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Posts from Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback – Wales 2005 (Part 1)

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I’ve already written about my 2005 trip to Liverpool, England. But that was only a very small part of our summer trip. The next two posts are about the rest of our trip, which focused on Wales.

The waterfront in Aberystwyth, Wales. We stayed in one of these buildings (and climbed the hill behind).

From Liverpool, we travelled by train all the way to the Welsh coastal resort town of Aberystwyth (see also the photo at the very top of this post). It felt somewhat frozen in time: kind of what we imagined a British seaside resort might have felt like a few decades before. We stayed in a B&B located right on the waterfront.

We ventured out of Aberystwyth into this small community

Aberystwyth itself has been somewhat anglicized, as it is a destination for both English tourists and English students (Aberystwyth University). However, you don’t have to go far out of town to find areas that are almost entirely Welsh-speaking.

Like many British seaside resorts, Aberystwyth has a pier with various amusements and rather unhealthy food. We didn’t partake in any of the attractions here, but we knew we’d get another chance soon! And we did climb a nearby hill for a great view of the entire town. Alas, the high winds and rain made my photographs less than brilliant.

The very cosy downtown of Caernarfon , Wales

From Aberyswyth, we took a bus to our next destination: the bustling town of Caernarfon. We were living on the edge a bit more then, and didn’t worry about booking any accommodation in advance. In this case, the gamble paid off: a newly reopened B&B had space and was offering reduced rates because it was so new. It was great! Not only did it look regal from the outside, the interior was just as impressive. It’s always nice to feel like you’re getting a good deal.

Our B&B in Caernarfon, Wales

Caernarfon has a very high proportion of Welsh speakers. Locals use it to communicate between themselves, even though almost everyone speaks English as well. Caernarfon sees a lot of tourists too, particularly as it is home to the massive Caernarfon Castle. The current castle dates back to the 13th century and we spent an enjoyable morning exploring it.

Inside Caernarfon Castle (Caernarfon, Wales)

We stayed in Caernarfon for several days and made it a base for our exploration of northwest Wales. One of our trips was on a picturesque narrow-gauge railroad from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog (long after our visit, the line was extended from Porthmadog to Caernarfon).

Tanybwlch Station, halfway between Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog. The train stopped here so that a train going in the opposite direction could pass.

Blaenau Ffestiniog used to be a bustling slate mining town. However, with the decline in mining, the town’s population is barely one-third of what it used to be. As slate has been used extensively, the town is very grey (especially after the vibrant colours of Aberystwyth and Caernarfon). It also rains a lot! While tourism is emerging as a replacement for slate mining, the transition was far from complete in 2005. The vibe near the train station was a little rough and, as a result, we didn’t stay for long. I’m sure this has changed in the intervening two decades. It appears that Blaenau Ffestiniog is now becoming a centre for mountain biking and other adventure sports.

View of Blaenau Ffestiniog from the railway station.

Our Welsh adventures are far from over. Stay tuned for more, including our journey to the very highest point in Wales (and England, for that matter)!

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My Beatles Journey

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

This year has been special for Beatles fans. More than 50 years after they broke up, a new Beatles song called “Now and Then” appeared last month. Featuring all four members, it was an unexpected but fitting conclusion to the recording career of this unparalleled band. It was also accompanied by an evocative video that tugged at the heartstrings one last time.

“Mendips” – John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool

My Beatles journey began in high school, when I discovered my sister’s old Beatles albums. That was 40 years ago, but I’ve remained a fan ever since. And while my collection has expanded to include everything from Antonio Carlos Jobim to Bajofondo Tango Club, the enduring influence of the Beatles is abundantly clear in other favourites such as Crowded House and Jellyfish.

3 Savile Row – former headquarters of the Beatles’ business empire

When I look back, I see that a significant amount of my travel has been Beatles-related. The most obvious trip, of course, was a 2005 trip to Liverpool. While there, we visited the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. But we also visited their early 1960s haunts such as the famous Cavern Club and The Grapes pub. We even stayed at the Adelphi Hotel – the top hotel in town in the 1960s, and the very definition of “faded grandeur” by the time we stayed there. You can read more about this trip in this post from 2015.

