Introduced in 2022, are not about popular tourist sites. They simply feature things that intrigued or inspired us during our travels. Short, with several photos. Our friends have found the format refreshing. And we have titled them by city to make it easy for you to go to those that interest you. The posts before 2022 feature some ideas for making decisions about how your career plays out.
Charlottetown has a ton of history. Thanks to access to the ocean and abundant timber 4,500 tall ships were built there in the mid 1800’s. It has way more 100+ year old homes than Charlotte NC, in part because ship building skills were used for many of them, and they are still in great shape.
It also benefits from the gulf stream. We were amazed to learn that water temps at their pretty beaches reach 79 degrees in early September. The sun warms the sand, then the tide comes in and the water is warmed by the sand. That is much warmer than waters in California, and is due to the warm gulf stream reaching all the way up here. It keeps the waters navigable in winter.
Unfortunately that same gulf stream can bring big storms here as well. Our plan for the day was a horse drawn trolley ride — to appreciate the city and learn the history. We did it — yet a little less bucolic than this photo. Thanks to the remnants of hurricane Isaias it was 46 degrees and raining. Still big fun and very entertaining — just cold!
Another thing we loved is their deep respect for their First Nation heritage. Mi’kmaq in the Quebec Maritime provinces is one example. Their native language is again taught and spoken, and even appears as a third language (along with French and English) on some traffic signs. One of the 1st nation chiefs organized the conference of some 35 tribes that formulated the pact that united a huge swath from Canada to Louisiana. That pact ultimately led to the Louisiana purchase, which shaped the United States.
Charlottetown would actually be a fun place to spend a week, particularly to beat the summer heat. Nonstop flights from the Toronto airport.
What a charming city! Everyone here is gracious, and has such pride in beautifying their homes. Fresh flowers everywhere. We spent a day circling Ile d’Orleans Island. It is a main source of food ingredients for the fabulous restaurants in Quebec, with quaint homes along the waterfront.
Many of the farms have tasting opportunities — goats milk ice cream, preserves, maple syrup aged in whiskey barrels, potato doughnuts, strawberries etc. A legendary “food truck” had a superb hamburger and roasted squash salad.
Quebec is one of three major provinces in Canada, and a visit to their Parliament included a tour plus lunch in their gorgeous (and Michelin quality) restaurant. Today they only have one legislative body. They disbanded the upper house because they were not elected, had lifetime appointments, could overrule the elected body. Today they vote unanimously 70% of the time because of the inclusive process that precedes every vote. In London it is only 1%, and most legislative bodies are below 25%
We also loved strolling around. Magnificent views on the quaint streets, and from the imposing Citadel on the upper level.
Last, but not least, we timed our visit for the fall color season. Spectacular!!!!
After a 3 1/2 hour scenic train ride we will be in Montreal. TBD, but the idea of coming to these two cities for their Christmas markets has a lot more appeal than flying to Europe for them.
We did not really know that the city of Montreal is a complete island like Manhattan — but four times its size. We also did not know some of the history of the three big cities. Quebec City became the first power center, thanks to the business acumen of the Scots and its strategic place on the St. Lawrence river for exchanging goods with Europe and beyond.
As the middle of Canada became a huge source of grain and the area around Montreal was teeming with beavers (whose skins made fabulous hats coveted in Europe), Montreal emerged as the major city. Then the St. Lawrence Seaway (man-made) gave Toronto a more strategic location and it overtook Montreal. Montreal has recast its economy, in part through the presence of five Universities. And it is a historic city with a lot of beautiful 100+ year old buildings.
One of the features we discovered was their “underground”. Underneath the buildings are 24 miles of wide, brightly lit pristine walkways with no graffiti. It connects a huge number of buildings, and is a great way to get around in winter or rain.
We also had our first tariff impact. When I ordered my favorite cocktail, an Old Fashioned, I was advised no US liquor was available at bars — even at the Four Seasons. A government sponsored boycott. Luckily I prefer Rye whiskey in that drink, and they make some really good Rye in Canada.
Wrapping up, because of the strong French and English heritage here every place featuring government funded art that features the French will also have something equal honoring the English.
