Chinese Bicycles Seen in Boston: Work of activist artist Ai Weiwei

Think of China; Think of Bicycles. Tangles of bicycles are everywhere in China's congested urban areas. When I visited Shanghai in 2013, on the way in to the upscale restaurant called Mr. and Mrs. Bund, I passed by a clever sculpture and snapped a photo. This sculpture hangs from ceiling to floor in the stairwell atrium inside an office building in Shanghai, just off the Bund, the city's equivalent to the Champs Elysees.

The sculpture was a lacy web of intertwined bicycles dangling on their sides, suspended from the ceiling many floors above, with no end in sight. I snapped this photo and tucked it into my hard drive without giving it another thought.
Fast forward to April 2016, when I visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts' exhibit on MegaCities Asia. The interior courtyard to the exhibit's entrance is filled with a circle of bicycles latched together.

Not a coincidence. The similarity between the two sculptures caught me. They were so alike, but not the same. The Shanghai bicycles were densely packed and hanging, while the Boston bikes are daisy-chained in a circle and each one is missing components, making every Boston bike unrideable. Both sculptures have the same tell-tale identification....the word "Forever". Here is a close-up of the Boston version.

The artist, Ai Weiwei is best known for his lifetime of work as a human rights activist in China. He has a long resume of documentary film work. He is also an accomplished visual artist, having studied briefly at Parsons School of Design in New York. His work has been critical of the Chinese government. He was jailed for purported tax evasion of the equivalent of $1.8 million US dollars and his Shanghai studio was destroyed by the government.  His work is exhibited all over the world and he has been granted many honors.

According to Wikipedia, on May 21, 2015, Ai, along with the folk singer Joan Baez, received Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award, in Berlin, for showing exceptional leadership in the fight for human rights, through his life and work. The artist, who was at the time under surveillance and forbidden from leaving China, could not take part in the ceremony.

But you can see his work in Boston, at the Museum of Fine Arts through July 17, 2016.
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/megacities-asia

Multigenerational Travel

This guy has already used his passport in Italy and Turks and Caicos

Three Generations of our Family on Safari in Tanzania, in a Maasai Village

 My mom was a major cause of my wanderlust.  The exotic intensity of our family vacations kept ramping up as she got older and the kids matured into international travelers. When she was in her 80s, Mom traveled with my husband, 3 sons and me to Japan, Hawaii, Africa and Dubai.  My friend Nancy Kirsch, who is a freelance writer, asked me to talk with her about multigenerational travel for an assignment. She was hired by the Newport Daily News in Newport, Rhode Island, to write a story on that angle. She asked me for photos to accompany the story. I dug out some great pictures of my mom, husband, boys and me on our travels. The story got published (copied below) but the photos got axed.  Here are the photos offered to illustrate the story (instead of the smiling face of a travel agent).

A winning recipe for successful family vacations: Plan, communicate, relax and enjoy

Posted: Monday, August 17, 2015 8:17 pm

By Nancy Kirsch | 0 comments

It might seem counterintuitive to leave Rhode Island for vacation. After all, millions of tourists visit South County and Newport County every year to enjoy our sparkling shorelines, great restaurants, wineries, music venues, museums and more.

Sooner or later, most of us do leave “little Rhody” for a vacation or two — whether a high-end African safari or a more modest weeklong camping trip. Thanks to some tips and techniques our travel experts shared, traveling for a family wedding or a reunion or vacationing with a group of relatives of different generations will all be easier, thanks to their wisdom.

With families living further apart and Baby Boomers having more disposable income, multigenerational travel is becoming more popular, says Robin Paul, a travel professional with Donovan Travel in East Greenwich. Donovan Travel also has offices in Cranston and Woonsocket.

Traveling together, says Kathy Creaney, owner of Creaney Cruise & Travel in Middletown, “is a good way to keep the family together … on vacation, people forget about (childhood disputes or old resentments).”

Americans travel more than any other citizens in the world, Peter Greenberg, “The Travel Detective,” reports on his website, which quotes Dave Austin, AARP’s vice president of marketing services: “One of the most significant trends is multi-gen family travel.”

Keep all ages and energy levels happy

At an all-inclusive resort or an ocean cruise, Paul says, “Put the kids in Kids’ Club and go to a lecture or the gym, spa … (or) classes. You can also hit the casino or just sit by the pool.”