Abbey Road Studios, St. John’s Wood, London

Just as memorable was my November 2014 trip to London, England. I attended several great musical events while in London, but I also took an extended tour of Beatles sights. In addition to the Apple headquarters on Savile Row, I saw the Abbey Road Studios where almost all of those great songs were recorded. I even crossed Abbey Road, as you can see at the very top of this post. But I also saw several other places that were less obvious parts of the Beatles story. You can read more about that day in this December 2014 post. 

Street entrance to the Cavern Club in Liverpool

London and Liverpool – those aren’t surprising Beatles destinations. But there’s more. On a trip to New York City, we stopped by the “Strawberry Fields” portion of Central Park and the adjacent “Dakota Building” where John Lennon spent the last years of his life. And, like I have on many of my travels, I also found a very rare Beatles-related record as a souvenir. On this occasion, it was a very elaborately packaged Paul McCartney solo vinyl single from a shop in Greenwich Village.

The Weeklings, with string and horn sections, live at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre.

On a completely separate trip, I found myself at Monmouth University in the state of New Jersey…for a Beatles symposium! My friend (and fellow Beatles fan) Anthony heard about an academic conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1968 “The Beatles” album (a.k.a “The White Album”). Well, why not? You can read about that conference in this post from November 2018. Pictured above is a concert we saw at the conference…The Weeklings were brilliant, and played most of The White Album live!

Paul McCartney live in Halifax, Nova Scotia (July 2009)

We’ve seen Ringo Starr in concert a couple of times: once at Casino Rama (north of Toronto), and another time (just last year) right here in Kingston. And while I saw Paul McCartney in Toronto when I lived there in the early 1990s, we also saw him many years later in…Halifax, Nova Scotia! We were visiting friends in Halifax but managed to include Paul’s concert as well. You can read about the 2009 concert in this post from 2015.

Poster for an upcoming Beatles cover band concert (Budapest, Hungary – June 24, 1991)

Beatles connections seem to pop up in the most unexpected locations. Who would have thought that Paul McCartney had a connection to Verona, Italy? Or that we would cross paths with a Beatles event in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec? How about a Beatles tribute in Budapest, Hungary? Or a Beatles link to a rockabilly concert in the Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto?

The Straight Eights live at Castro’s Lounge (Toronto, Ontario)

Unexpected links are a great part of travel. And while this post features previously published photos, I’ve just unexpectedly discovered some “new” photos from prior travels. I’ll be sharing some of those in my next post…coming soon!

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Finally! An overseas trip!

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

My last overseas trip seems like it was ages ago. In reality, it was less than four years ago (March 2020) that I went skiing in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, and Morzine, France. But so much has happened since then.

The fearsome Swiss Wall, on the Switzerland/France border in the massive Portes du Soleil ski region (March 2020).

A global pandemic would be the most obvious intervening factor. But there have also been changes in travel philosophies and a personal reconfiguring of priorities. I did manage to ski in Banff in 2022, but otherwise I haven’t been on the slopes. And other than a brief trip into northern New York, I haven’t been outside of Canada since March 2020 either.

Me and my friend, the skiing “Milka chocolate” cow – near Les Gets, France (March 2020)

This has been quite a change for me. I used to ski in Europe every winter and spend every other summer vacation in Europe too. And of course there was my travel sabbatical in 2014, which prompted the creation of this blog. That year, I tackled my travel bucket list and went to Europe no less than six times.

Our ski group passing through the rocks at Pomedes (Cortina d’Ampezzo – March 2014)

So when I made the decision to ski in Europe this winter, I had to ask myself a lot of questions. Which country (or countries) should I visit? Do I try to go somewhere new? Do I return to some old haunts? Am I travelling on a budget? Will I do anything besides skiing?

Skiing by torch light down to Grindelwald (March 13, 2000)

It didn’t take long for me to realize that much has changed since early 2020. Most notably: the dramatic price increases for flights and hotels. It dawned on me that I probably wouldn’t be resuming annual ski trips to Europe. And my choice of destination was likely going to be influenced by where airfares and accommodation prices were most competitive.

