Midnight in the Mall of Good and Evil
Thursday, July 12, 2007

A huge new faux downtown, right alongside the old downtown, at a cost of $900 million. Imagine how much they put into this computer-generated video, though you have to imagine pretty hard to see trees this size, as there's not a tree on the site right now.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:03 AM 0 comments

Write A Letter
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

When I was growing up, a common line we used to encourage complainers to stop complaining was, "Write a letter." Now comes word that it may actually work! My Dad sent along this link to these tips:

1. Take Notes.
2. Act Fast.
3. Send the Letter to Somebody.
4. Keep it Short and Polite.
5. Ask for Something.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

NYT Overdoses on Savannah
Friday, June 29, 2007

How can this be? The NYT runs its second article about ghost tours in Savannah in the last month! Actually, I know the answer: Somebody else wanted, and needed, a boondoggle! Good for them, and us, but enough already.

CERTAIN things about Savannah never change — it remains one of America's loveliest cities, organized around a grid of 21 squares, where children play, couples wed and, in the evenings, lone saxophonists deliver a jazz soundtrack. But that doesn't mean Savannah has nothing new to offer. Perhaps most notable is a budding art scene that includes the high — a major expansion of the Telfair Museum — and the low — a scene energized by students and instructors at the booming Savannah College of Art and Design. Civic boosters are even trying to reposition the region as the “Creative Coast.” And then there is change of another kind: restoration. Before iron-clad protection of the historic district was established, Savannah lost 3 of its 24 squares to developers. Now one of the oldest, Ellis Square, long dominated by a parking lot, is being restored to its antebellum glory.

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Posted by B Feiler at 9:20 PM 0 comments

Shutterflies
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

A perfect gift for Mrs. Feiler Faster, having married into a family of Nikon toters but not quite knowing an f-stop from an IHOP.

Taking photos while traveling used to be an afterthought, like airport souvenirs. But thanks to the boom in digital cameras, vacation photos have proliferated like spam. There’s no film to waste, no Fotomats to visit and oodles more pictures to clog e-mail inboxes. But are those pictures any good?

A growing number of shutterbugs seem to think not, and that has given rise to a popular new trend in travel: photography safaris. Combining guided tours to exotic locales with hands-on instruction, photo safaris seek to turn the everyday Ofoto user into a budding Ansel Adams.

“They are a huge and growing market,” said Reid Callanan, the director of Sante Fe Workshops (www.santafeworkshops.com), a photography school that offers dozens of tours every year, including a seven-day workshop in Tuscany with National Geographic photographers. “Everybody and their brother, most major photo magazines and many photographers are doing them.”

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:01 AM 0 comments

Machu Pichu and Florida Southern College

I realize that Top 100 lists are meant to outrage, but Machu Pichu, Bethlehem and New Orleans make the list of 1op 100 most endangered places along with Florida Southern College? Please.

New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged historic neighborhoods, the Church of the Holy Nativity under Palestinian control in Bethlehem, cultural heritage sites in Iraq and Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary in Peru are among the locations listed on the fund's top 100 most endangered.

The U.S. locations also include historic Route 66, the fabled east-west highway flanked by eccentric, deteriorating attractions, and the New York State Pavilion, a rusting remnant of the 1964 World's Fair in New York City's Queens borough.

"On this list, man is indeed the real enemy," Bonnie Burnham, president of the New York-based fund, said in a statement. "But, just as we caused the damage in the first place, we have the power to repair it."

This year's list of the 100 most endangered sites includes 59 countries. The United States is home to more listed sites than any other country at seven, including types of development such as "Main Street Modern" public buildings that symbolized progress after World War II. There are six sites listed in Peru and five each in India and Turkey.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

Embassy For Sale
Friday, May 4, 2007

The State Department is having a White Elephant Sale.

From Kinshasa to Katmandu, Bangkok to Bogota, U.S. embassies, ambassadorial residences and other diplomatic digs are up for sale as the State Department moves its employees to more secure locations, upgrades facilities and combines operations in multipurpose compounds.