At an all-inclusive, appealing resort in Jamaica, for example, grandparents can relax and enjoy onsite low-key activities, while more energetic individuals might hike, kayak or select other high-energy pleasures, says Creaney, who asks, “You’ve paid a lot of money for the spot, so why leave?”

Barbara Schoenfeld, a part-time Newport resident who has three adult sons and one young grandson, knows travel: She’s visited 64 countries, often with her mother and other family members, and has a travel blog at worldgrazer.blogspot.com.

Although cruises aren’t her preferred method of travel, she says they do offer plenty of options for meals and activities. “If you want to see the world… cruising is not the way to go; you travel in a bubble,” she says. “But, for a multigenerational group, it’s a great solution.”

Schoenfeld laughs as she recalls the trip the family planned around 2005 to visit the middle son, then studying in Japan on a semester abroad college program. Before they left, Schoenfeld’s mother, Virginia Sand, then 82, asked, “Why can’t I come, too?” Spoiler alert: Sand, who has also taken the family on many adventures, including a Tanzanian safari, went to Japan!

Junior Year Abroad was a great excuse for the whole family to travel to Japan

Energetic as she may be, Sand remained at the hotel when Schoenfeld and other family members “snowboarded” down sand dunes and rode camels in the Dubai Mall, a 13-million-square foot venue that includes the Middle East’s first indoor ski resort.

Doing Dubai (with the Burj al Arab Jumeirah in the background)

Neither too much nor too little togetherness

Family members should talk about their expectations and plan some separate activities every day, whether they are cruising, touring or traveling independently. By gathering together each day — for a meal, drinks or dessert — family members can compare the day’s highlights and reconnect, Creaney says.

Paul concurs, acknowledging that not everyone has the same interests, so balance time together with private time. “Shared memories are wonderful, but we all need space.”

Finding the right tour company

If you opt for a tour, seek out companies experienced in working with multigenerational groups.

For tours in Ireland, Creaney recommends CIE Tours (cietours.com) and Celtic Tours (celtictours.com), which both tour in additional European countries; both Globus Tours (globusvacation.com) and Trafalgar Tours (trafalgar.com) offer family focused tours in the United States and around the world. Tour companies may create a customized tour for large family groups, says Creaney, who notes that Pawtucket-based Collette (gocollette.com) is a great resource for multigenerational family trips.

Want to combine traveling the world and volunteering? Paul recommends Globe Aware (globeaware.com) for philanthropic families. A fan of many river cruise programs, which offer kid-friendly menus, special on-board activities, cultural experiences geared to younger travelers and workshops, Paul especially likes Uniworld (uniworld.com), named the “best river cruise line for families” award from by several travel entities.

“For some people, (Disney World) truly is the happiest place on earth,” says Creaney, who adds that she believes Disney’s marketing is the best in the world. Like many other cruise lines, Disney cruises have something for everybody. As Disney’s tours are pricier than competitors’ tours, Creaney says she believes other family oriented tour companies are a better deal financially.

To plan her trips, Schoenfeld reads and researches voraciously. “I look at tour companies that I respect and (evaluate) how they map out their itineraries. Where do they think are the best spots? How long do they allocate for each spot? Where do they stay? I rely informally on that (information).”

Learn from others’ mistakes

Good travel agents are knowledgeable, and frequently possess contacts and resources not available through online travel companies, so value their wisdom.

A “let’s wing it” attitude is, Paul says, is a recipe for trouble; if families traveling independently haven’t made concrete plans, disagreements and disappointments may arise. “Imagine wanting to go to the Vatican and (learning) you cannot because it’s sold out that particular day,” Paul says, warning that such a dilemma happens too often.

Some clients simply don’t take Creaney’s advice, including one she’d warned about pickpockets in Rome. Upon returning home, the client told Creaney, “Oh, I guess we should have listened to you!”

Before you pack up your passports or track down Grand Canyon hiking trail maps, plan and plan some more. For a big vacation, Paul encourages people to begin planning at least a year in advance, and consider budgets, determine who pays for what, diverse vacation styles, different ages and varied abilities and skills. At a travel planning meeting, get input from each family to identify interests, activities, favorite sports and preferred destinations, Paul says. “Look over your lists and then come up with options …”

Be careful about booking reservations online, as companies don’t always disclose upfront all tour or cruise costs, Creaney says, adding: Don’t leave home without travel insurance. It offers worldwide coverage for trip and flight delays or cancellations, accident protection, medical and evacuation coverage.