Me skiing on the lower slopes of the legendary Eiger (March 2002)

I made the decision to stick with places that had special meaning for me. And so, when I found a good hotel deal in Wengen, Switzerland, I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve skied in Wengen and the linked resort of Grindelwald many times before. Not only is the skiing excellent, but I think the surrounding scenery might be the very best in any ski area anywhere. If you’ve never seen the Eiger up close (or been skiing on it!)…it is beyond spectacular. And then there’s the Jungfrau, the Schilthorn (known for James Bond and “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”)…

Looking down on Wengen from the cable car – March 2005 (skating rink and curling hall at top left)

All of that is amazing. And then Wengen itself is a car-free village perched on a cliff overlooking the famous Lauterbrunnen valley…reachable only by a special cog-wheel train. For an overall skiing experience, I don’t think it can be beat. Zermatt is bigger, and it has the Matterhorn, but I feel most at home in Wengen.

Stretching above the clouds, high above Wengen and Grindelwald, in March 2005

Trying to book my flights was a very long bout of sticker shock. I had to summon all of my tricks to find a reasonably priced itinerary that also had direct flights from Canada. On a relatively short trip, I couldn’t afford to miss flight connections (or luggage).

Ho-hum, just a midway station on the way up to the Schilthorn…

Finally, after hours and hours of trial and error, I found something that worked at an acceptable price: I would fly outbound from Montreal direct to Lyon, France, and then return home by a direct flight from Zurich to Toronto. Unusual? Yes. But it’s out of necessity: my flight costs are always increased by the need for additional leg room…and the airlines are experts in extracting every conceivable additional charge.

This way to everything! On the France-Switzerland border, March 2020.

I am excited about starting my trip in Lyon. It’s the “second city” of France, and yet people rarely talk about it as a destination. It has a beautiful old town, a reputation for great food, and is less than an hour from the Alps. And I’ve never been there. What a great way to begin!

View from my hotel room in Geneva, Switzerland (March 2020) – I’ll pass through here again this winter after visiting Lyon

I had a few days to allocate between my stays in Lyon and Wengen. In the end, I went with another sentimental choice. The Swiss side of my family is from the Simmental (Simme Valley), so I happily booked a few nights in the town of Zweisimmen (literally, where two branches of the Simme River meet). This also allows me to ski for a couple of days in the Gstaad ski region, where I have been skiing a few times with friends and family.

Skiing above Zweisimmen at Parwengesattel (March 2018)

The skiing around Zweisimmen is not quite as dramatic as Wengen, but the region has the added bonus of being my ancestral home. And you can’t put a price on that. What better way to visit my roots than by doing something I love? And I have to say that skiing is my favourite way of experiencing the mountains…no matter which mountains I’m visiting! That’s why most of this trip will be spent skiing rather than “touristing”.

My grandfather’s chalet (straight ahead) in Weissenbach, Switzerland (August 2006), just a couple of kilometers from Zweisimmen

So, that’s the trip. It has some very meaningful skiing, and also some interesting new destinations before and after the skiing. I’ll keep the last stop a mystery for now. Besides – all my hotel bookings have free cancellations, so I still have time to change my mind!

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Great Music Trips

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Near the end of 2014, I went on a “musical pilgrimage” to southern England. Based mostly in Cambridge and London, highlights included Paul Carrack in Southend-on-Sea, Jools Holland at the Royal Albert Hall, the London production of “The Commitments”, Los Pacaminos (featuring Paul Young) in a Putney pub, and a bunch of Beatles sights (including crossing Abbey Road, in the above photo).

It’s been a while since I’ve done a trip like that, although I still attend a lot of concerts. So, where would I go now?

The first place that comes to mind is South Africa. Regular readers of this blog will know that I saw (and met!) the late Johnny Clegg many times. Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album remains one of my all-time favourites. “The Indestructible Beat of Soweto” is a great compilation of music from South Africa. I really enjoyed seeing Ladysmith Black Mambazo when they came to Kingston. And Ladysmith Black Mambazo recently collaborated with South African Jeremy Loops on a fun single called “This Town”. It would be great to see this live, in the country where it was made.

I enjoyed seeing a small tango orchestra in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But since then, I have discovered the music of Bajofondo. The band members are from both Argentina and Uruguay. They use local music, such as tango, as a starting point…but take it in some very interesting modern directions. Since poor weather stopped me from getting to Uruguay, wouldn’t it be cool to see something like this in Montevideo?

But it is not necessary to go halfway across the world. There are some American artists who could form the basis for a fun musical trip. I have great respect for Jon Batiste from New Orleans, Louisiana: I was singing the praises of his “We Are” album even before it received a bunch of Grammy nominations. A trip to New Orleans could also include Trombone Shorty, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (who we recently saw in Kingston)…the list goes on.

