merchant ships and Navy vessels the waters off the Outer Banks were known as Torpedo Junction. 

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Marking the easternmost tip of the elbow of the Outer Banks is one of the best known of U. S. lighthouses, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  Jutting out into the Altantic where the warmer Gulf Stream collides with the cold Labrador Current, the area is so treacherous it’s called the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

 One of the most interesting lighthouses, Tybee Island Lighthouse, sits at the mouth of the Savannah River, leading to the port of Savannah, the fourth busiest and fastest growing container port in the U.S.  Some form of a tower has sat on this very spot since 1736, guiding mariners safely into the Savannah River. 

Tybee Island Lighthouse

The present-day 1867 structure sits on the foundation of a brick tower built in 1773, which was built as on the site of the original wooden tower of 1736 , the third of the colonial lighthouses!

The venerable Old Charleston Lighthouse on Morris Island at the entrance to the port of Charleston is the eighth of the colonial lighthouses.  Ancient-looking, with the sea lapping at its edges, it was retired in 1962, but it’s a great photo op. 

America’s historic coastal guardians - Visit them, climb them, photograph them, paint them, collect miniatures as souvenirs.  Picturesque and charming, they command attention.

They appear playful, curious; they show off, display a certain joie de vivre, and even look us right in the eye – all personality traits we claim as our own!   Like us, they’re mammals, and are therefore warm-blooded, have lungs that breathe air, give birth to their young and nurse them.  Add these facts - they have large brains, live in complex societies, help one another, learn from experience.  It’s no wonder we’re intrigued.There’s a bit of envy too.  We wish, that like them, we could transition effortlessly between the air above the surface and the mysterious sea beneath it.  We wish we could frolic with abandon beneath the sea, unfettered by flippers, snorkels and masks.

Since at least as far back as the ancient Greeks, human characteristics have been attributed to the dolphin.  In some Greek myths they appear in the nick of time to rescue lost seamen, transport humans from the sea to serve a larger purpose, and are depicted as once human, transformed from human to dolphin through act or deed. They were so important in the culture of ancient Greece, that they appear in sculpture, pottery, and mosaics, and the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy named one of his original constellations Delphinus, the dolphin.

However we spin it, there is no doubt that the attraction is there, and in resort destinations all over the globe people attempt to connect with them.  We flock to see them in the wild on dolphin watching trips, applaud their choreographed performances in facilities where they are trained to entertain, clamor for the chance to “swim” with them, either in captivity or in the wild.

In Florida, bottlenose dolphin are the ones you’ll see, captive or in the wild.  Captive dolphins are headline acts in major aquatic facilities where they are trained to leap through hoops, beach themselves on platforms, jump in unison, and “tail walk.” These attractions include big, splashy Sea World in Orlando; smaller Marineland, between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, where dolphin have been entertaining tourists since 1938; Miami Seaquarium in Miami; the Gulfarium in Fort Walton Beach on Florida’s panhandle; and Theater of the Sea, halfway down the Florida Keys.

In addition to the staged performances, these attractions offer dolphin encounters - immersions or “swims,” shallow water contact, feedings, and trainer for a day experiences - all under the supervision of trainers.  In land-locked Orlando, the all-inclusive Vegas-style “island retreat” resort, Discovery Cove, offers scheduled interactions in tropically landscaped lagoons with its resident dolphins.

In the Florida Keys, Dolphin Cove Marine Mammal Education Center in Key Largo and Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key are more low-key, emphasizing the marine education component of their facility by demonstrating and explaining the intelligence and abilities of the dolphin, as well as offering “swims” with their resident dolphin in on-site coastal lagoons.

“Swimming” with dolphins sounds exciting, but it is not without controversy.  Much has been written about the appropriateness of such interactions, and the concerns of conservationist are available online.  For those wishing to “swim” with dolphins in the wild, it’s important to remember that while we have personified them and attribute playful qualities to them, they are first and foremost big, strong, unpredictable wild creatures. There are regulations overseeing human/dolphin interactions and they vary greatly throughout the world.  In some locations, the ability to get in the water with them is restricted to those holding special permits.  Check with the operator at your destination to fully understand what the experience holds.

