Ukraine --New York Times on Bruno Schulz murals

The other day I posted information on the (stolen) murals by Bruno Schulz going on show (finally) at Yad Vashem.... here's a link to a New York Times piece on the exhibit.

Camera Critters

Click on the side bar and join Misty and other for critters all over the world.
Thanks to Aileni for naming this ugly creature
Moray Eel:
My son went to Seaside last weekend to watch my grandson's last basketball game. They went to the aquirium there, so he took this photo of this ugly creature. It is huge.

Dubai: destination re-branding urgently required - from 'playground of the rich' to the complex compelling place we know it can be

"Dubai has always been seen as a playground for the rich. What is the Dubai tourism authority doing to pull in people with less money?" That was one question among others that came to me Friday via the DK-Rough Guides PR office, as author of DK's Top Ten Dubai and Abu Dhabi guidebook, from a London journalist writing a story on Dubai. Although I suggested he contact Dubai Tourism for comment, I still shared my thoughts. While Dubai Tourism has appeared to focus on marketing Dubai as a luxurious, safe 'sun, sand and shopping' destination, the media, which loves covering the rich and famous and the glitz and glamour, has lapped it. There's no denying Dubai does luxury well (better than many places), but it's always been so much more than simply a lavish destination where you can spoil yourself silly, especially to the people who live in Dubai. When I lived in Al Mankhool, for five days a week my everyday experiences were more centered on Dubai's gritty backstreets (the 'off-the-beaten-track') and the city's heritage, culture and arts. We'd regularly walk to the Creek and Bastakiya, wander through Bur Dubai souq to Shindagha, both for exercise and to shop at the Shindagha supermarket, browse the souqs at Bur Dubai or across the Creek at Deira, or see a traditional performance at the Heritage and Diving Village. We'd frequently stroll along the Creek and through the parks, especially Al Seef Road and Za'abeel Park. We'd attend opening nights at galleries like The Third Line and B21, and we'd go to events like the Dubai International Film Festival. Occasionally we'd do very 'local' things like watch the camel training or even go falconing with some of the local guys. It was only on weekends when we'd go out with friends for drinks, dinner and a dance, at the bars, restaurants and clubs in the five-star hotels that we'd experience 'luxury Dubai'. But our Dubai, the Dubai most locals and many expats (not all) experience, is the one I've always tried to promote through our guidebooks and writing like our Insider's Guide to Dubai. But while Dubai for us is a set of complex experiences and representations, for much of the global media and potential tourists (as I'm reminded everyday) it's nothing but a luxury destination. It's time Dubai Tourism gets serious about re-branding Dubai and telling the world about the things its residents love about the place. Don't you think?

Once upon a time in Dubai: when the fairy tale doesn't unfold (or get told) the way they wanted it to, Or, Why the media needs to grow up

"A couple of years ago when I first started reading travel articles about all the new develop- ments in Dubai, I could never have guessed that this would happen," Erica from Blissful Travel wrote in response to my post on Dubai yesterday, which was actually a pointer to Terry's post on Dubai's Global Reporting Meltdown over at Wide angles, wine and wanderlust, so read that first. I spontaneously began my response to Erica this morning with "I couldn't have imagined it either... unless perhaps I'd given it some serious thought..." So I did give it some thought...

This should probably begin with "Once upon a time..." Because I'm thinking this is a bit of a fairytale, a rags-to-riches story. Well, that's how The Media likes to make it out. Or rather have it play out. You see, in the beginning Dubai was a media darling. She was Cinderella after her makeover at the ball. Or - because I should use a more contemporary analogy - she was like the beautiful young starlet who suddenly appears on the Hollywood scene. She gives an okay performance in an indie film, but she's attractive and has charisma. She wears the glammest dress and most gorgeous gems to the ball, or rather, the Oscars, and all of a sudden she's in the spotlight. Everyone's talking about her. And The Media starts writing about her. Everybody catches on and suddenly she's everywhere. She's on every talk show, every gossip site, in every magazine. Life couldn't be more perfect for this rising star. Who wouldn't want this much attention? Everyone wants to be her, to be with her, to live her glamorous lifestyle, to feel part of her 'in' crowd. But then she makes a mistake or two... a bad dress choice or movie role, a bad boyfriend? And then she really messes-up in their eyes... perhaps a racial slur? Filmed taking drugs? Or worse, in a none-too-flattering position in a park (or at a beach?) without clothes on? But the starlet doesn't care. She was an indie film goddess to begin with after all. She fascinated and intrigued long ago - even if it was just her friends and family. So then, The Media turns on her, her fans (who never really knew her anyway) turn on her. They're all against her now and are gleefully showing her at her worse, and printing all those bad hair days. The thing is... there's a career and a livelihood at stake here. So what will the starlet do next? Is an image makeover in order? Or does she need to prove that she can really perform? (Because her family and friends know she can shine.) Should she even care? SohHow do you think this story is going to play out? Because we know we're nowhere near an ending yet...

Lithuania -- Paradox, contradictions and a new Jewish tourism office

Synagogue in Vilnius. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Haaretz has run a long and very interesting article discussing the schizophrenia exhibited by Lithuanian authorities vis-a-vis Jews, Jewish culture, historic memory and the like. It is pegged to a "cultural offensive" by the Lithuanian Embassy keyed to the Jerusalem International Book Fair.

This cultural offensive, however, is not being welcomed wholeheartedly. Despite the fact that one of the sessions to be presented at the fair will deal directly with the subject of the Holocaust (Is It Still Difficult to Speak about the Holocaust in Lithuania? at 5 P.M. Tuesday), the Lithuanian-sponsored campaign has been met with some derision by those who see it as a mere fig leaf to cover an official reluctance in the country to deal with its anti-Semitic past.

Calling Lithuania's participation in the book fair "propaganda," Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel office, told Haaretz that Lithuania, the country with the highest percentage of Jews killed during the Holocaust, has been a 'total failure' at bringing Nazi collaborators to justice.