Some 29 properties worth more than $205 million are now on the market in 21 countries, including a huge and historic embassy annex in the heart of London, large chancery buildings in Panama, Nicaragua and Nepal and homes fit for envoys extraordinary in Belize and Venezuela.

The former house of the No. 2 at the U.S. Embassy in Canada, once featured in a Paul Newman film, is also for sale, as is a magnificent manse in the steamy Indonesian capital of Jakarta and a gem with multiple swimming pools and tennis courts in Ivory Coast.

With an asking price of $180 million, the immense former Navy Annex fronting Grosvenor Square in London's Mayfair district is probably beyond most budgets. Ditto for the old U.S. Embassy in Nepal, $6 million, described as a "grand colonial estate."

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:01 AM 0 comments

"My Wife Made Me Do It"
Tuesday, May 1, 2007

It's been a busy week for Noah -- a new movie, a new museum exhibition, and now a new yacht in the Netherlands. Er, ark. Real life! Real size! His wife made him do it!

The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was thrown open Saturday -- you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years -- drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder.

Of course, it's only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan's fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. (Watch a tour of the replica Ark Video)

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

"The design is by my wife, Bianca," Huibers said. "She didn't really want me to do this at all, but she said if you're going to anyway, it should look like this."

A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine -- biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been.

Not to nitpick a tourist attraction (or an AP writer) but that would be 5,000 years...

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:01 AM 0 comments

The First Kermit
Tuesday, April 10, 2007

In the wake of my reporting on Atlanta as the new, go-to destination for famlies with kids, a friend writes:

Hey Bruce, if you are in the ATL with kids you have to check out the museum of puppetry.Its awesome. They have the 1st kermit and a full size Big Bird puppet thereas well as some other really cool things for kids. Even if your kids are too bigfor sesame street its something fun to do.

Here's a link.

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Posted by B Feiler at 9:43 PM 0 comments

Atlanta Is For ... Little Ones?!
Monday, April 9, 2007

I'm in Atlanta for a few days doing research on my new book and I have virtually no access to a computer. In the meantime, I've run into a few articles in recent days about the changes coming to this traditionally uninteresting tourist and food city. The NYT even announces it's now a great place for kids:

ATLANTA has reinvented itself again.

When the city last grabbed the national spotlight as host of the 1996 Summer Olympics, it had transformed itself into a pedestrian-friendly metropolis in full party mode. Now, it has re-emerged as a tourist destination with a surprising child-oriented focus.

The city is still a place rich with the echoes of history, the Civil War and the civil rights movement. But it's also a place that offers the teen-and-younger set — on a recent visit, my brood included my son, then 14, and my daughter, then 7 — many attractions geared especially for them, beginning with the $200 million-plus Georgia Aquarium, called the world's largest, that opened in late 2005.

With a metro-area population of five million, Atlanta is a real city, one that may have more than its share of urban woes (traffic, crime), but one that also has bohemian neighborhoods that make for funky exploration and ethnic communities with lively shopping and dining. If your kids are old enough to appreciate what a great metropolitan center has to offer, they'll love Atlanta all the more.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:03 PM 0 comments

Put on Those Hiking Shoes
Monday, March 26, 2007

This email brought a smile to my face this weekend:

I'am sure you do not remember me but I met you in Cleveland last fall....my question my seem silly to you, but I would greatly appreciate your answer. I am going to Israel this June and July and we are going to visit many of the archeological digs and I thought someone with your experience could tell me the best shoes to buy for this trip since we will be walking a lot. This has been a dream for me since I was a very young girl (I am now 70). If there is anything else I should know I would love it if you could tell me.

I am a Christian but I believe that Christ, being a Jew, did not intend to start a new religion, but man just seems to want everything tied up with rules, etc.