This article originally appeared in the special

"Family" section in The Newport Daily News and the Independent Newspapers in August 2015.

Link to the Newport Daily News story: http://www.newportri.com/newportdailynews/special_sections/a-winning-recipe-for-successful-family-vacations-plan-communicate-relax/article_16ebbbd4-b1a9-51e5-97f2-964aa3bba63a.html

Hats off to Cartagena

Everywhere you turn as you stroll through Cartagena, you see hats for sale.  The black and cream striped straw hat called the "sombrero vueltiao" is a traditional hat from Colombia, and in fact, is one of the country's national symbols.  Colombians make the hat by hand by weaving cana flecha, a type of cane that grows in the Caribbean region of the country. The word "vueltiao" comes from "turn", which refers to the way the hat is made. A hat's quality is determined by the number of pairs of fibers braided together, as well as its flexibility. The more bendable/packable it is, the higher the quality. The indigenous group known as Zena make the hats by drying the fibers in the sun and then dying the black fibers in a mud mixture for several days. The designs on the hats incorporate symbols of life such as fertility and harvest.

All over Cartagena, people are selling hats of all types, not just vueltiaos...

Selling hats....from their heads...

...from their hands...

...from the street.

Boston Wine School - Minus Pretentious Adjectives

I attended a class in January, 2015, called "Wine, Cheese and the Pursuit of Happiness". The teacher, Jonathan Alsop, is really informative and wickedly funny.

Jonathan's class left no room for wine tasters who know everything.  No airtime for the pompous.
The class began with his "Seven S" System of Wine Tasting:
See, Sniff, Swirl, Smell, Sip, Swish, Spit

Beginning with "See", he asks, "What does the wine look like? Clear as water, black as ink, or in between?"  He explained that you should hold the glass up to the light. "This magnifies the unbearable pomposity of the wine lover". -- The class laughed and followed him right down the path of the rest of the Seven S's.
The next S is "Sniff". Here, he advised that it's meant to be a quick check. Make sure the wine is not smelling wrong - like jet fuel or an undergraduate era shower curtain.

After bringing the students to the level where we all deployed the same 7S techniques, we then turned to actually tasting the 7 wines, 6 cheeses and 1 dinner that rounded out the Boston Wine School curriculum for that evening. The first wine was NV Bellussi Extra Dry Prosecco, for which Jonathan led with the description: Light Carbonation, Very Soft, Welcoming to People, "Shut up and drink me".

A class at the Boston Wine School teaches to all levels (well, maybe not to winemakers) and is a really nice social experience limited to 14 people per class.
www.bostonwineschool.com

Keens Steakhouse: Only 20,000 of its Pipes are on Display

In Midtown Manhattan, right near Penn Station in the Garment District is a steakhouse called Keens Steakhouse. Also known as Keens Chophouse, it has been in business since 1885. Its low ceilings, dark paneling and cluttered wooden walls suggested to me that it was a traditional small cozy inn. Not so.  With seating for more than 300 diners, Keens hums with bustling waitstaff delivering huge plates of meat. Keens leads with its mutton chop -- a huge slab dominating an oversized plate.

In New York City's crowded field of excellent restaurants featuring steak, Keens stands out. Its food is delicious and large, but that's not why. Keens has stuck with its tradition of keeping pipes for its members. Keens began as a private club where members would leave behind, and Keens would keep, their clay pipes. The tradition of checking one's clay pipe, or a "hard clay churchwarden pipe", as Keens' website refers to them, at an inn, derived from the 1700s in England. Keens' membership swelled over the years, and Keens dutifully stored the members' pipes on the ceilings of all of the restaurant's dining rooms.

According to the website:
The membership roster of the Pipe Club contained over ninety thousand names, including those of Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Will Rogers, Billy Rose, Grace Moore, Albert Einstein, George M. Cohan, J.P. Morgan, Stanford White, John Barrymore, David Belasco, Adlai Stevenson, General Douglas MacArthur and “Buffalo Bill” Cody. 

Pipes a'Plenty on the Ceilings, Everywhere

"Only" 20,000 are on display now. Just inside the entrance to 36th Street are display cases of newer, whiter additions. Autographed pipes signed by celebrities of all sorts are piled in a glass counter and stuck on the wall, with names like Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, heads of state, athletes and more.