Read the Full Article


The article, by Raphael Ahren, is thoughtful and presents a good picture of the contradictions and paradoxes of the situation.

He quotes the Lithuanian ambassador to Israel as being

convinced that her country's interest in its Jewish past is genuine and sincere. Jews have been in Lithuania for already six or seven centuries, they're a part of our culture and it's part of our mentality, part of heritage and history, she said when asked about her country's presence at the book fair. The Jews who lived in Lithuania before World War II contributed a lot to our culture, philosophy and mentality, and also to research in a lot of scientific fields. The Baltic country wants to present those parts of our history to the Israeli public, she said.

The Vilnius Yiddish Institute opened at the University of Vilnius in 2001, there is a new Jewish tourism office in the capital city, and in 2007 a Jewish nursery school started teaching Yiddish to its children in an attempt to preserve the language as Ashkenazi Jews' mother tongue.

Recently, however, I got a long email from Wyman Brent, detailing some of the bureaucratic (and other) problems he has had in trying to put together and donate a Jewish library to Vilnius... Last I heard, he has 165 boxes of books en route as a gift to the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, but, he says, "The museum is in dire straits as the government is now saying that it will no longer pay for the necessities of water, gas and electricity" and one of the museum's buildings may have to close down....

Germany -- Emigration Museum/Jewish Museum deal

In the Czech Emigration Museum, Lichnov, 2005. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven -- a museum specializing on the topic of emigration -- got in touch with me a few days ago to bring to my attention a new ticket deal they have with the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

Visitors, in short, can buy pay the entrance fee to one of these museums and visit the other on the same ticket -- within three months of the original visit.

It sounds like a good deal to me!

I haven't visited the Emigration Center in Bremerhaven -- but I think that that is where my own grandparents (and probably great-grandparents) sailed from en route to the United States.

Indeed, as the museum points out, more than 7 million emigrants gathered in Bremerhaven between 1830 and 1974 to board a ship headed for the New World. Among them were 3 million Eastern Europeans (my own ancestors, from what today is Romania and Lithuania, would have been among them).

The German Emigration Center is Europe’s largest theme museum and in 2007 was named European Museum of the Year. It is located on the site where the ships departed from the European mainland. It features reconstructions and multimedia productions to illustrate the history of emigration. Visitors can also trace their family roots.

The Jewish Museum in Berlin presents objects form everyday life and art objects, photos, letters etc. that tell the story of German Jewish life from the Middle Ages up to the present day. It is famous for is spectacular architecture, by Daniel Libeskind.

There are, in fact, several museums in Europe that deal with emigration. In the little town of Buttenheim, Germany, for example, the Levi Strauss museum, in the birthplace of the inventor of blue jeans, uses Strauss's life story to tell the more general tale of (Jewish) economic emigration in the 1840s.

More general emigration museums include the big the Ulster American Folk Park, opened in Northern Ireland in 1976, which tells the story of emigration from Ireland. There is a small museum on Czech emigration to Texas in Lichnov, in the eastern part of the Czech Republic.

Sky Watch Friday

Click on the side bar and join others from around the world with beautiful photos of the sky.

Took this a couple of weeks ago.

Dubai's Global Reporting Meltdown

Speaking of Dubai, the little city-state has taken quite a beating in the media lately with a number of negative articles about its apparent economic meltdown, written as if the rest of the world weren't in recession. My partner and co-author Terry Carter, who is also a writer and photographer who blogs at Wide angles, wine and wanderlust, has posted about recent coverage in 'Dubai's Global Reporting Meltdown' in which he analyzes the sloppy journalism that at times verges on racism. Take a look and let us know what you think.

The reward of rituals when we travel

Don't you love a good ritual? I do. And some cultures are just so good at doing them. Middle Eastern cultures especially. Take the carpet buying ritual with its unfurling of rug after rug over countless cups of tea. The Italians are do rituals well too, from the late afternoon aperitivo, essentially cocktails somewhere in the sunshine with complimentary snacks that these days verge on a buffet meal, to the passeggiata, that see-and-be-seen evening promenade when the whole community comes out in their best threads to do laps of the town and socialize. When I'm normally at 'home' (we've been on the road three years now!), I love my rituals. And none more so than my weekend ritual in Dubai (and before that Abu Dhabi), which for me was the only way I found worked best to wind down, and that was to relax with a Morrocan mint tea (the pot jammed with fresh fragrant mint) and a dish of sweets (either baklava or Turkish delight, whatever was around), perched on the bench by my window where I could look down and watch the action in the neighbourhood street below. One pot of tea and all was right in the world again. The thing I love about identifying and adopting rituals when I travel is that they make me feel at 'home'. And I don't mean Dubai, or even Australia, but they make me feel at home in the city we're staying in, especially if we're there renting an apartment for a while. Joining the locals in their daily rituals is, I guess, just one way of trying to live like a local, and that's partly what travelling is about for me. What about you?

My latest Ruthless Cosmopolitan column -- klezmer music and the ghost of German past

Me and the Painted Bird in Freiburg

Here's a link to my latest Ruthless Cosmopolitan column -- on Punk Cabaret klezmer danse macabre in Germany. In other words, a concert in Freiburg by Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird at the height of the uproar over the pope's rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop... I've written about klezmer music in Germany a lot over the years (including in a long section of my 2002 book, Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe.) The scene keeps changing and evolving -- and the political edge and genre mix of Daniel's group illustrates this. It may not be "pure" pre-war shtetl music, but it's rooted there, and it takes the music into the 21st century. It was a great concert, and the band's new CD -- Partisans and Parasites, is also worth buying.

FREIBURG, Germany (JTA) -- At the height of the recent uproar over Pope Benedict XVI's rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop, I attended a klezmer concert in the pontiff's native Germany.