I’ve already seen the Weeklings perform live…in Monmouth, New Jersey, of all places. However, they were so compelling that I’d love to see them again. Their cover versions (especially of Beatles songs) are amazing, but their original compositions are great too. And I recently discovered that they sometimes play live at Daryl’s House, in Pawling, New York. It’s a cozy venue, and is operated by none other than Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame). Wouldn’t that be a fun part of a trip to New York City?

I shared some Weeklings videos in a music-related post from a couple of years ago…if you like the above two, you’ll probably find these ones even better.

And what about all those Canadian music trips I could do? Pagliaro in Montreal…trips like that could keep me occupied for years!

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Travel Flashback: 1974 trip to Europe

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

I recently wrote about my 1983 trip to Hinton, Alberta, which was my first “independent” travel experience. Today, I’m going back even farther…to my 1974 trip to Europe with my parents. While I have some souvenirs from that trip, most of these pictures were taken on subsequent trips.

The front cover of our menu – April 1974 Swissair flight from Montreal to Zürich

Travel was different then. Even in economy class, there was an element of elegance and style. You had to wear your “Sunday best”. Check out the menu from our flight…you’d never see this much fuss about a meal in economy class now!

Pages two and three of the in-flight menu

My mother put together an album of our trip, so it is easy to recall exactly what happened. We flew from Montreal to Zürich on SwissAir flight SR161, a DC-10 that covered the distance in 7 hours and 10 minutes.

My grandfather’s chalet (straight ahead) in Weissenbach, Switzerland (August 2006)

For the Swiss part of our trip, we stayed mostly in my grandfather’s chalet. It is located in the quiet Simmental village of Weissenbach; my uncle still owns it today. I loved being in the mountains, even before I had ever tried downhill skiing.

Skiing above Zweisimmen (March 2018)

We also stayed in the nearby town of Zweisimmen, where I have been skiing on many occasions since then. From there, we drove up to the Bühlberg mountain restaurant above the village of Lenk…where I went skiing (see also the photo at the top of this post) with my cousin 44 years later!

My cousin and her family – at the summit of “Lavey” between Lenk and Adelboden, Switzerland (March 2018)

From Zweisimmen, it was on to Montreux on Lake Geneva. The climate was much milder here; it almost felt tropical compared to the mountains we had just left. From Montreux, we moved on to my uncle’s house in the Basel suburb of Riehen. Now owned by another cousin, I also stayed here in 2011 en route to a ski week in Wengen.

Benny, my uncle’s dachshund (May 1991)

We then left Switzerland and spent a couple of days in Frankfurt, (West) Germany. Once again, there was a family connection: we stayed with my mother’s cousin.

The beach at ‘s-Gravenzande, the Netherlands (August 2014)

The last couple of weeks of the trip were spent in the Netherlands. We made our way by train from Frankfurt to Hoek Van Holland (via Mainz and Köln). We then stayed at my aunt’s house in ‘s-Gravenzande…I stayed there many times over the years, and it was also the “base camp” for my extended 1991 backpacking trip through Europe. Although it is no longer in the family, I did take a picture of it in 2014 during my even-more-extended travel odyssey.

“Our” house on the Monsterseweg in ‘s-Gravenzande, the Netherlands (August 2014)

We visited Delft, Rotterdam, and The Hague, just like I did with my wife 40 years later in 2014. I really enjoyed a day trip to the Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam…one of the few “sights” that I haven’t returned to in the intervening 49 years.

Market Square in Delft, the Netherlands (August 2014)

A lasting impression was how great Dutch breakfasts could be. Of course, being not yet 6 years old, this assessment was based mostly on the ubiquitous availability of chocolate hagelslag (sprinkles) and chocolate vlokken (flakes). Actually, chocolate was a common theme on my childhood European trips. If I eat too much of it now, I can trace it back to those formative experiences!

Me and my friend, the skiing “Milka chocolate” cow (March 2020)

We flew back to Montreal from Amsterdam on KLM flight 0671. This time, the plane was a DC-8 and it wasn’t as comfortable as the outbound flight.

