Muscat
Oman
January 13, 2015
My guides, Mustafa and his brother Mohammad, urge me to visit the important sites in Muscat. They also understand my desire to explore areas “off the beaten track.” So they drive me to the Sultan Palace and the Fort and the Grand Mosque. And then they guide me to two small towns and the unusual seacoast of the Gulf of Oman.
Mutrah Souk
Muscat (pop 1.1 million)
Sultanate of Oman (pop 3.6 million)
January 12, 2015
Clear and Warm
So, what are those piles of round, tan-brown fruit I discover here in the market? Larger than a walnut, but smooth. Smaller than a tangerine. The manager of the Ground Spices shop informs me, “Dried lemons.”
The manager senses my surprise and asks his helper to peel one for me. Dried lemon tastes like a lemon yet not so sour, with a zesty flavor, chewy consistency and a delightful, palate-cleansing aftertaste.
Kaunas
Lithuania
September 19, 2014
The Eyes Cannot Answer “Why?”
The eyes. The eyes. Always the eyes!
The eyes remember. The eyes see. Do the eyes foretell?
The eyes know. The eyes teach.
The eyes know what happened.
Do the eyes know why?
Palanga
Lithuania
September 16, 2014
Chat
Several years ago, while on a trip to London to visit my English cousin Dorothy and her equally English husband Roger, I attended a theatre performance where, by chance, I met a lovely woman from South Africa whose name was Jocelyn. Together we planned some sightseeing for the next day.
When I mentioned my encounter and my surprisingly unplanned plans, my somewhat astonished cousin Dorothy queried, “Jan, how did you meet her?” (According to British polite society, Jocelyn and I weren’t “properly introduced.”) Roger immediately intervened and responded, “Jan chatted her up!”
Palanga
Lithuania
September 16, 2014
My guidebook says it’s “Worth a Trip.”
So from this coastal city of Palanga I drove east towards the town of Kretinga and then northeast towards the village of Salantai to see Orvydas Garden, “…one of the most unusual sights in all of Lithuania.” *
The Orvydas Garden was the work of stonemason Kazys Orvydas (1905-89) and his oldest son turned Franciscan monk Vilius (1952-92). The carvings were originally created for the village cemetery in nearby Salantai but were brought here to the Orvydas homestead after then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev turned his wrath on religious objects in the 1960’s. The Soviets later blocked access to the house to prevent visitors getting to the persecuted Orvydas family.”*