The timing was coincidental. I didn't deliberately set out to counter the pernicious folly of denying history by listening to music rooted in the culture the Nazis sought to destroy.

Still, the concert started me to thinking -- about what and how we remember; about what and how we forget; and about the role contemporary cultural expressions play in determining how we think about things.

I had been to many klezmer concerts in Germany in the past. The traditional music of East European Jews has had a wide following here since the 1980s, when American and other artists began to tour. Scores of homegrown klezmer bands have been formed, and several leading American Jewish music performers settled in Berlin or elsewhere in the country.

Germany's particular history, of course, played a role in the music's popularity.

Some Germans, especially those from older generations, became attracted as part of the manifold process of dealing with the Nazi legacy that is commonly known here as "working through the past."

For more youthful musicians and fans, however, the baggage of guilt is mostly absent. For some, the klezmer sound simply forms part of the eclectic exoticism of world music. For others, its rich cultural contexts provide stimulus for their own creative interpretation.

The group I saw this time was The Painted Bird, a Berlin-based band pointedly named for the Holocaust novel by Jerzy Kosinski. Known for making music with a sharp political edge, the band describes itself on its MySpace page as "Punk Cabaret + Radical Yiddish Song + Gothic American Folk + Klezmer Danse Macabre."

Its leader is Daniel Kahn, a 30-year-old Detroit native who forms part of the current wave of American Jewish musical transplants to the German capital.

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A night at the opera in Verona, or, When is opera not opera? When it's pure spectacle

We should have known this wasn't going to be a normal night at the opera when the crowd at the Arena at Verona started doing the Mexican wave. I'd only seen the Mexican wave at the football, so it was quite a shock - at the opera no less, but at Verona's Arena? But maybe that should have been less of a surprise, given that the ancient Roman amphitheatre - Italy's most perfectly preserved and built in AD30 - was a venue for gladiator matches long before it showed Aida. Admittedly, the opera hadn't started yet. Well, it had eventually begun after a lengthy delay of a couple of hours, as the mightiest and most foreboding black clouds we'd ever seen started rolling in before deciding to settle upon us. But then the performance was stopped soon after so the stage hands could batten down the set after the wind began to howl, knocking over an ancient Egyptian pillar or two that had so far stood the test of time. But the dramas had begun much earlier that evening...

When I'd gone to collect the tickets I'd been told would be easy to get from the press office, naturally they weren't there. Although I was encouraged to come back later while they would "see what they could do", when I returned there were no tickets, the opera was about to begin, and (despite showing my business cards and referring to the letters of commision I'd previously emailed; we were there researching guidebooks, you see), the guy in the press office melodramatically accused me of simply trying to get seats for free. I reacted appropriately, turning on my heels and storming off to the box office, determined to buy the most expensive seats left in the house and return to throw them in his face, then head off to dinner. However, when I asked the woman at the box office what seats were left and explained our predicament, she sincerely apologised - unfortunately there weren't any decent seats left, they'd sold out weeks ago, but she'd give me a couple of tickets up top for free! Thinking this must be karma, I forgot about the press guy and we charged in and hurriedly hiked all the way up to the top section to our giddy-inducing seats, well, um... steps. A couple of hours and a couple of beers later, and somewhat lightheaded from the altitude, we were being rained upon as those around us rose and cheered with each Mexican wave.

We contemplated leaving several times, but we couldn't. We were working after all and needed to experience this. However, when Aida finally started, we were wishing we had. From those seats up in the clouds we could barely hear the opera. We could barely see it either, but we had expected that, however, we somehow expected the acoustics (or speakers) would carry the sound. No such luck. All we could hear were the giggles and nonsense-talk of the American teenage girls in the last row behind us as they sent text messages and took photos of each other on their cell phones. And just as the Mexican wave had begun so a tidal wave of bored chatter started. People began showing eachother their new iPhones and their holiday photos. Nobody could hear anything, but nor did they seem interested in watching either. It suddenly dawned upon me... the people up here weren't really there for the opera. It was all about the spectacle. If they had come for the opera they'd have bought the expensive seats down below weeks ago, the seats where you could actually see the stage and hear the sound. They just wanted to be able to say they'd been. Or to prove they had by showing their friends a photo.

A weather report: the results from my latest poll

So how much do you let the weather impact your travel plans? That's what I asked you in two recent posts (the weather, part 1: how much does it impact your travel plans & part 2: how much do you let it affect your enjoyment of travel?) and in a recent poll on Cool Travel Guide. I gave you a scenario - you were days away from travelling overseas on a big trip - and I asked you what you did about researching the weather. This is what you said: only 11% said you checked several weather websites and changed plans entirely if necessary; 55% said you checked a weather site or two and adapted the itinerary, skipping a destination, or changing direction if necessary; none of you simply watched the weather on TV and threw a coat in the bag; and 33% said you ignored the weather completely, that you'd been planning the trip for a while and nothing was going to stop you, not a little rain, a heatwave, nor even a flood or two. Fascinating stuff. One of the reasons I was motivated to explore the topic (aside from trying to prevent a young traveller from heading to a drenched Northern Queensland during the wet season!) was our own experience on a recent trip along Victoria's southern coast. Heavy fog and grey skies spoiled our experience of the normally stunning Great Ocean Road. This time the Twelve Apostles were uninspiring and the scenery drab. We were working, however, we weren't on holidays. We were updating a book, so it didn't really matter. And Terry and I had been before, over 15 years ago, when the weather was superb, and I'd also been as a child. They're the memories I'm going to hold onto!

Pictured? One of the most horrific thunderstorms I've ever seen roll in (quite literally) during the opera in the Arena at Verona, Italy, last summer. I'll tell you that story another time.

This is my World /Click here for my other site

South Africa -- Jewish Museum

This is a little far afield, but here's a link to an article by Dan Fellner about Jewish heritage sites in Cape Town, South Africa -- where, apparently, 80 percent of the Jewish population has roots in Lithuania....