While watching trained captive dolphins perform is entertaining, and being in the water with them exciting, there is no better way to see dolphins than in the wild, in their own habitat, on their own terms, doing what they do naturally.

Throughout Florida, the popularity of ecotours is rising as tourists increasingly seek out the chance to catch sight of wildlife unique to the area.  Those offering dolphin sightings provide the chance to get out on the water to experience these wonderful creatures, unchoreographed!  The moment is special when suddenly, out of nowhere in the never-ending expanse of sea, a pod of dolphin suddenly surfaces.

Such an encounter is exhilarating, usually accompanied by shouts of “Dolphin – over there!”  What a sight it is! They surface, rolling upward in a “porpoise” motion, breathe through their blow hole, only to “porpoise” back under again.  Before you know it, they pop up again, amazingly far away, a testament to their incredible underwater speed.  They leap into the air with joyous abandon.

They swim, sleek and streamlined, just below the surface, right up in front of the bow of the boat, keeping just ahead of the boat’s forward speed, a majestic bowsprit leading the way.  Or, they zoom up to the boat out of nowhere, break the surface purposefully parallel to the boat, roll a bit to one side to peer up with one eye!

All along Florida’s coast, these wonderful naturally-occurring encounters happen just by chance, on trips aboard boats of all sizes.  In Tampa, the Florida Aquarium, which does not exhibit dolphins, offers a Wild Dolphin Ecotour on a boat ride out to areas dolphin frequent.  On day trips aboard smaller charter boats like Wild Dolphin Adventure in Key West, you might see them frolicking in their natural habitat, on the move, searching for fish to eat.  While dolphin are always the star attraction, a trip like this is a  wonderful chance to get out in the turquoise water of the pristine “back country” of the Florida Keys to enjoy memorable times swimming, snorkeling and bird watching in the crystal clear Gulf waters.

Pay attention when you’re out there!  You may get lucky and experience the best sight of all – As these majestic creatures break the surface of the sea nearby, one just may be accompanied by a calf, tucked in tight alongside her, mimicking her every move, but in miniature form!

So elusive and mystical, it’s the stuff of movies and books.  It’s the soul released in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End; an indication of true love in Jules Verne’s 1882 book Le Rayon Vert (The Green Flash).

Florida Keys Sunset

Key West, the southernmost point in the United States, with its awesome sunsets and unobstructed views of the flat ocean horizon, is an ideal place to try to catch it…if you can. 

Sunsets all over the world are glorious phenomena – firery orange over a tropical sea, cool mauve, blue and silver streaks over a northern sky, golden hued haze through desert sand, saturated shades of coral overpowering for the moment the silhouette cut-outs of majestic mountains.  Sunsets, wherever they are, are magical, mysterious, unpredictable, yet consistently there, and the human response to them is universal.   

They have the capacity to hold us spellbound.  Regardless of who we are, or how many we’ve seen, we never tire of them. Never the same twice, each contains an element of surprise.  We may know precisely what time they’ll occur, but what they’ll look like is a mystery even as they unfold.  

Our connection to them is visceral, emotional.  They are so incredibly beautiful, yet so fleeting.  They put the day to rest, and offer hope for a new one. They bring out the romantic in us, and in their glow, the unremarkable and ordinary turn magic.  We paint them and photograph them, hoping to capture their essence, but never quite do.  They are, quite simply, a quiet natural wonder with a powerful mystique.

Key West has a special kinship with awesome sunsets – so much so that this atmospheric show is celebrated daily at the Sunset Celebration on the Mallory Square docks, and aboard wonderful sailing schooners, the Schooner Liberty, and the Schooner Western Union , which sail into the sunset every day to celebrate the happening with champagne, island cuisine, laughter and song. 

As the schooners head out of Key West Harbor just as the colors begin to build for their splendid spectacular, everyone eagerly anticipates the celebrated event.  All eyes are on the edge of the horizon where water meets the sky, watching the fireball slide silently into the water and disappear.