Maassluis, the Netherlands (two of my cousins live here) – August 2014

It would be another 5 years before we were able to return to Europe, despite all of our family connections there. My international travel, at least for a little while, would consist only of brief trips across the U.S. border to northern New York state. But European trips were major events, and my memories of the 1979 trip are much more vivid.

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Travel Regrets

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

[An explanation for the photos appears at the bottom of this post.]

I recently asked myself whether I have ever regretted traveling anywhere. Was there any place that I wished I had never seen or experienced?

“The Grapes” pub on Mathew Street in Liverpool, England. The Beatles hung out here. Photographer’s finger was not requested.

I have certainly had unfortunate travel experiences. I discovered that part of my luggage had gone missing upon arriving in France in August 2014. A couple of years before that, *all* of my checked luggage disappeared on the way back from San Antonio, Texas. We were turned back from the Argentina border in 2016 because of a visa problem. It’s been nearly nine years since I tried to get to Memphis…and I still haven’t made it there. Going to the hospital in Glasgow due to food poisoning wasn’t a whole lot of fun.

Captivating landscape near Hinton, Alberta

I’ve been to places that were not very welcoming…sometimes in general, and sometimes just to particular people. The recent surge of nationalism is unfortunately nothing new either. I was happy to move on from two particularly intolerant parts of Europe.

The famous “Lion of Ifrane” in Ifrane, Morocco. And a finger.

There are certainly a few places to which I will never (purposely) return. But any true regrets? I don’t think I have any.

???

Every experience, good or bad, has been revealing. Sometimes about the place we are visiting, but also sometimes about me or my fellow travelers. While seeing extreme intolerance made me sad, it also reinforced the importance of tolerance. And dealing with some lost luggage is really not that catastrophic in the big picture.

Laundromat in Prague, Czech Republic

In fact, some of the unfortunate travel experiences become the most vivid stories and memories. Although it happened more than 20 years ago, we still remember the miserable pelting rain we experienced on arrival in Kirkwall (Orkney Islands). It was almost horizontal due to the high winds, and we were drenched by the time we arrived at our B&B. To this day, we describe such weather conditions as simply “Kirkwall”.

Hospoda U Beníšků (obviously), Mělník, Czech Republic

So, how about these photos? They are all travel photos, but I think it’s safe to describe them as somewhat regrettable. Most are from the pre-digital era, when you didn’t realize a photo was bad until you picked up the prints at the shop. The photo at the very top is from Aberystwyth, Wales, and was apparently taken at the end of the roll.

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Travel Flashback: 1983 Kingston/Hinton High School Exchange

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(Kingston, Ontario. Canada)

I’ve been travelling independently for a long time. But it was still a bit of a shock to realize that my first independent trip was 40 years ago!

Surprisingly, this was the Edmonton Youth Hostel

When I was attending Bayridge Secondary School in Kingston (Ontario), my geography teacher enrolled our school in a program called “Open House Canada”. In short: for the princely sum of $10.00, you could go on an exchange with 40 of your schoolmates to another part of Canada. And then, a couple of months later (in early 1984), your new friends would visit Kingston. Having already been to Europe twice with my parents, I thought this would be great.

Wildlife on the side of the Icefields Parkway

Our school was matched with a similarly sized school in Hinton, Alberta. But our communities didn’t seem to have too much in common. Kingston was much larger and older than Hinton: Kingston was Canada’s capital many decades before Hinton even existed. Hinton’s economy was resource-based (I especially remember the smell of the paper mill), while Kingston has long been known as a government town. And Hinton was in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, while Kingston’s geography was…a little less spectacular.

Rescuing a classmate who slipped on the Athabasca Glacier

And yet, despite all the differences, there ended up being quite a bit of common ground. We played lots of volleyball. We seemed to listen to much of the same music: Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” and Van Halen’s “Jump” seemed to be mutual favourites. And I think almost everyone appreciated the opportunity to see a completely different way of life, if only for a week or two.

My first ever visit to British Columbia (October 1983)

About half of the trip was spent living in your billet’s home (and going to school with them each day). My billet’s father was a park ranger, so I got to live in a remote village called “Old Entrance”. It apparently used to be the entrance to Jasper National Park. There were only three or four other houses in the village. Each morning, we had to hike up a very steep and winding gravel road for 15 minutes just to get to the school bus stop (which still had to travel some distance to get to Hinton). This was quite different from my leisurely 10-minute suburban walk to school in Kingston.