Most of the important Jewish sites, including the South African Jewish Museum, the Gardens Shul, Cape Town Holocaust Center and Gitlin Library, are located in the same complex on an outdoor square in the heart of downtown Cape Town, just four blocks from the South African Parliament.

A focus was the Jewish Museum, which, the article says, attracts 15,000 visitors a year and features a "reconstructed shtetl from Riteve, Lithuania in the 1880s" with "a scale model of a school, shop and modest house. Inside the home, the table is set for Shabbat dinner."

The entrance to the museum is through the exterior of the first synagogue built in South Africa, which was consecrated in 1863. Inside are the original wooden ark and mosaic floor and other artifacts from the synagogue. [...] every window in the museum has a view of Table Mountain, which is what the Jewish immigrants first saw when arriving in Cape Town by ship.

The museum depicts what life was like for those immigrants and does so with high-tech and interactive exhibits, including a bank of touch-screen computers where visitors can research their family roots.

[...]

The museum also showcases the role played by Jews in the struggle against apartheid, including Isie Maisels, who was Nelson Mandela's defense lawyer during the 1963 trial that led to Mandela's incarceration for treason, and Helen Suzman, who for many years was the sole anti-apartheid voice in the South African Parliament.

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You can also read the article and see pictures on Dan Fellner's web site. Click HERE.

Tours In Alaska And Denali National Park

One of my favorite dream-destinations is Alaska. I read different books and watched documentaries about this land, it's nature, it's animals. Alaska Travel is something that could donate total relax, and many experiences. There are not so many places in the world where you can use Air Taxi for your trips. It is available in Denali National Park. Railroad tours are interesting too. You can cross different landscapes in one day. Well, I don't tell you about car rental and motorcoach connections.

Travel Alaska means not only visits to national parks. There are modern cities where you can feel the spirit of the first explorers and Arctic Coastal people villages where you can learn personally their culture. If you prefere, you can make a Yukon River tour or touch Arctic Polar Circle with your hands.

Maybe you like ocean life, so you can visit the Alaska SeaLife Center that is dedicated to the research, rehabilitation and education. The other destination of one-day tours is Exit Glacier.

But the most popular is surely Denali Park that is Alaska's crown jewel. Tere are the accomodations within the park where you can live really the nature. Expert tour operators will help you to plan your trip and will explain you what can you do there.

Malta -- Controversy over Jewish Catacombs. Religion versus Archeology

Controversy is brewing in Malta over the ancient Jewish catacombs. According to the Times of Malta, it appears to center over who has control of the site, what the site should represent -- purely a religious burial ground, or also a site of important archeological significance -- and how to reconcile the two.

The Jewish catacombs in Rabat were at the centre of controversy in recent days after Heritage Malta called in police when a Jewish religious delegation allegedly entered the site without authorisation.

The Jewish community in Malta is demanding that the human bones found inside the catacombs are given a proper burial according to Jewish rites.

A Jewish delegation made up of at least 10 experts, Rabbis and archaeologists from Israel and the US was brought over to Malta by the Jewish community to carry out the burial.

Heritage Malta CEO Luciano Mulè Stagno confirmed that a Jewish delegation last week entered the site without authorisation, a claim denied by a representative of the Jewish community in Malta.

"We lodged a police report and for some time a policeman was also placed on guard outside the entrance," Dr Mulè Stagno said.

Lawrence Attard Bezzina, a representative for the Jewish community, denied that the delegation entered the site unlawfully..

[ . . . .]

"We are seeking an agreement that respects their requests but is also in line with Maltese legislation. The Jewish community are looking at the site purely in religious terms as a burial site. We concur with the idea but for us it is more than just that because it is an important archaeological site of unique value," Dr Mulè Stagno said.

The site, which is across the road from the entrance to St Paul's catacombs, has never been open to the public and is currently being restored by Heritage Malta with EU funds.

The Jewish catacombs form part of the larger St Paul's catacombs complex in Rabat and were discovered at the end of the 19th century. They date back to the late Roman period some 1,500 years ago and are unique since they are Jewish catacombs within a Christian complex.

Read full article -- and make sure to take a look at the comments

Travel by Twitter: travel revolution or evolution? Case Study #2 A Paris Twi-Trip

You head out to dinner at the last minute, without a reservation, only to find that your favorite eatery that always has tables free is full. What to do? You're bored with the same-old and you didn't bring your favourite restaurant guide, so you decide to send a tweep on Twitter instead. Maybe someone knows of a fab new place to eat in your 'hood? And they do! And you quickly get a dozen other tweeps with tips... So, you can see yourself using Twitter for restaurant, hotel and bar recommendations, and no doubt other travel tips, but can you envisage planning a whole trip using Twitter? The Twitchhiker is, and in less than a week he leaves to travel the world for a month based on the kindness of Twitterers. However, The Guardian's Benji Lanyado has already conducted a variation of that experiment... Inspired by British actor etc Stephen Fry, who uses Twitter to get local suggestions when he travels, and compelled to test it out in Berlin after a flight delay, Benji set off for Paris recently on a 'Twi-trip'. He didn't plan anything in advance, arrived, then asked his Twitter-followers "I'm at the Gare du Nord, what should I do?" Have a read of Benji's Live Twi-Trip to Paris and his Verdict. Essentially, within 20 minutes Benji had received 17 suggestions, and 32 hours and 13 requests later, he'd had 253 suggestions! Apart from a few places being closed and others being miles away, Benji was pretty pleased with the tips he got. A few places he loved, such as Ateliers d'Artistes, Chartier, and Hotel Eldorado's bar, which he thought he might not have found on his own - although they have appeared in guidebooks and in the travel press. But, as Benji admitted, while he might have found lots of great stuff in a guide, he wouldn't have had as much fun. He writes: "The biggest overall impression? I've never felt so accompanied while travelling alone." The aim of Benji's experiment was to find out how Twitter can be used for travel. One thing it certainly demonstrated is, as Benji writes: "If you are at a loose end, or are looking to do something spontaneously, there are plenty people willing to help you." I'm very curious to see whether this sort of use of Twitter is just one more shift in the gradual evolution of travel, or whether it's going to represent a major revolution in the same way the Internet changed how we plan our trips and indeed how we travel.