Sunrise in the Keys

As the vivid color dims, quickly turning into the blues and mauves of velvety dusk, the passengers grow mellow, knowing that the cycle will begin again at as the sun rises on the other side, a chariot fire moving across the morning sky on its way to its nightly ritual.

To catch the elusive moment, watch the last few moments of the setting sun (wear sunglasses and never look directly at it).  Look at the horizon appearance.  If the bottom of the sun is spiky and ruffled-looking, the chances increase that you may see it.  Blink, and you’ll miss it! 

Many in this island community swear they have seen it.  I have!

New York City is the ultimate urban Christmas experience, and nothing lifts the spirit more than its festive atmosphere and glamorous glitz.  Everyone, New Yorkers walking briskly and visitors gawking in awe, navigate their way through the press of people, ladened with shopping bags in red, green, and gold, embossed with signature names boldy proclaiming their origin. 

The air is more than nippy, steam rises from the sidewalk grates, everything glitters and glows. Young and old queue up, patiently waiting their turn to feel transported for a moment into the magic of Christmas, so real-looking behind the glass of department store windows. Familiar Salvation Army bells ring on every corner, strangers hum along to endless muzak holiday music, and a festive spirit emanates even from normally grumbly New Yorkers.  

Here, Christmas decorations are oversized and over-the-top, beginning with the most famous tree of all, the magnificent Rockefeller Center Tree, this year blue-hued.  The giant snowflake suspended at the corner of 57^th Street and 5^th Avenue, is so white it glistens.  Colored lights top the Empire State Building – red and green for Christmas, blue and white for Hannukkah - signal the season for all to see, and two miles of trees laced with white lights make Park Avenue glow. Huge wreaths, massive green boughs heavy with bigger-than-life ornaments, hang in hotel lobbies and are suspended from department store atriums.    

One thousand graceful paper cranes soar around the Peace Tree in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  Brightly colored, intricately folded ornaments depicting objects in their collection grace the Origami Tree in the American Museum of Natural History. Elegant 18th century Neapolitan angels and cherubs grace the elegant tree next to the life-like Neapolitan Baroque crèche in the grand Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thousands of crystal ornaments twinkle as their facets catch the light on the Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree suspended above the lobby of Radio City Music Hall.

Strollers through South Street Seaport shop and dine in the glow of thousands of white lights, as the sounds of the St. Cecelia Chorus and other choirs gathered around the giant Chorus Tree fill the air.  Grand Central Terminal’s Sky Ceiling comes alive in the Holiday Laser Light Show, made all the grander by choreographed holiday music.

Ice skaters circle round and round under the grand Rockefeller Center tree, entertaining passersby; people of all ages and from all over the world skate joyously in the two ice rinks in Central Park, picturesque, small town fun in the middle of the world’s most cosmopolitan city. Bundled up couples go for romantic carriage rides through Central Park, creating a winter wonderland picture postcard as they pass by the legendary glow of Tavern on the Green.

The elaborately detailed Christmas themed scenes of the windows at Macys, Saks, and Lord & Taylor provide imaginative escapes for all ages. Highly anticipated year after year, these animated, imaginatively intricate storybook scenes, surely created by the elves themselves, are main attractions, mesmerizing children – and adults too.  At the wildly popular Holiday Garden and Train Show in New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, miniature trains puff and chug all around and through 100 replicas of New York City’s landmark buildings and bridges, quite incredulously made of plant parts.   

High Tea at Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon in the elegant Victorian Inn at Irving Place in Gramercy Park, at the Ritz Carleton, a properly restrained event complete with harp music, or in the Rotunda at the palatial Pierre Hotel are delightful respites from the sensory overload.  Kids, too, love a break from the maddening crowds, especially a cup of hot chocolate and yummy cupcake at whimsical Alice’s Tea Cup on the Upper West Side.  Le Maison du Chocolat on Madison Avenue will more than satisfy the need for a sugar boost, with divine subtle flavors. 