My billet, in his backyard

Once we were at school, we did day trips to notable area landmarks. Such local trips included a huge coal mine, a tract of commercially-harvested forest and the Cadomin Caves. Other destinations on the trip included Sunwapta Falls, the Athabasca Glacier, the summit of “The Whistlers” (high above Jasper), Mount Robson (see photo at the top of this post)…and the West Edmonton Mall!

Nearing the summit of “The Whistlers”, high above Jasper

Looking back on it now, it’s hard to believe that there was actually some peer pressure to *not* go on the exchange. While some parts were challenging (I vaguely remember some issue with the Jasper hostel, but the details are now lost in the mists of time), I don’t think anyone regretted their participation. I suspect that, for many of us, it was only the beginning of an appreciation for travel and for discovering places that were different from home.

The path down from the summit of The Whistlers

This reminds me of a famous Mark Twain quote, from his book The Innocents Abroad. It might be a little harsh, but I think there is some underlying truth to it:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Jasper as seen from The Whistlers

I hope you enjoy some of these ancient photographs…all were taken by me using a very rectangular (and very non-digital) Vivitar camera. These are the original prints!

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Flashback to Argentina

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

The 2022 World Cup ended last week, with Argentina winning the final over France. While I have mixed feelings about the tournament, the final match was highly entertaining.

The Arc de Triomphe, overlooking l’avenue des Champs-Élysées, after France won the 2018 World Cup

As I was in Paris in 2018 when France won the previous World Cup, I thought it might be nice to take a look back at our 2016 trip to Argentina.

We finally made it to the Argentinian border!

Argentina is a huge country, so our brief visit barely scratched the surface. And we were there in the middle of the Argentinian winter, which meant snow around Bariloche and lots of cool temperatures and fog in Buenos Aires. We did not get the feeling that this was high season for tourism. But we nearly didn’t get there at all!

A winter rose in front of the customs office in Puerto Frias, Argentina

We were travelling with a small group, and approached the Argentinian border on a complicated bus & boat route through the Chilean Andes. Alas, due to a missing bar code for my wife’s visa, we were left behind at a remote hotel while the rest of the group crossed the border without incident. We didn’t get clearance to proceed until the next day, and even that was a near-miracle.

View of Puerto Blest, Chile, from across the lake

Anyway, despite all that, we really enjoyed the lakes and mountains around the Argentina-Chile border. And with the benefit of six intervening years (not to mention a worldwide pandemic), even the border hassle doesn’t seem that bad now.

San Telmo by night, just outside the tango venue

We spent most of our Argentina time in the capital, Buenos Aires. My lasting impression is how European it looked: the buildings looked very Parisian, and there was an Italian vibe everywhere. I guess this shouldn’t be surprising: many Argentinians (including current soccer hero Lionel Messi) have Italian ancestry.

Teatro Colón, in the heart of Buenos Aires

We saw a lot of the major sights: Recoleta Cemetery, the Eva Peron (“Evita”) Museum, the San Telmo Market, the Teatro Colón…and even went to a spectacular tango show.

View from “our” box at the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

We stayed in Buenos Aires for a few extra days after our group dispersed. We also covered a lot of terrain on foot, and enjoyed a number of unexpected surprises. For example, we really enjoyed a billiards cafe, which is not something we would seek out (or find) here in Canada. We found an outstanding bookstore that used to be an opulent theatre. And we found a great local restaurant that did *not* specialize in obscene amounts of grilled meat.

Locro at La Cumana (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Despite our jam-packed itinerary, there are still a few things that we weren’t able to do. We didn’t make it to a soccer game, as it was out of season. This was unfortunate, as going to soccer games is often a part of our international travels. I still haven’t been to one in Latin America.

The German Shepherd “sat” on the bench with his owner for at least 15 minutes (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

And we didn’t make it to Uruguay. We had hoped to make a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, a historic Uruguayan city that was only about an hour away by boat. But our potential travel day was very rainy and cold, and we thought it might be better to focus on urban (and indoor) things that day.

Inside Los 36 Billares, a billiards cafe in Buenos Aires

But that’s one of the cardinal rules of travel: don’t try to do everything in one trip. Assume you will return one day, and you’ll already have a head start on that future itinerary.