Pictured? A bar in a very famous city. It's as popular with locals as it is with tourists - and with good reason. Do you know where it is? I bet someone out there does...

Ukraine/Israel -- Finally! Removed (or Stolen) Bruno Schulz Murals Go On View

Ruined Drohobych synagogue, 2006. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Back in 2001, Yad Vashem’s secret removal from Ukraine of Holocaust-era wall paintings by the Polish-Jewish artist Bruno Schulz touched off an international controversy. You can find links to a number of articles on the affair, including a New York Times op-ed by Sam Gruber, on the Ukraine page of the www.isjm.org web site -- click HERE then scroll down.

Yad Vashem officials physically removed parts of the murals, which have fairy tale themes, from the walls of a villa in the town of Drohobych and smuggled them out of the country to Jerusalem.

In a statement, Yad Vashem said it had the “moral right” to the paintings.

"The correct and most suitable place to commemorate the memory of the Jewish artist, Bruno Schulz -- killed by an SS officer purely because he was a Jew -- and the place to house the drawings he sketched during the Holocaust is Yad Vashem," it said.

But the move triggered outrage in Poland and Ukraine, where Schulz's works are revered as national treasures -- and where removal of art from the wartime period is strictly regulated by national law. It also drew sharp reaction from international experts involved in the protection and preservation of Jewish heritage.

Now, with the dispute settled and the mural fragments restored and conserved, Yad Vashem is finally putting them on display -- it presented them publicly last week.

The exhibition "Bruno Schulz: Wall Painting Under Coercion," includes fragments of three murals depicting dwarfs, princesses, horses and carriages, along with images evoking Schulz's struggles during the Holocaust. ...

The dispute was settled last year; Israel recognized the Schulz works as the property and cultural wealth of Ukraine, and the Drohobychyna Museum in Ukraine agreed to give them to Yad Vashem on long-term loan.

Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Vladislav Kornienko took part in Friday's inauguration of the new display at Yad Vashem.

"The paintings have artistic, cultural, national and historic significance both to the Jewish people and the Ukrainian people," he said. "For almost 60 years these paintings were considered legend. Today, they are revealed to this generation and to generations to come."

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The Ghost Of Atlantis

The very fresh notice about the traces of Atlantis found thanks to Google Earth. Not far from Africa, 900 km-s from Canarians.

The island existed in about 9600 BC and was described by Plato.

From that time people look for it. Imagine how much could earn who will find it! All the tourists would go only there for different years. :-)))

I don't know how deep has to be the land of Atlantis, but there are different places on the Earth where you can book a boat and go in sea to "visit" antient towns that is possible to see when the weather is good and there are not waves. For example, you can do it in Pozzuoli, not far fron Naples. Unfortunatelly, I was in Pozzuoli only in winter and in spring and could not do this "tour" to tell you my experiences, but I think it has to be interesting specially if you have your photo camera. At least something different.

This time it was an error. We have to wait that somebody will be more fortunate.

Theater Of The Sea

Surfing the web today I found this photo of Minak Theater. This place has to situate not far from Saint Levan (United Kingdom). I've never heard about it before and thought it is Greece. I wanted to find other photos of this place and was surprized to see them because this one is the less "danerous" position. From other places the theater seems to be terrificant.

There are different interesting theaters today. Like that of Pompei. There are shows very often in summer there. I think it's right to use these buildings so as they were projected. It is interesting.

Now imagine to go in this theater. I would like to sit there even without any show. To listen to the waves and to look at the birds and ships... But if it's UK, there are not so many sunny days for it. I began to love more light of the sun. Maybe I say so because I'm tired to stay in home this rainy winter...

Today's Flower/ Pampas Grass

Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) is a large perennial grass native to Brazil, Argentina and Chile. It grows in large clumps eight to ten feet high, bearing in late summer silvery-white or pinkish silken plumes which rise to a height of 12 feet.
I am not sure if this is the same kind cause it don't look real pretty right now.

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Antique Yards Of Lviv Seen From A Height

This is a city i the West part of the Ucraine. I never was there even if I had heard manydifferent opinions about it. When I wrote the post about Cathedral of Salerno, I had a conversations with one of the users of the photo-hosting site where I host and take photos for my blogs. I told I feel that the time stops when I enter the yard of the cathedral. Seems I'm in the other times when I am there.

That user answeered me that he has this impression when he visits Lviv (Lvov). So I wanted to make a Lviv-tour looking the photos of this city on that site. And I found some very special photos. The old town seen from a height.

These yards are typical for all Europe, I think. I've seen them in Lithuania, in Italy. They are nice to visit but not to live. Because the persons that live on the first floors never see sun, the yards are wet. I think, the flats are wet too. But it's interesting how the persons use every meter they have. Look at this first photo. Not only that "tube-yard", but there is a terrace too. And the second photo with the pictures on the roofs...