Our favorite was a pair of statues, each with a snooty mask and a dog. They are actually a block apart. The man is holding a pug, which are English. He is looking at, and being snooty, to the Catholic cathedral. She is holding a poodle, which are French, wearing a Dior suit and being snooty to the Bank of Montreal, which symbolized the banking industry created by the English. Part of the subtlety is that both dogs are looking at each other, as if they want to play. Love the sense of humor!
All hotels and restaurants are required to let non-customers use their toilets, and they are all beautiful and so clean. For most restaurants they are actually located on the outside to avoid non-customer traffic through the restaurant. Very handy as a tourist.
The basic idea of the public housing is to build at the pace required to avoid a price surge. When one applies they go to a central location, where a giant display board shows the apartment units still available. One goes there with a prioritized list, just hoping their first choice is still available when their number comes up.
Now pivoting to one of our fun things. When we last visited Japan we had this wonderful dinner. It is called Kaiseki, and features more than 20 courses. Each course is a bite or three, and they are served in bunches of artfully arranged ceramic dishes — with each dish unique in color and design. A wonderful presentation yet a dishwasher’s nightmare.
Betsy became intrigued when some of the plates and dishes served to me had gold veins in them, while hers did not. It felt like I was always getting the nicer ones with gold, perhaps because I was the male. Before we left we asked if we could buy one or two of the dishes with gold veins. The General Manager was at first perplexed, then had to laugh. Their dishes are valuable, and they fix the ones they break with a technique called Kintsugi. It has intrigued us since, and we discovered an opportunity in Singapore to actually learn how it is done at a special studio with a teacher certified in the art. So we did.
Essentially one mixes gold into epoxy glue, carefully spreads it on the first broken surface with enough for some to squeeze out, and then align and press the two pieces together by hand until it dries. When all of the pieces have been put together and more time has passed more gold dust is brushed across the seams with a mascara brush. If one is very careful the gold seams ooze out uniformly and make a beautiful design. Here is a photo of the final outcome plus one of the work in progress.
It has been fascinating to learn about the planning behind Singapore’s evolution. Even before independence was achieved in 1965 a master plan was in place. Today that master plan has 50, 30, 20, 10 and 5 year layers, and is updated every five years. People understand it and it has been followed.
For context, Singapore is physically smaller than New York City, and even Augusta GA. Singapore has 6 million population, vs. 8+ million for NYC. So Singapore also has to be a vertical city. Singapore has room to expand into the sea, however, and much of the new development occurs on land reclaimed from the sea. The land in Singapore all belongs to the government, with 99 year leases for buildings issued for commercial buildings (e.g. office building). We were intrigued by a number of examples of how the combination of land ownership and strategic planning contribute to an interesting place to live.
Fresh water. With such explosive growth where does the fresh water come from? They do have wells and desalinization and import water, yet never want water shortage to be an issue because it was a big one many years ago. Over a 20 year period of time with a lot of innovation, they converted a salt water marshy and messy area to a fresh water river and bay that are now a centerpiece of downtown and serve as a 3rd level reserve reservoir. They even have robots cruising around in the water to pick up any surface material/trash.
Housing. Singapore’s explosive growth has required rapid housing construction, all mid-high rise. The concept has been a block of housing building, with a market and community center integrated at the center of the complex. The first one (shown in this photo) actually dates back to British rule and was built in the 1930’s.
Today 90% of Singaporeans live in public housing. Why? Availability, cost and culture! All but the top ten % of income qualify for public housing, and the cost is 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of private housing. In public housing you own your unit (for 99 years) and are free to rent it out or resell it. As a prospective resident you can choose to buy on the open market or wait for a new government block to be constructed (typically a three year wait). You can get on the list for a new place and move when it is ready. One of our guides had moved ten times.
