Chocolate Rave

Visiting Washington, DC is indeed touching the heart of the beast that moves the world in many respects. There are many of the usual attractions that any great urban center can offer, but add to this some of the most important historical relics in the story of democracy in contemporary times. And then add the rich cultural diversity that has always been at the heart of the capitol. It continues to grow and evolve in fascinating, complex, and sometimes difficult and painful directions. Touching here is touching home.

There are plenty of things, however, to offer those selective tourists who only want the best. Washington hotels can provide luxurious accommodations that fill all sorts of bills, and the only law is to enjoy the moment. A day begins here and then can go in multiple directions. And if you’re feeling peckish, there are lots of choices here, with pretty much anything you could imagine.

The soul food here is particularly good, being close enough to the South for authenticity, and close enough to New York for gourmet touches. Not that gourmet can’t exist with Southern food, and in fact, that’s a point that Chef Art , of Art and Soul, will emphasize, and his most convincing points are in the flavors. This is fantastic and elegant soul food served in a very lavish setting. The meal ticket is surely on the pricey side, but not so very high when compared to other restaurants of its quality. It shines.

On the other side of the priceline, there’s places like Madam’s Organ where staples like pulled pork and fried catfish come served up on the cheap, in a place that has pool and live music. This place has charm and character, and can be good for what ails you, certainly. There are lots of other places, too, like B. Smith’s and Soul Vegetarian Exodus, all worth checking out, while resting your heart and feet in DC.

What might draw in science fiction fans and historian buffs to the neighborhood of Society Hill in Philadelphia? The Samuel Powel House , a stately Georgian mansion, built of brick in 1765, two hundred and forty-one years ago, by a merchant and shipmaster named Charles Stedman.

Even as Stedman finished building the home, his financial difficulties forced him to sell the mansion. Unfortunately, the home’s purchase for 3,150 pounds in August of 1769, wasn’t enough to keep Stedman out of debtors’ prison. The new owner, though, would fare much better, eventually becoming the first mayor of Philadelphia under the rule of the British as well as the first mayor of Philadelphia following the American Revolution.

The new owner, Samuel Powel, was known as the “Patriot Mayor,” and he and wife Elizabeth Willing were known for entertaining many of the founding fathers and other well known guests: George and Martha Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Benjamin Rush and Marquis de Lafayette all attended functions at the mansion. John Adams described meals there as “sinful dinners” and the house furnishings and decorations as a “splendid seat.”

In the 20th Century, the owners sold much of the interior furnishings and details to museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In fact, a room of this home at 244 South Third Street is recreated at the Metropolitan. The room’s exact purpose is unknown; located behind the ballroom, it may have served together with the ballroom as a place from which to serve drinks, or it may have been the best bedchamber in the mansion.

Science fiction fans may also have an interest to find a room in Philadelphia and visit the Samuel Powel mansion because of author Harry Turtledove’s series of novels that take place in an alternative history, where the Civil War ended differently and the Confederates were allowed to secede from the Union. In the novels, the U.S. government comes to Philadelphia and the Powel House becomes the new White House.

This is the story of when she went wandering, looking for the ghost of Andre Gregory, and found traces of him in Nashville in the form of a rabbit’s foot . Or perhaps it was the rabbit’s hair, or even the hare that lost the foot that started it all. She was asking questions, waking up and asking questions, and wondering how this connects to that, and where things might get crossed, and how this one speaks to that one, even though that one can’t always hear.

The hare hears, however, and this seemed important to her, enough to keep going forward. Somewhere between the cafe and the hotel she lost her plane ticket back home. This is a problem, and perhaps not a simple one, but with a simple solution, and all that she had to do was to find a place to print, and a place to make a few phone calls.

Somewhere outside of the cafe, she heard a voice calling behind her, and when she turned around, there were twins who were staring straight at her, but not looking at her. They were cross-eyed, both, and standing one to a side, as it should be, and hoping she wouldn’t notice their good eyes were focused somewhere behind her, where there were more things to do than she’d imagined when she woke up that morning.