CONFESSION: I never heard of Keens until my son Max requested to go there for his birthday dinner. Thank you Max!

Turks and Caicos - Hide Away at Taylor Bay

Bring your own chairs, food, fun, babies, and hang out in this paradise without seeing anyone else for hours

Turks and Caicos have lots of beaches to choose from. You could have a perfectly lovely vacation if you just stick with Grace Bay Beach, which is consistently named as one of the best beaches in the Caribbean. Famous Grace Bay is located on the island of Providenciales, which is the most developed and most populated of the islands in the country of Turks and Caicos. The island country's international airport is located on Providenciales, as are the larger resorts such as Club Med and Sandals. If you want the as-advertised Turks and Caicos vacation, by all means, stick with Grace Bay Beach. It is entirely possible to find a somewhat private and somewhat quiet spot, and to stake out a claim on a swath of sand for a perfectly delightful beach day.True, it is a long stretch facing the exquisite turquoise water.  However, it is not the only game in town.
For an off-the-beaten-path experience shared with hardly any other people, seek out Taylor Bay. It's odd that when you read the tourist information listing the beaches, Taylor Bay's name appears in the line up. But, to go from seeing its name on the list to actually getting your feet in the sand can be an adventure.
We had a rental car and followed the map to the cartoon marking of a beach umbrella plunked along a nonspecific road in a nonspecific residential area. Fortunately, a local had briefed us on how to actually get there.
After turning down a small residential street lined with luxurious homes, we found the unmarked entrance to a shady, winding pathway heading in the direction of the water. We parked the car along the sandy shoulder, took our gear with us (knowing that the beach is 100% pristine with no services and little shade). After a few moments down the sandy trail, we came upon a chain link fence. A thoughtful visitor before us had rigged up a stile of sorts. A beach lounge chair laid flat had a sturdy plastic box placed on top, allowing you to climb high enough so that you could swing your leg over the fence. On the other side of the fence, a step ladder was conveniently set up to receive you on the way down, making for an easy descent.

Access to Taylor Beach, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

The fence is low enough that you can even fling your bags/beach chairs over it before you climb. Just steps beyond the fence, the trail opens up onto a breathtakingly beautiful and serene scene. Dazzling turquoise sea over a very long expanse of shallow water. Because of its sheltered location, there is no surf. It's ideal for small children and for setting up your beach chair right in the water.

TIP: do not try to follow my description. Ask a local for directions. 

Cooking with the Duchess in her Palermo Palace

Not just any Duchess. Nicoletta is THE Duchess. Her full name is Duchess Nicoletta Polo Tomasi Lanza and she runs occasional private cooking lessons in her palace on the sea in Palermo, Sicily. The delightfully full day's lesson was organized by Linda Plazonja of Morso Soggiorno. We met the Duchess in the early morning, outside of the hectic Viccuria market, where we shopped for the ingredients.

Duchess, banging through her shopping list

While shopping in the market, she was accompanied by our group (who mostly just helped carry the bags), plus her two young assistants. Then in her palace, her every need was serviced by her assistants plus her maid and butler. Dirty pots and utensils vanished as she finished with them.

Insalata Pantesca di Patate e Capperi (Potato Salad with Capers, Pantelleria Style)

Although she was raised in Venice, Nicoletta made Palermo her home when she married her royal husband and moved into his family's Palazzo Lanza Tomasi. The palace was built beginning in the late 1600s and was used in the 1700s as the Imperial College for the Education of Young Aristocrats. A bit of irony there.  The palace has been in her husband's family since 1850, and over the years, various pieces of it have been assembled by adding nearby properties. It is a grand and elegant place. After the cooking lesson in the kitchen, while the food was cooking, she took us on a walking tour through the public spaces in the palace, regaling us with its history.

We ate lunch in the dining room, with full service of china, silver and crystal. We were all grimy from cooking, but she tactfully overlooked it, including invited guests to join us at the table. They were properly dressed and coiffed for the elegant lunch we prepared - but which we dined on in our workout clothes and sneakers. Oh, and the Filipino waitstaff was crisply dressed in pressed whites.

Palace China with the Family Crest

Elegant Service for an Elegant Lunch

Me, looking ridiculous as I share a lovely lunch with a bank executive...conversing the whole time in French

Menu Cards Printed and Placed for each Diner (Doesn't everyone do that?)