On seasonal cue, the splendidly elegant New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker at the New York State Theater, or the wondrous Balanchine interpretation of the classic by the City Ballet enchant audiences. Fast-paced and breathtaking, Radio City Christmas Spectacular lives up to its billing as wooden soldiers move with signature Rockette precision, Santa flies to the North Pole to his incredible toy warehouse, and the holiday New York skyline comes to life on stage. 

Choirs, orchestras and carolers perform throughout December.  The magnificent acoustics of Carnegie Hall create the perfect Handel’s Messiah, splendidly rendered on various dates by wonderful orchestras accompanying stellar soloists.  Christmas music and readings take place in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and in other churches about town.

Christmas is fast approaching, but there is still time to soak up the Christmas spirit, if not in New York City, in a large city nearby, or in your own city or town.  Treat yourself and your family to the magic.  It’s beautiful, memorable, and priceless.

New Orleans is an old soul. 

She’s a dowager queen, regal, foreign, and mystical, cloaked in chiaroscuro – filtered light and darkened shadows.

She’s a woman masked for Mardi Gras, mysterious and irresistible.New Orleans is different from the rest of America, in culture, ethnicity, and spirit. You see it in the architecture, once elaborate, now cracked and etched with age.  You notice it in the melodious French street names: Dauphine, Chartres, Barbonne, and on restaurant menus: rémoulade, etouffée.  You hear it in the throaty “R” of the accent, in the music that wafts from open bars. You taste it in the distinctive cuisine emanating from deep in the bayous, flavored by influences from around the world.  You smell it in the staleness of night-before-booze along Bourbon Street and in the fragrant jasmine creeping up courtyard walls. You feel it in the humid air on your skin.   

Her ancient-looking, graceful brick and stucco architecture, layered and louvered, reflects her style. 

Fern-draped balconies, laced in black iron balustrades, overhang sidewalks.

Narrow doors, brightly painted, and darkened side entrances lead to moss-covered brick garden alcoves tucked out of sight, illusions of secret rendezvous.

Music is her soul – jazz, blues, zydeco, brass band – impromptu and improvised. She’s the birthplace of distinctive New Orleans jazz. Brass is her sound, haunting and jubilant.  Music seeps out of bar doorways.  It trails to the street from louvered windows.  It comes from street musicians earning a dime; from marching bands strutting their stuff; from funeral processions, grand send-offs, at first mournful, then joyful.      

Food, rich and robust, is her self-expression. Her flavorful Creole and Cajun cuisine comes from the rich harvest of her coastal waters – volumes of shrimp, oysters, crab, and crawfish – spiced with French, Spanish, and African influences, blended together in remarkable ways into gumbo, jambalaya, and bouillabaisse.   

Restaurants are her piéce de résistance. Non-pareil food is served in places equally remarkable in atmospherics – old world oyster bars; antique filled, old-style dining rooms with tiled floors, beveled glass and tin ceilings; plant-shaded courtyards, old warehouses, town houses, firehouses, and small cottages. Great chefs, Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse, started here, and the great culinary heritage of the region continues.

 The grand celebration of Mardi Gras defines her – an elaborate parody of life, a cacophony of sound and color – horns, umbrellas, costumes, crowns, feathers, beads, drummers,  revelers, royal krewes, parades, floats and processions.

A mixed-use city, New Orleans feels like a small town. Residences are layered over and behind shops, bars and restaurants, with locals living, shopping, and dining along her streets. She’s friendly and comfortable, and behind her mask of frivolity she’s proud and stately.

And yes, this proud dowager is haunted by Katrina, a name synonymous with suffering, and defined by devastation. But, like a tattered royal with her head held high, New Orleans is cherished for what she was, for what remains, and for what she can be.

After Katrina, what is there to see?  Plenty.  This historic old Creole city, steeped in another era as if in an absinthe haze, is simply a must see. The parts of town most visited by tourists were relatively unaffected by Katrina – the venerable French Quarter, known by its ancient name, Vieux Carré, the Garden District, the Warehouse District, the Central Business District, Uptown, and Mid-City/Esplanade. Sitting as they do on ridges in the delta with the Mississippi curving languidly around them, the floodwaters of Katrina lapped at them, dangerously close, but not over them. Here, hotels, bars, restaurants, shops, and attractions are as lively as ever, either undamaged or repaired and refurbished. 