She is back in the cafe, and she is speaking at a table now well covered in cups and memories and contradictions. It’s a long dinner in Nashville, and she is happy that she came. There are always guests here, and the new friends she makes are brilliant and charming, and she sometimes misses the old ones, but here, she is taller and shorter by turns, and that’s something hard to come by. She wonders, however, about the cat , and why it still insists on invisibility, even though it has to become the moon every now and then, bringing the city a light at night.

Known as the largest monument in the United States, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri is more than a symbol of the nation’s territorial expansion to the west. To architect Eero Saarinen, it was his heart and soul and he unfortunately died before he could see his now famous arch completed. It all began with a two-stage architectural competition in 1947 in which there were over 170 entrants. Many of the big name architects of the era had submitted, including Eero’s father, Eliel. Rumor has it, when the telegram was sent out to “E. Saarinen,” the family mistakenly assumed that Eliel was selected as one of the five finalists. Winning the design competition now established Eero as an independent architect, allowing him to step out from his father’s shadow.

Receiving his first commission was the easy part for Eero. Getting it designed and built was another story. The arch is made up of triangular shaped sections that are stacked on top of each other, gradually decreasing in size as the arch gets taller. The inner walls of the triangular sections are carbon steel plates and the outer walls are stainless steel plates with post tension cables and concrete grout filling the spaces in between. As the arch got taller, a creeper derrick was specially designed to lift sections of it into place. When the arch reached about 600 feet, a stabilizing truss was installed to brace each of the legs. To install the final section, jacks were utilized to separate the legs. It would take 16 years for the first triangular stainless steel section of the arch to be installed and another two years for it to be completed on October 28, 1965. The Gateway Arch is known as a weighted centenary curve that stands 630 feet high and 630 feet wide. It cost less than $15 million to build.

A visit to the Gateway Arch is worth including on your next vacation . Museum tours and tram rides to the top are available.

In 1990, the Gateway Arch won the American Institute of Architect’s 25-Year Award. In 1962, Eero Saarinen was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal, the highest achievement an architect can attain. Today, the arch serves as a powerful symbol honoring those pioneers who sought a new life out west.

It was really windy when we left Houston, Texas. We were on our way to San Antonio and we had no idea that Texas could get so cold – 40 degrees! During our drive, we did our best to see the beauty in the flat land, which apparently is great for cattle, cause that’s about all we saw, was cattle grazing on flat land. We wondered how hard it was for the ranchers to find and round up all their cattle. My boyfriend told me cowboys wore chaps to prevent the mesquite trees and live oak from scratching their legs up. He said they even made their horses wear leather from the neck down to the horses chest.

I saw my very first prickly-pear cactus fence (poor mans version of a fence), seems very effective, I certainly wouldn’t even try to walk through them, the prickly-pears were too close together. My boyfriend was very knowledgeable about what we were seeing on our drive. I don’t remember Sky King, the TV show, but he does and he told me it had something to do with the King Ranch in Texas, which covers a million acres. He also pointed out some Santa Gertrudis cattle, saying they were developed in Texas and also the Quarter horse. We past by what Texans call ‘Mexican’ cattle, they have shorter horns and are smaller than the longhorns.

Then we began to see palm trees! This we started seeing billboards advertising a gas station called Buc Cee’s, and each billboard said something different about what we’ll find at Buc Cee’s, like a gift shop, fabulous restrooms, a bakery, a convenience store, a gas station, and every billboard had a beaver on it. We couldn’t resist, so we stopped and they really did have a fabulous restroom, decorated with cowhides and western art. We didn’t stay long, it was just a curiosity for us. Back on the rode, we saw the tall buildings of San Antonio in the distance. We were eager to find a room , and rest for the rest of the day. Later on, in the evening we hoped to do some fine dinning and order some steak, cause we’re pretty sure it will be just as fabulous as Buc Cee’s restrooms.

