I went twice to the St. Louis Art Gallery. They have several van Gogh works. This was my favourite.
I don’t know or appreciate Art. But I know what I like. And I pretty much always like van Gogh at first glance. Mad genius.
The location of this painting is literally around the corner from Vincent’s room in the attic of the Ravoux Inn on the Rue de la Sansonne in Auvers Sur Oise.
You get the feeling he walked out in the morning and was captured, for some reason, by this scene.
One of those attractions everyone wants to see in person.
I went twice. The museum inside closed both times.
The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot (192 m) monument in St. Louis, Missouri …
… the world’s tallest arch, the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere
Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States
The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967 …
The reality is better than the images.
Lovely green, clean walking, running, cycling pathways on the banks of the mighty Mississippi right downtown.
Like many of the great monuments around the world at any given time, it was under renovation.
Would it be better if it had crossed the river?
I’d like to visit the new museum in Birmingham, Alabama.
It’s inspired by the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin and the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.
Lest we forget.
I saw this photo in a St. Louis museum. People protesting lynching.
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And a few other of the top 5 happiest nations on earth.
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(via Adventure Blog)
I travel a lot.
Currently I’m buying coverage from my bank – TD Canada Trust.
I can take multiple trips / year up to 30 days at a time. Cost is about CAD $200. It jumps over $400 for maximum 60 day trips.
For my policy you must be under age-65 and have no serious pre-conditions.
Cancellation / trip interruption is NO LONGER covered. Everything else looks good.
During my two months in Patagonia 2018 I did a fair bit of research on a future cycle hiking trip.
I’d camp and hike en route.
The Carretera is far more popular now than when I did it in 2004 by bus / hitchhiking.
The Carretera Austral runs about 1,240 kilometers (770 mi) from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins through (sparsely populated) rural Patagonia. …
This area is characterized by thick forests, fjords, glaciers, canals and steep mountains. …
Among the world’s finest road trips, the Carretera Austral – or “Southern Highway” – is a 1240km route through Chile that’s mostly unpaved. Winding through millennia-old forests, it visits dusty Andean hamlets and turquoise rivers spawned from landlocked glaciers. …
Cyclists should have the skills and materials to repair their own gear, and should plan on taking a solid month for the entire endeavor. According to Italian cyclist Tomas Balzk, the hardest part was not pedaling the terrain, but ingesting enough calories. …
I was back in Bermuda for their annual Gymnastics competition. A big success.
With some free days I did some walking, running and touring.
I’ll be returning next in April.
In 2014 I bought a laptop backpack. I’d been looking for one that both wheels AND has backpack shoulder straps.
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$103.99 on Amazon. I got it on sale for CAD $103 at an Airport shop.
Within a year the wheels were already getting bad. I finally junked it March 2018.
On the road I had to replace it. Best I could find in Miami was exactly the SAME Spinner Backpack. This time it cost me US $126 + tax.
Though it’s not very durable, there are many features I really do like about the Spinner. It’s lightweight. The elevated laptop cannot hit the ground. And four wheels truly are better than two.
Miami was my connection from Santiago, Chile to Bermuda so I decided to stay over 2 nights.
I’d stayed in South Beach in 2006. Really enjoyed it then. Quite enjoyed it this time too.
After 2 months backpacking South America I needed to do some shopping. Get a hair cut.
I stayed at HI-Hostel Miami. US $45 / night.
Rick McCharles 