So, eat, drink, walk, and dance in the street.  Indulge in fabulous food, move to the incredible music.  Take walking tours of above-ground cemeteries, gracious homes, and voodoo altars. Go into old churches, buy a piece of local art, and yes, even strings of beads.  See all things Mardi Gras: memorabilia-filled museums, places where the elaborate floats are made, costume houses, and mask makers.

Cruise on a paddlewheel steamboat along the Mississippi, the great river that gave the city life. Ride the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar. Take the kids to the Louisiana Children’s Museum, to City Park, to the Audubon Aquarium and Audubon Zoo. Antique along Royal Street or Magazine Street. See Degas paintings and more in the New Orleans Museum of Art. Wander through the French Market. 

Brunch at Brennan’s, savor chicory coffee and a sugary beignet at Café du Monde, lunch on a poor boy at Johnny’s Po-boys. Try the oyster sampler at Arnaud’s, shrimp rémoulade at Antoine’s, redfish meuniére at Delmonico, bread pudding soufflé at Commander’s Palace, all venerable New Orleans institutions. Taste Creole gone contemporary at Nola or Ralph’s on the Park …and the list goes on. Cruise down Bourbon Street, but look beyond it. Clubs and lounges are popping up in other areas too.  Find them in Faubourg Marigny and in the Central Business and Warehouse Districts.   

Head off the beaten path on tours deep into Cajun country through eerie, moss-draped swamps and bayous, or on tours of plantations of another era, like lovely Oak Alley Plantation, which dot River Road from one side of the Mississippi to the other.   

Even Katrina’s devastation is an attraction, but not in a morose way.  The Hurricane Katrina Tour is carefully designed to provide an understanding of why such devastation happened, and why this special city matters, spiritually, historically, and economically. 

Go to New Orleans.  Despite her tragedy, she offers more than most cities do at their best.    Go to feel the spirit, to fully enjoy the bon temps.  By your presence and through your enjoyment, you’ll help her rebuild.  Go, because she beckons.

Truman White House, Key West Florida

Truman Little White House – Key West, FL.
What do Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr and  Gloria LaRiva have in common?  They are all running for President  along with John McCain, Barack Obama and a host of others!

With less than a month away until the general election, the Harry S Truman Little White House, Florida’s only presidential museum, proudly opens a new exhibit entitled “Every Four Years”. Learn about the US Electoral College as well as see a large collection of pro and con presidential buttons used by Democrats and Republicans to encourage the selection of their candidate for President in the 2008 election.

The 2008 Florida ballot features 13 candidates for president. Most of these as well as some that qualified in other states are featured in this 2008 election exhibit.

Also for your enjoyment are a number of rare items from our museum collections for the 1948 presidential election when four major candidates , Harry Truman, Thomas Dewey, Henry Wallace and Strom Thurman , and a number of lesser known and hopeful candidates sought the highest office of the land. A smaller 1952 Dwight Eisenhower exhibit is also featured.

This free exhibit runs October 8 until December 1, 2008

This was my favorite of the many New York tours offered! The guide is amazing and the content is funny, interesting and enjoyable. The New York TV and Movie Sites Tour starts at 11am daily next to Ellen’s Stardust Diner. For a treat, spend some time with the Diner’s singing wait staff!

The three hours flies by as one filming site after another is showcased on this tour. We even got treats! We saw current and classic sites, learned about the TV and Movie industry, best sites to spot a celebrity or see something filmed and where the stars lived. It was action packed. I appreciated several opportunities to step off the very nice shuttle bus for short walks to great sites like the “Friends” opening scene building (pictured) and the Cosby Show House.

What an adventure! We even sang theme songs. Got so much out of this tour and would do it again. (They also do a “Sex in the City T=tour” and “Soprano” tour.) One of the best tours I’ve taken anywhere. A must do in New York City.