«Львов. двор-дудка» на Яндекс.Фотках


«Расписные крыши Львова» на Яндекс.Фотках

Travel by Twitter: Case Study #1 The Twitchhiker

You've probably twittered to get a tip from other tweepers on a new place to dine at or have a drink, right? (That was a mouthful). But have any of you ever considered planning a whole trip around Twitter alone? Well, that's exactly what
The Twitchhiker (AKA Paul Smith, writer for The Guardian) is doing. This Twitterer hasn't started his journey yet. Paul is hitting the road on the 1st March to travel as far as he can around the world in a month on the goodwill and advice of twitterers alone. His aim is to raise money for Charity: water while experimenting with Twitter as a travel tool. You can read more about Paul's experiment in this story The Twitchhiker: one man on a Twitter travel mission and more about him on his site. Take a look at the rules that Paul has set himself. For instance, he's not going to allow himself to plan ahead more than three days in advance and he can only accept offers of travel and accommodation on Twitter, from users who are following him @twitchhiker. So Paul will be relying 100% on tweeps and the kindness and suggestions of Twitterers to ensure he doesn’t go without a roof over his head. Already he writes on his blog that he's getting a bit nervous and wondering whether he'll be sleeping on park benches. Another one of his rules: if he's unable to find a way to move on from a location within 48 hours, the challenge will be over and he'll have to go home. Let's hope that doesn't happen as this is going to be a fascinating travel experiment to watch. I'm wondering if it works, whether it will change the way some of us travel, and whether it might represent a travel revolution of sorts... what do you think? One way or another, I think The Twitchhiker is going to take us all on an amazing journey.

The pic? Venice again. I'm curious to see whether our Twitchhiker makes it to cities such as Venice - and Rome, Paris and Barcelona for instance - and whether he gets to visit such major tourist destinations on the generosity of strangers alone.

Camera Critters/ Avery & Princess Playing

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This is Princess and Avery playing, Avery loves to crawl under Princess and on top of her and start biting on her leg, Princess turns around and around dragging her, They have so much fun with each other.
Here is Tom Tom watching and wanting to get in on the game

Travel by Twitter... but first, an intro to Twitter, or, what Twitter means to you

If you're not yet using Twitter and don't fully understand what it is yet - let alone how it might begin to change the way we travel - have a read of the Twitchhiker's post "What is Twitter? (Clue: It's not Facebook) where he asked his readers to describe what Twitter is and what it means to them, in 140 characters or less of course. These are just some of the insightful responses, but visit Twitchhiker to read more:
@littlecharva: SMS is whispering privately to a mate in a pub. Twitter is speaking loud enough for everyone to hear and including them in the conversation.
@rbourne: A community of thoughts, news and emotions mixed together to create an addictive service for one and all.
@markiina: Pretentious, I know, but to me Twitter is like watching the Tower of Babel being rebuilt, pebble by pebble.
@hydie: Twitter is people watching extreme!
@RachelSMorris: Twitter is like legalised stalking! making friends with strangers, sharing lives, connecting.
@brewster_d: My favourite waste of time. Random thought collector. Superficial social contact provider. Work avoider
@drewellis: Twitter introduces and connects me with new, interesting, like minded people all over the world I wouldn’t normally get to meet so quickly.
@lloydiboy: Twitter is a means of giving everyone a voice. Listen hard and the opinions of millions will touch you, make you laugh or cry.
@Catboy_Dubai: Twitter not only lets you peek through ppl’s curtains like a nosy neighbour but also allows a curtain-gap for ppl to see you.
@bungalowjoe: Twitter breaks down all cultural and class boundaries and allows people to share their viewpoint on everyday life
@maketravelfair: Twitter is a globally continuous thread of conversation that keeps you current, expands your world and engages you in it.
@bskinny72: Twitter to me is a group of new friends, comic conversations I cannot have due to lack of like minded friends, a fun distraction.
@PeteMP1992: Twitter is like loads of different birds which do great things when together, such as carrying whales.
And this one, which I love, from Paul himself:
@twitchhiker: Twitter is a room full of strangers. Talk just to your friends and you’ll leave the party early. Mingle, and you’ll learn, share and grow.
So what does Twitter mean to you and how do you think it will change the way we travel?

The image? A little bar in Venice that's pretty much locals only, apart from the odd tourist or three who are using a very good guidebook, have friends in Venice, or are perhaps getting their tips from tweeps.

Travel by Twitter: travel revolution or evolution?

How many of you have started using Twitter when you travel? For a while now I've been noticing a few tweets here and there, like "Can anyone recommend a good sushi joint in Castlemaine?" and "Checking out of the Cairo fleapit that was Lonely Planet's author choice. Alternatives please!"or "In Venice. Where are the Venetians to be found?!" But I'm wondering if two Twit-trips by travel writers for The Guardian, a recent one to Paris by Benji Lanyado and one coming up by Paul Smith AKA the Twitchhiker, are extensions of a gradual evolution of travel practices by Twitter that's already underway, or whether these journeys by Twitter represent - or perhaps might inspire - a travel revolution of a kind. Stay tuned for more thoughts on each, but in the meantime, a bit more about Twitter.

Pictured? Two young travellers looking a bit lost in Venice last summer. They could probably have done with some advice from Twitterers - or anyone for that matter. Me? I was working, sorry. It's bad enough poor Terry getting asked every ten minutes to take people's happy snaps when he's trying to shoot several hundred images for a guidebook.

Poland -- Video about non-Jewish Poles Rescuing Jewish Cemeteries

A video that profiles several non-Jewish Poles who have devoted a good part of their lives to protecting and saving abandoned Jewish cemeteries in Poland has been posted on YouTube by Menachem Daum. Called "Common Ground," it's a trailer for a longer documentary on the subject that Menachem wants to produce -- and is trying to raise funds for.



Menachem directed the wonderful documentaries "Hiding and Seeking" and "A World Apart".

He was involved with the conference of Poles who preserve Jewish heritage, held last year -- see my blog post on it.

Your Vacation In Nicaragua

Today, when you are ready to plan your vacation, I want to suggest you a new destination you have not been else. Nicaragua. You can visit Granada, the 3-d city of the country and pass romantic days booking a room in Granada Nicaragua Vacation Rental, where you can live in the antique buildin in the historic center. Small internal gardens and very beautiful pool will donate you relax after your walks and visits of sightseeings in the city.