Being able to drive like you want, in the style that suits you the best, is a perogative that doesn’t need explanation. It’s a peculiarly national obsession that we have with our cars, and it’s one that’s got a pretty spectacular history. Looking at how people have felt about their vehicles over the years, it’s really pretty difficult to imagine how it’s not even a century that it’s common for most people to have their own cars. They are a source of pride, that much is certain, and they also speak about the tastes of the owners.

The history of automobiles doesn’t speak enough about the history of automobile style , and that’s probably because it’s something that we’re still developing. It’s an open field, where you can choose the rims and tires that you like, and these, too, can speak to the owner’s style better than any fashion statement. There was a time when people might have settled for the standard factory versions, but now, with so many choices, you can be very specific about your car. Having the look that you want speaks to your own taste, and it can announce it like nothing else.

Modifying the wheels of your car is one of the easiest ways to make these statements. That’s because the wheel is the symbol, and it’s also the literal object. This is what moves us from point A to point B, and there’s always the option to move with functionality or to move with style. Of course, the visionaries are the ones who opt for both. The invention of the wheel moved us forward into civilization, and those who are able to drive the car they want understand that it’s no coincidence that the only invention better than the wheel is fire.

Are you a bird person? Do you like to find areas of the world that have large bird species and the people who know were they are? Hong Kong has lots of birds and the hotel room is not were you will find them. Your going to have to leave that cozy bed and warm bath to venture out into the forests and waters to see an array of beautiful birds. You may want to check with the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society to see what is going on with the birds in the area. Currently, they are trying to stop a railway from being built through Long Valley in the New Territories of Hong Kong. There are more than 200 species of birds in that area because of the wet flood plains that are there. It is the last wet agriculture area so it holds a special kind of bird heritage. It would be a great loss to the Hong Kong birds if they destroy it.

This society keeps an eye on birds located all over the near by area. The offer tours from one day to week long. There are about 450 bird species in the Hong Kong area so that should keep you busy all you need is a good guide, binoculars and telescope, notebook and pen. A camera if you can catch them fast enough would be great too. There is a great guide book by Clive Viney and Karen Phillips called Birds of Hong Kong and South China. It can direct you into some of the areas as what to look for. Bird watchers can start looking right in Hong Kong Park and branch out to Kowloon Park, many areas in the New Territories and other islands. So don’t forget your mosquito repellent, snacks and water for the longer outings and enjoy.

It’s always a pleasure to come to Singapore and see what might be new and interesting in the trends.  It’s a radically forward-looking city, or rather city-state, with a unique openness to ideas from the internationally community at large.  These ideas can take on many forms, and crop up in many different sectors of life and the way people live here.  Anywhere from painting to music to photography and fashion, there is a very rich and creative atmosphere here.  The general population seems built for making or admiring creative works in the world, and although it hasn’t completely landed as one of the premiere places for style and culture, it’s close to being there, and everyone will benefit.

In this regard, then, it’s an even greater pleasure to be in Singapore, enjoying an evening at an Italian restaurant, where there is always something delicious on the menu.  With its history as a major trading port, there is a fantastic degree of access to fresh ingredients from all over the world.  Italian food is no exception, and it’s one of the most succulent styles of cooking to come from the contemporary city-state of Singapore.  There is also a great supply of fresh seafood always at the ready, making some of the traditional fish recipes from Italy shine with a great sense of aplomb and savory splendor.

Italian style has always been at the forefront in fashion, not only in European culture, but all over the world.  It seems fitting then that Italian fashion would have a place here.  In Singapore, taste really is very important, and rather exquisite, too.  This is a good place to visit to catch up on the latest styles and fashions, not only in Asia, but from everywhere in the world, because it is a culture that borders many different worlds, and they all seem to come together here.  The particular moments in time when things merge are spectacular, and unusual here because they are common.