The latest models deliberately integrate all sizes of apartments to create a mix of income levels in the same building. They have vibrant community centers with a myriad of activities for all ages. And while they like stylish and luxury goods there is no “keep up with the Joneses” mentality here related to housing. In fact it is not “cool” to have private housing if you qualify for public housing. People actually turn down wage increases to keep their eligibility. One great result of all of this is that owners take better care of everything in their block. This is an excellent article with more info. https://www.businessinsider.com/see-inside-public-housing-singapore-hdb-million-dollars-blue-zone-2023-11#each-hdb-estate-typically-consists-of-a-few-identical-apartment-blocks-clustered-together-7
Seniors: With an aging population Singapore is shifting its support system from senior residences to extending living at home. Benefits are offered to family members caring for elders, and a network of nurses and care providers is being developed that go to the homes of seniors instead of having them come to a medical office.
Homeless: Singapore has no homeless population, for several reasons:
Sleeping on park benches or any public place is not permitted (even if attired in a Ferragamo suit). The police will intervene.
Use of drugs is a no-no, for anybody. Therefore not a homeless contributor.
Anyone who loses their job and runs out of funds is provided basic housing with a time limit. It is not free — they still have to pay something. Those with medical or mental issues are cared for in government facilities.
Their culture associates shame with not providing for yourself by working. You must find a way! And panhandling is not seen either. There is a shame in that as well.
There are so many more components to the many outcomes of their strategic planning and execution. It has been very enlightening.
We really wanted the fullest possible Balinese experience, and our ship overnighted there. So instead of four two-hour bus trips back and forth from the port to the areas of interest we rented a Balinese villa in a resort for the night. Then we organized a guide to take us to the villa with guiding along the way, and back to the ship with more guiding the next day. That also gave us the opportunity to have the conversations we shared in our other Bali postcard.
Our Royal Villa was located in a resort carved into the jungle in Ubud, very authentic, and quite a find. Four expansive rooms totaling 1800 square feet, all carved wood, totally private and with its own swimming pool. As we lounged by the pool upon arrival monkeys were moving around in the trees 40 feet away. They never bothered us.
We were offered a four course romantic dinner for two when we booked. Always game for romance we said yes, not really knowing what to expect. Wow! They led us through the dining room and past tables for two on a balcony with amazing views out over the jungle. We were already thinking “good move” when we saw those tables. Then they led us up another stairway to a private patio where we found this — just for us.
The floor and table decorations are fresh flower petals in red, pink and white – thousands of them. We asked how long it took to set up? After buying the flower petals already individually “plucked” it took two people 4 1/2 hours to arrange this. Probably obvious that this was a very special dinner.
At this point you might be thinking that we were being pretty extravagant. It seems like it when dealing with the local currency. The Royal Villa, including all fees and an expansive breakfast, was over 6 million IDR (local currency). That translates to only $340 USD. The romantic dinner for two, including all of the flowers plus cocktails and wine was $146 USD. The memories — priceless!
This is the fifth time we have “booked a room” when we already had a cruise ship cabin. Each time the experience became a cherished memory. The place we booked, the dinner and then watching things around us peacefully go to sleep — and slowly wake up the next morning all became an extra dimension and connection.
By the way, Patrick and Terry did something similar on their visit to Bali last year. We had fun comparing notes, and his suggestions were very helpful.
Kangaroos grow to the size of a human, yet at birth they are the size of a grape. They somehow crawl from the birth canal up the fur of their mother, drop into the pouch and attach themselves to a teat. After several months they may venture briefly outside of the pouch — but it will remain their bed for 6 – 8 months. And they are always called joeys as babies.
But wait, there is more! They are so small birth must not hurt, and the process of giving birth is apparently an aphrodisiac — so the new mom immediately looks for a mate to create another one. There are actually four teats in her pouch, so plenty of capacity. A second joey can quickly come along, while the first one moves over to a larger teat. Then perhaps a third. The largest teat is used by a joey no longer living in the pouch yet still needing nourishment.
There are 45 million kangaroos in Australia, vs. 25 million humans. Guess it works!
Emus are quite a different story, and very much a women’s liberation one. As adults they are also the size of humans, yet they begin their journey as large eggs. During mating the females thump their legs against their chest to signal that they are “in the mood”, and the males plume their feathers and dutifully follow the females around to compete to be the chosen one.