If you prefere swimming and surf, you will find incredible beaches and waves in in San Juan Del Sur. It's a little village that is situated not too far from the most important centers but here you can enjoy relaxing calm. Book your room in San Juan del Sur Hotel that is situated only some steps from the beach. The hotel has only some very beautiful rooms and has all necessary modern facilities.

Oh, I understand, your dream is to have a property on the splendid beaches like California beach. Nothing easier. The Pacific beaches of Nicaragua are not less beautiful. Nicaragua real estate offers you want you are dreaming about. You can own not only beachfront property but land or other solutions too. This is the most intelligent investment today. Visiting the site you will find many important information about this countrie and the possibilities it offers to you.

Carnival, Italy

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24 of February is the day of the carnival here. They said it was opened in Venezia last Sunday, I think. There are not that big feasts as in North of Italy here. It is mostly for children. Even if you can see somebody wearing a costume in the street.

I remember, when I went to my friends as a tourist, there were different feasts "of a village" similar to carnival all the summer there. Residents of villages attracted tourists and visitors with these feasts and sold them everything they could. You could participate in a show, eat something made by the women of the village. One weekend it was in one village, other weekend in an other.

Storically the carnivals were organized to relieve tensions that the poor people had accumulated during the year because the life was too hard. In winter they had nothing to do and became aggressive. So the owners organized battles like orange-battle and similar. These usages exist in many cultures. In Italy, the carnival-time could continue even till 6 months.

Rea more in my post Carnival in Italy from Jan. 6, 2008


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Warsaw -- Useful (Downloadable) Jewish Travel Brochure

Panel on Jewish shtetl life from an open-air exhibition in Warsaw, 2008. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

A very useful illustrated Jewish travel guide to Warsaw is available from the Warsaw tourism office. You can get the illustrated brochure at tourist offices there or download a PDF of it by clicking HERE. (The link takes you to the English/Polish edition -- there is also an edition in Spanish and Italian.)

The brochure, which features a picture of the Nozyk synagogue on its cover, was edited by Jan Jagielski of the Jewish Historical Institute -- one of most knowledgeable experts on Warsaw's Jewish history and heritage sites. Jan's an old friend. He was a pioneer in the documentation of Jewish heritage in Poland, and back 1990 he co-wrote a more detailed guide to Jewish Warsaw that I used extensively in my own work and travels.

The new brochure, published last summer, includes photographs and descriptions of 28 sites around the city and also includes links for Jewish organizations and information on Jewish cultural events.

Brightly colored, it is one of a series of new brochures on various aspects of Warsaw, all using the same general format.

Twitter: 50 great travel tweeters

Did you see Donald Strachen's terrific list of 50 great travel related tweeters in the UK's Telegraph yesterday? Donald prefaces his list by saying "there are as many different uses as there are users, so any list of the ‘best’ tweeters is very subjective... here are 50 travel-related tweeters whose qualities I can vouch for. Each is either useful, entertaining, responsive or insightful - and the best combine all of the above." Nicely said. Personally, I think it's an outstanding and inspiring list. And not only because it includes me! (I had been wondering why my In Box was flooded with Twitter requests this morning - HI EVERYONE! - normally, they trickle in, which is nice, but today they teemed. Appropriately, considering the downpour we had here last night.) Donald has been writing quite a bit about Twitter and travel. Check out Twitter can help you plan your holiday and for those not yet signed up but keen to tweet, his Twitter 101 piece Twitter: How to set up your account. You can also read Donald's blog here where he posts about the media, travel, technology, Tuscany and other topics. You'll hear from me on Twitter and travel too. I mentioned Benji Lanyado from The Guardian's Twitter-directed Paris trip in a post the other day: What does it mean to be 'offbeat' in an age where everyone is so 'switched on'? and I want to reflect some more about that and hear your thoughts.

Pictured? Piazza San Marco, Venice, during summer, a time to avoid visiting (we had no choice we were working) unless you have Venetian friends who tweet.

Churches To Visit: Cathedral Of Salerno

Many tourists that come in Salerno want to visit the Cathedral. There is the grave of St. Matthew in the crypt there. Not many of them know about the history of this church and not many christians recognize the holy symbols that they meet there.

The curch was consecrated in 1086 and was built to make Normanns, new governors of the town, more acceptable for the residents. To "consecrate" new authorities were suddenly found the lost tomb and remains of St. Matthew.

After a bombing during the WWII the original normann church was discovered under the barocco-cover of the cathedral and bell tower, and you can see this very interesting architectural style today.

Cathedral is only some hundreds meters far from the main street. It's a place where I have to pass everytime I go to take keys of our museum and where I love to pass everytime, too.

Sky Watch Friday

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Please don't tell me this is the future of guidebooks, or, Offbeat Guides part 3: a depressing postcript

Does the world really need travel guides compiled for us from Wikipedia and/or any other online sources for that matter? Following on from my posts on Offbeat Guides part 1: my findings & part 2: my conclusion, I've been thinking about the future of travel guides... but first, the postscript: after posting part 2, I returned to Offbeat Guides for another glance at the Dubai guide to look for some author details. At the end of the Contents, I noticed a References page. I'd initially thought this might have been a further reading list. It wasn't. It turns out the Dubai guide's content came largely from Wikipedia. A few questions immediately sprang to mind:
1) Why on earth would a site marketing itself as a new travel product with its own brand 'Offbeat Guides' rely on using Wikipedia (predominantly) for its content?
2) Why wouldn't they incorporate Wikipedia into their branding? Or announce on the home page where their content is mainly coming from? (Had I have realised that from the start I wouldn't have wasted time testing their beta.)
3) How can they claim they have the most current content on the web when they're so heavily relying on Wikipedia? Not everything on Wikipedia is updated regularly. Content is only as good as the author who has written it. Or the editor editing it! And if we don't know either how can we trust it? Which leads me to my final question...
4) Why did the team behind Offbeat Guides think travellers even needed such a product?