Thank you in advance and God Bless you for the great writing and congrats on your new family, girls are great I have 6 granddaughters...we don't do boys I guess.
Any tips? To send me your own email, click here.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:01 AM 0 comments

"Namibia Is Nothing"
Sunday, March 11, 2007

Though it doesn't come up here a lot, I do have an ongoing gig as a contributing editor at GOURMET. Consider this a heads up that I have a piece in the March issue, now on stands, about Namibia, based on a trip I made their last August. Here's how it's described on the website:

Remote Control
Namibia is one of the most barren, most peaceful, and least-known countries in southern Africa — and it's poised to become the next frontier of luxury travel.
The piece is not online, but Gourmet.com contains some exclusive photos not used in the shoot. Here is one. I hope you enjoy the piece.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:01 AM 0 comments

Why Are Cheap Hotels So Ugly?
Monday, March 5, 2007

And might that be changing. Sitting in a run-down Marriott last week in Louisville, I ran across this article that fashionable design, the kind seen in many upscale hotels, might be going downscale.

TRAVELERS who are tired of paying top dollar for trendy hotel rooms may soon get a break. A new wave of hotel chains, designed with fashionable but price-sensitive travelers in mind, is on the rise.

The hotel companies creating the new chains, which they often refer to as lifestyle hotels, aim to marry the stylish sensibilities of so-called boutique hotels with the low prices normally associated with budget brands. With a focus on modern design, the latest in technology and cool lobbies with social scenes, the hotels cater primarily to young business travelers. But with room prices expected to be $150 or less — well below the going rate at other hotels emphasizing contemporary design — the new chains may be a welcome alternative for vacationers, too.

The idea:

The new concept is to offer more bang for your buck by providing “the features and services of a more upscale hotel at a lower price point,” said Bjorn Hanson, global hospitality leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Each room at Cambria Suites, a new all-suites brand from Choice Hotels International, will offer MP3 plug-ins, a CD and a DVD player, free high-speed wireless Internet and two flat-panel television sets. The first Cambria Suites is scheduled to open in April near the airport in Boise, Idaho, and others will follow later this year in Savannah, Ga.; Green Bay, Wis.; Appleton, Wis.; and at the Akron-Canton airport in Ohio.

NYLO Hotels, a new brand created by a group of veteran hoteliers including Michael Mueller, a former senior vice president of development for Starwood, will offer similar electronic features along with loftlike accommodations with high ceilings, exposed brick, and large windows. Each hotel will have a business center, a 24-hour restaurant and a gym with showers and steam rooms.

And in Savannah, too! Photos from the Cambria website.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:01 AM 1 comments

Do Not Stand in Line
Friday, February 9, 2007

My flight from LAX to Seattle left without me on Wednesday night, even though I was waiting in the gate area, just feet from the door. The P.A. system didn't work and the plane left ten minutes early, unannounced. Basically it was virtually empty and they wanted to shove off. I got bumped to the next flight and lost a precious hour of sleep on the other end.

Then my sister sends along this email.

If your flight is cancelled, you can invoke Rule 240 (an old rule still on file at the U.S. Department of Transportation), which says the following: In the event of any irregularity of any kind whatsoever (other than that caused by weather), the airline must immediately rebook you on the NEXT available flight (not THEIR next available flight). In other words, the next available flight on any legacy carrier - American, United, Delta, U.S. Air, Continental, Northwest, etc. Airlines like JetBlue or Southwest, which do not have interline agreements with the legacy carriers, are exempted.

If you are already at the gate - or worse yet, on the plane - when you learn that your flight is delayed or cancelled, do NOT stand in line. Instead, use your cell phone or a pay phone to call the airline's 800 number, and ask them to invoke Rule 240 for you. They'll know what that means, and off you'll go, hopefully to your destination.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 0 comments

Ghetto Chic
Friday, January 26, 2007

A few years ago I spent a week in Rome writing about the Jewish community for a GOURMET special issue on the City. I learned how to cook Jewish artichokes, went to a festival at the thriving Jewish community center, attended a wedding. Naturally I spent a few days walking around the ghetto, just steps from the river, where Jews were locked in every night for centuries and prevented from taking a stroll along the water with their lovers, their children, their grandparents. Many were forced to attend church.

