Articles
English-speaking Canada: nice, but dull
Thursday 5 November 2009
There is a common stereotype about Canada and the Canadians: that they are nice, but dull. I really wanted to be able to disprove this idea when I visited Canada, but in retrospect I really can’t. Sure, I had fun doing some things in Canada, and there are some exceedingly pretty places, but I have come away with the sensation that if you don’t go to Canada, then, well, you’re not missing much. If you can’t face reading this whole article (I certainly don’t blame you), don’t worry because I am really going to be saying the same thing over and over again.
This is a very lengthy article, because I haven’t written for such a long time. You can read from beginning to end, or else jump straight to the sections on Vancouver, my experience on the trains,
Nightmare at Dream Lake and other Colorado stories
Monday 5 October 2009
My flight from Los Angeles to Denver was delayed by more than ninety minutes and so when Elizabeth found me at the baggage carousel it was too late for us to do any of the activities she’d planned for us in Denver that afternoon. We went quickly to the family with whom she’d arranged for me to stay and then to the Fraternas’ house at the edge of the Auraria university campus in the centre of Denver.
The Fraternas’ house in Denver is within the parish building of a parish whose church is used both in the Latin rite (‘St Elizabeth of Hungary’s parish’) and the Byzantine rite (‘Sts Cyril and Methodius’ parish’)—one priest confusingly celebrates in both rites. Add to that the fact that the parish centre is called the ‘St Francis Centre’ (or
A Tale of Two Cities: San Francisco & Seattle
Saturday 19 September 2009
A comparison is often drawn between Seattle and San Francisco. On paper, it’s easy to see why this would be: here are two Pacific-coast cities which portray themselves to the outside world in a similar way, with a fairly affluent, smart, well-educated, and ‘liberal’ (in the U.S.-American social sense) population. They also both have a large tech industry: the San Francisco Bay Area is home to ‘Silicon Valley’, including many of the recent successful Web startups as well as industry giants like Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Apple; Seattle is home to many major tech companies, including Microsoft, Amazon.com, and, er, The Omni Group. While on paper the two cities seem to resemble one another to a great extent, my own experience suggests that the two cities are
Three Days in SoCal
Friday 28 August 2009
My time in Southern California was certainly too short: there was a lot more which I could have seen. What I did see and do, though, I enjoyed; this was due in large part, I’m sure, to the beautiful weather. It was not nearly as stiflingly hot as it had been in Texas and Tucson, but instead temperatures got to about 85ºF absolutely maximum on the days I was there, which was mitigated by cooling oceanic breezes. The days in Los Angeles were bright and clear, with none of the infamous smog trapped in by the Hollywood Hills.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles should perhaps really be called the ‘town of Our Lady, Queen of the angels’1, but now of course Our Lady has been largely written out of the town’s nomenclature and this massive city—the epitome of massive urban
Thoughts on Grand Canyon Tourism
Friday 28 August 2009
Quick, someone check in on France to see if there’s anyone there. My experience at the Grand Canyon suggests that there was some sort of French national excursion to northern Arizona. I’m not over-exaggerating when I say that three out of four tourists I encountered there were French (-speaking). It is possible that there is an alternative national outing to San Francisco, because I heard lots of French being spoken by tourists there, too.
The Grand Canyon, when you get there, is undoubtedly spectacular.1 This enormous canyon has an average depth of a mile, with sheer red rock-faces giving way to rock stacks dotted throughout its middle. It is so large that the Colorado River is often barely visible from the rim of the canyon. While it was about 70ºF where I
San Antonio
Thursday 13 August 2009
Tourists today come to San Antonio for two principal reasons: to see the Alamo, and the River Walk. San Antonio was a distinct relief after hot and dreary Austin—here finally was a city which was much more hospitable to the tourist on foot.
The Alamo
The Alamo is the site of a show of brave Texan spirit. In 1836 about 200 people fighting for Texan independence were besieged by the Mexican president, General Santa Anna. After thirteen days, they were driven out and slaughtered by columns of Mexican soldiers. The Alamo is thus firmly lodged in the Texan state consciousness, as it symbolizes the Texan spirit of independence, being an example of great courage in the face of adversity. The only thing is, it would have been considerably more remarkable if they had in
Austin: stupid statistics and many museums
Thursday 13 August 2009
‘Austin is the city of the U.S. with the most restaurants per capita and the most museums per capita,’ I heard a man telling his tour group as they went around the city. These are of course almost meaningless statistics: as for the restaurants, I was left scratching my head since I could find very few restaurants worth going to in the downtown area save numerous sandwich shops which only open for lunch. As for the museums aspect, ‘most museums per capita’ doesn’t take into account the size and quality of those museums, and depends very much on the old ‘it depends what you mean by a museum’. A village of 100 people might conceivably have a one-room ‘history of our village’ museum: that would then be an example of a massive number of museums per