The shelves of most good bookshops are crammed with row after row of quality travel guides written by professional authors, edited by professional editors, and produced by established guidebook publishers (DK, Rough Guides, Footprint, Fodors, Time Out, etc), and then tucked into a little corner here and there will be books in smaller numbers but sometimes produced to even greater standards, like the gorgeous Thames and Hudson Style City guides and the sexy Hip Hotels books, there'll also be a few niche guides like Hedonist's and Pulse's Night+Day series, and there might be a rack of cool guides like Wallpaper's, or a box of Luxe guides on the counter. And we haven't even started on online guides such as Triporati's travel guides and World Travel Guides, and all those excellent resident-authored city blogs that are as good as, if not better than, some published city guides... so why, when there are so many brilliant, high quality, authored guides, do we need something like this? Please don't tell me this is a sign of things to come. If anything, I was hoping that the future of travel guides would lie in more lovingly-crafted almost artisanal guides by small passionate publishers such as Love guides. Please don't tell me I'm wrong. What do you think?

Offbeat Guides part 2: my conclusions

Outdated, incorrect, misleading, poorly-written and poor choice of points of interest, the Dubai 'guide' that Offbeat Guides delivered was disappointing. It was about as current, authentic and original as the museum display pictured. My conclusions based on my findings:
1) Not an 'offbeat' bone in the guide's body: the title suggests the content's focus would be quirky and alternative in its selections. It wasn't. All mainstream.
2) Little that's customised or personalised: site promised I'd "build my own personalized travel guide". Apart from being able to input content I'd written, I couldn't pull info from other (more reliable) sources or a community, unlike other guides. Strange, because Offbeat Guides blog says they're fans of customized product companies (Lulu, Cafepress, Spreadshirt etc) which allow publishing or production of original creative content and/or community-created designs. Structure is customisable; can choose which sections you don't want.
3) Content is not original: content that appeared in the Dubai guide is already available at thousands of sites on web. Easy to check: I googled a few phrases & paras. As content appears in so many different places (legitimately, syndicated, plagiarised & as spam) it's difficult to identify original authors. This is a huge problem: how can content be trusted? What's most astounding is they expect you to pay for anonymous content. Offbeat Guides appears to be little more than a packager and retailer of readily-available (and sometimes suspect) travel information.
4) Information was out-of-date, false & inaccurate (as you saw in my findings): this was my biggest problem with the guide I tested, not only because their Twitter Bio proclaims "Most up-to-date travel guides. Ever!" but for content to have value it should to be true, accurate and up-to-date - especially if you're selling it!

The guides seem to be purely a money-making exercise. There's none of the attention to detail, originality, passion and commitment to producing quality travel content that we've seen in products such as Love travel guides. If anything, this is a strong case for traditional guidebook production (print or online), i.e. guides written by authors who can write well, are destination experts, have visited all the places, and checked all the information. If the guides were free, then I wouldn't care, but that they have the nerve to charge unsuspecting travellers is what irks me. I'd love to know what you think.

Offbeat Guides part 1: my findings

As the new travel product Offbeat Guides intrigued me and I'd been invited to try their beta, I decided to test them out with Dubai, a place few people know better than Terry and I. My shorthand notes based on the exercise:
* After signing in, selecting destination & inputting travel details, site promises I'll "build my own personalized travel guide". Seconds later my 'guide' appears:
* Intro - very general, not written by someone who knows city well OR visited in recent years; misleading ("It is essentially a desert city"), out-dated ("A relatively new tourist destination, Dubai has gained in popularity in recent years."; probably written 6 years ago); & spookily familiar: "It is a city of superlatives: for the fastest, biggest, tallest, largest and highest, Dubai is the destination." Googled that phrase & discovered thousands of sites with exact same content! Probably one of our old Lonely Planet Dubai books there somewhere too!
* False travel planning advice, eg. "While Israeli passport holders are not welcome, having Israeli stamps in your passport is not a problem." Not true! Officially it is a problem. This could get travellers turned away at airport.
* Lots of incorrect info & evidence author hasn't visited places. Examples:
"Express By Holiday Inn Dubai-Internet City... this modern hotel is downright luxurious for a Holiday Inn Express..." Confirms author hadn't been here. We've stayed here. It's comfy for budget hotel, doesn't come close to luxury.
"The Terrace Bar, Park Hyatt... a chilled out bar touching the Dubai Creek... Plays light music." No idea what 'light music' is. Obvious author hadn't been when DJ's spin weekend afternoons.
"Cafe Chic... ran by Michelin star chef Michel Rostang." Mon Dieu! It's been many years since Monsieur Rostang was around... last time we ate here Chef Pierrick Cizeron was still at helm (has been for years) & Michelin 2-starred chef-patron Philippe Gauvreau was still overseeing Cafe & visiting frequently from Lyon.
"Basta Art Cafe... sandwiches-and-salads menu is aimed squarely at tourists." Not true! Basta was very much locals-only cafe til few years ago, until writers like us & Time Out mag team encouraged tourists to go here. Customers still mainly locals/expats. Menu hasn't lost focus - we eat sandwiches & salads in Dubai too. Um, shwarma (see below) is actually an Arabic 'sandwich'.
"Shawarma is the most available (and cheap!) food in Dubai. It is meat that has been cooked on a skewer and then cut into thin strips and placed into a pita bread with vegetables and dressing." Um, no it isn't.
"Ravi Restaurant... excellent Pakistani food that is incredibly cheap. This is a must see for anyone with a spicy tooth." It's cheap, it's Pakistani, it's not pretty to look at, it's far from excellent. It's just cheap grub for those looking for a bargain meal. Nothing more. Spicy tooth, hey?
I could go on but I won't. I skimmed the rest, but generally: writing was weak & badly structured, choices were usual suspects, and it was clear writer hadn't been to most places.
While the site enabled me to incorporate my own notes, why would I want to add them to the trash that was on the page? And why I would want to pay to then have this printed (and bound?) was unclear...