The female chooses and prepares the nesting site. Once she lays the eggs she wanders off to find her next mate, never looking back. The male dutifully remains on the eggs 24/7, not even leaving for food or water for himself throughout the 56-day incubation period. After the eggs hatch, the male takes on the crucial role of caring for and protecting the adorable baby emus. The chicks are covered in soft downy feathers and are remarkably independent from hatching, capable of walking and following their father within hours.
The father does not feed them. Rather they learn from the outset by observation to feed themselves. They become more independent after 6 – 8 months, yet the family roots remain strong throughout their lives. Presumably “dad” is available for a repeat after 12 – 18 months.
Our winery visit guide shared this info with us. Who knew?
Ever wonder how mail was sorted before all the big and fast machines? Neither had we, until we saw this photo in Postal Lane in the center of Melbourne.
We learned that as Melbourne grew rapidly in the 1800’s the number of postal sorters grew from three to dozens to 2,500. They were housed in a small street linked to the central post office that was covered to create a workspace. A common practice to support the growth. By the mid-1850’s there were 80 named lanes, dedicated to a variety of uses.
Today these lanes, alleyways and arcades (the covered ones) are a huge part of Melbourne’s shopping and dining charm. Winding through them is one of the things we love about being here for the third time (actually Jim spent six months here leading a consulting team 30 years ago). Today Postal Lane is mostly food. It is quite modest by comparison to many others, yet helped shape the trend then and now.
Like so much of Melbourne, these lanes and alleyways have been amazingly well preserved. They are all now covered by heritage status, which is widespread here and strongly protected.
Royal Lane, completed over 150 years ago in 1869, is the standard bearer for shopping.
People wonder how one travels for six weeks? We think there are several secrets, with the first two related to pacing:
We make sure our plan has variety, and avoid overdosing on any one category (e.g. cathedrals, parks, etc.)
We always plan a total day off every 4th or 5th day. The luxury of not having an alarm and a set program for the day — just strolling, shopping, having a leisurely cafe lunch or getting a massage is so refreshing.
We find wash and fold places to do our laundry by the bag, not by the piece
Before we sign off one last story that we love — about Maria G. She has become one of the most iconic people in Sicily because her story of being left at a nunnery by her struggling mother to the pinnacle of her profession is so inspiring. We went to her shop and had some of her amazing pistachio treats, and saw her at work.
Our good weather bubble finally burst — for just a day. After no rain at all since May Siracusa got so much in a few hours that streets were flooding up to hubcaps. 1/4 of their annual average.
We have been intrigued by Sicily for a long time — for its food, wine and folklore. Now that we are here we are learning and experiencing a lot, and really enjoying it. Our twelve days here is taking us around the entire island, and we have traversed a lot of “country roads”.
It has been inhabited since 12,000 BC, and around 750 BC was host to Phoenician and Greek colonies who left behind a wealth of archaeological treasures to explore.
Sicily has been part of Italy since the unification in 1860. Like Scotland in the U.K., they have their own Parliament which has limited powers within the constitution.
Over the years Sicily has been ruled by Pagans, Christians, Byzantines and Normans among others — and now Italy. Churches reflect all of those periods and influences.
Their farmland is rich, enabling amazing food. 40 million olive trees with only 6 million residents. After enjoying it for more than a month now all of our future olive oil will hopefully come from Puglia or Sicily.
The Mafia is real and part of daily life. We learned that its origin dates back several hundred years. Wealthy yet absentee landowners paid small “militia” to protect their properties. When Italy was unified there were only a few hundred people providing all of the services to remote Sicily, and the Mafia flourished by providing protection and services. Today many Mafioso have become wealthy and are now even part of the governance structure. Let’s just say that they take good care of their own.
Pasta is really really good. So is gelato. We learned to make a number of kinds of pasta in a cooking school and got to utilize a pasta guitar. It is shown in the photo below. One puts the sheet of pasta on it, rolls it across the “guitar” wires, then strums the wire and the pasta separates into linguine. Big fun!
The next postcard will be the last from this trip. Hope everyone at home is doing well.