1st floor of El Ateneo bookshop on Avenida Santa Fe, Buenos Aires

Speaking of future itineraries…I have been thinking about this a lot lately. It’s complicated, there are many competing considerations. But what would I do if I suddenly had an open calendar and no restrictions? Stay tuned for lots of interesting content as we move into 2023!

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Changes in my ancestral DNA

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Six months ago, I published a post about the surprising results of my ancestral DNA test. You can find it by clicking here. At that time, I expressed surprise about my significant Swedish/Danish ancestry and the lesser but still unexpected Norwegian ancestry. Although those two regions only accounted for 8% of me, it was much more Scandinavia than I was expecting. But the remaining 92% was also a surprise. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be far more “Northwestern Europe/England” than “Germanic Europe”.

View from the Christiansborg (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Well, DNA knowledge and technology changes quickly. A mere month after posting those results, I learned that there had been substantial changes. My DNA hadn’t changed, but there had been refinements in assigning regional ancestry in several parts of Europe. As a result, I learned that my original results were no longer accurate. Just when I was getting used to my distant past, I had to deal with another new reality!

Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen, Denmark)

So while I likely still have some Norwegian DNA kicking around, it is now too small to be significant. However, my Swedish/Danish ancestry has remained at the same level. To acknowledge that, I have illustrated this post with images from my 2016 trip to Denmark. I felt at home there too…so maybe those are my true Scandinavian roots?

You can’t have too many pictures of Nyhavn in Copenhagen!

As for the even larger (now around 94%) remainder of my ancestry, the majority of it is now in fact Germanic Europe. A slightly smaller, but still significant, portion is traceable to “Northwest Europe and England”.

The Wish Tree Garden on Papirøen, Copenhagen (my collaboration with Yoko Ono)

As some other friends and family members have tried this testing too, I have also learned just how random this DNA business can be. Even siblings can have significantly different outcomes. You almost certainly won’t get the same 50% from each parent that your brother or sister did. And of course 50% is lost with each generation.

The Fish Kiss Spa in downtown Copenhagen

What now? I will certainly be checking in from time to time, to see if my results have been refined further. I now know there are some other regions in my family’s past, and I’m curious to see if they will appear for me too.

Posts from Base Camp

The DNA Test – Travel through time

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Today’s post is a little different, but still very much in the spirit of travel.

Although I had been thinking about it for a while, I finally got around to requesting an “Ancestry DNA” test this spring. And the results have now arrived.

Getting caught by the waves at the same beach where my father played as a child (‘s-Gravenzande, the Netherlands)

On the surface, the expectation was simple. With one Swiss parent and one Dutch parent, one would expect the results to be 50% from each country. But I also heard some other distant echoes from the past.

My ancestors lived in Maassluis, the Netherlands, many centuries ago

Over time, family stories become almost accepted as fact. And one of my family stories was that we had some Spanish ancestry, due to the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands in the 16th century. With respect to the Swiss side of my family, I wondered if there might be some Italian influence, given the fairly close proximity of Italy to my ancestral place of origin. And I also wondered what other interesting connections may have been forgotten in the mists of time.

A church in Lenk (Switzerland) – I wonder what important family events took place here?

I was pretty excited when the results finally arrived. When I clicked on the link, I discovered something very interesting. Switzerland and the Netherlands each belong to the same two broader groups: “Germanic Europe” and “England and Northwestern Europe”. And I had almost complete (92%) ancestry in those two regions.

Lots of choices, high above Lenk and Adelboden (Switzerland)

I found the “England and Northwestern Europe” region interesting. Consisting mostly of England, Belgium, the southern Netherlands, Northeast France and Switzerland, I had never really considered that DNA from England would be connected to both of my countries of origin. This region even contributed more to me than the anticipated “Germanic Europe” region.

Mårten Trotzigs gränd – the narrowest street in Sweden (Stockholm)

And what about the other 8%? The stories and guesses were, in a word, wrong. No Italy. No Spain. As it turns out, most of my other ancestry was from Sweden/Denmark, with a smaller part from Norway. I had always been looking south, but it appears that I should have been looking north.

Terminus of the railway to Flam (Norway)

I know that these tests are not 100% accurate, and of course some ancestry is lost with each passing generation. But way back in 2012, I felt very comfortable in Stockholm (see photo at the very top of this post). I thought it was a place in which I could live. It makes you wonder why I had that feeling.