Few Jews were living there then, and the neighborhood wasn't all that chic. It was a history lesson, one that most Jews of the City wanted to keep alive, but certainly didn't need to wallow in. Along comes the NYT today for some reason expressing sadness that the Jews of Rome don't want to live in the place where their great-parents or higher were forced to live. It's exactly the kind of false piety that can be annoying in journalism about the Jews, but it does give an update on the area for anyone who dreams about visiting, or hasn't been in a while:

High real estate prices, not violence or bias, are driving the last Jews from their homes in the old ghetto, which is slowly transforming itself into a trendy enclave for the rich and famous. Experts say only 200 or 300 Jews remain, in a neighborhood that numbered perhaps 9,000 after the deportation of 2,000 or more during World War II.

But there is a second paradox. Even as the number of Jews living in the ghetto drops to near nothing, Jewish life is thriving.

Rome’s Jewish school recently moved to the ghetto from a neighboring area. Jewish shops, including the first kosher fast-food restaurants, are popular. Visits to the museum at the grand synagogue have doubled in two years.

“Even if Jews no longer live in the area, they come to open their shops,” said Daniela Di Castro, director of the Jewish Museum of Rome. “So there is always Jewish life around, to work, to go to the synagogue, to buy from the kosher market, bring their children to school."

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:40 AM 0 comments

Tower of Babel
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

As someone who grew up (and still spends a lot of time) in Georgia, I hate it when people assume we still use outhouses and eat hay every day. As someone who lives in New York these days, I hate it when outsiders assume that we step in potholes and get mugged every day. Were I to live in Los Angeles, I would surely resent it that people assume we drive around in limos and get shot at in road rage every day.

Well, I'm in L.A. all week on business -- doing research on a number of projects and having a number of meetings. Today I was driving back into the city from Palm Springs, several hours east of town, and making good time (with the help of my new handy GPS), when I suddenly I encountered a wicked traffic jam. After parking on the freeway for half an hour, they actually CLOSED THE FREEWAY I was on. Closed it. Leaving my GPS confused and me lost for nearly an hour. Later, I learned that a driver had saddled up beside a Honda and fired two shots through the window, instantly killing the driver. Road rage.

After learning of this instance on the evening news, I set out from a friend's house back to my hotel. Again I was making good time, when suddenly I encountered another wicked traffic jam, this time caused by a line of 200 black Cadillac SUV's lined up to ferry guests home from The Golden Globes.

Road rage and limo jams in the same night. It's enough to make me go drink some moonshine.

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Posted by B Feiler at 2:59 AM 0 comments

New Battles of Gettysburg
Thursday, December 7, 2006

It turns out Gettysburg is facing two other battles these days. The first is over a proposal to build a casino nearby that could bring the state up to $300 million annualy. Preservationists are crying foul and the regular NIMBY folks are claiming that the battlefield would be at risk. Here's a summary. A decision is expected later this month.

The other skirmish is over the old cyclorama building that is scheduled to be torn down when the Visitors' Center moves into new digs up the road in 2008. The current center and cyclorama building are on Cemetery Hill, centerpiece of the battle. In an odd alliance, historic preservationists are saying that the structure, built in 1958, is more historically valuable than the land on which it sits. Eh? They filed suit this week in Federal Court. Their case seems pretty lame.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:23 PM 0 comments

Hallowed Ground




More on Gettysburg later, but I thought I would post a few images from dusk on a wintry afternoon. The first image is from the center (aka "the copse") of the Union line, where the North repelled Pickett's Charge. The second is a view of Little Round Top, one of the decisive battles of the war, first as it was this week, then as it was in July 1863.



This last image is of Father William Corby, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross who is best known for giving a general absolution to around 300 Northern troops on the second day of the battle and who later went on to serve twice as President of Notre Dame.

[Click on thumbnails to enlarge. The images on the left were taken by me; the images on the right are public domain images from the era.]

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Posted by B Feiler at 11:43 AM 0 comments

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