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If It’s Tuesday…Revisiting Belgium

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The Atomium, Brussels, BelgiumAn old post popped into my feed recently and it reminded me of when I lived in Brussels. At the time I began a travelogue of sorts on a now defunct social media writing site. I’ve posted a few updated snippets here on Science Traveler. As I wrote in my introductory post:

In 1969 there was a movie by this title (“If it’s Tuesday, This Must be Belgium“) starring Suzanne Pleshette. It was a comedy about Americans experiencing Europe for the first time. Not long ago I had a chance to live out the idea behind the movie – the company I worked for at the time traded me from Washington DC to their office in Brussels (presumably for a scientist to be named later). I lived in Brussels for three years.

More posts covered my first visit to Brussels before the move, dealing with all my stuff (much of which was sold off, donated, or trashed because it would never fit), networking to get my bearings, and all the hoops I had to jump through to get a work permit.

In addition to offloading a lot of my accumulated personal debris for the move (the rest of which would be shipped to Brussels and then back three years later), I had to filter through years of file folders at work. I was staying with the same company so needed to bring current project work, but since I usually had dozens of projects running at any given time – and any number of old projects that might resurface – I had to bring several cabinets of paper. All of this got me thinking I need to streamline.

The day I moved was Earth Day, so I dutifully recycled what appears to be several trees worth of paper. This experience has taught me that I need to take advantage of my new presence in Europe to adopt the European tendency to minimize resource use.

So, upon my arrival I vowed the following:

1) To seek the ideal of a paperless office.  Okay, so I knew that ideal was unattainable. But I did reconsider all the emails I printed out (which thereby defeats the purpose of “electronic-mail”). I resolved not to print the huge documents that often sat unread on my desk…and when I did need to print them I did so double-sided to save paper.

2) To go car-less. My plan was to not own a car during my 3-year stay in Brussels. I walked to the office, about 3/4-mile from my office…or on lazy or lousy weather days, I took the tram that ran near my apartment. I also used public transportation to get around Brussels (luckily they had an excellent tram and subway system). I was able to walk to the grocery store and bicycled around town on errands whenever possible (though I occasionally begged rides from friends for longer trips). I took the train to visit locations out of town whenever possible (the train system in Europe is phenomenal).

3) To become more energy efficient. I adjusted my life style and habits to reduce my energy footprint. That included something as simple as using the sleep and hibernate modes on my computer wisely, as well as reducing lights, using energy efficient lamps, and not having a television. [I dumped my television in 2008 because it wouldn’t work in Europe; I haven’t had television service since then.]

4) To eat healthier. As long as I was being conscientious, I resolved to increase my natural and fresh food intake and reduce my use of processed and canned foods. [One could argue that I did accomplish the “eating more fresh food” part, but I also fell into the European trap of eating cheese and drinking wine. My net was anything but more healthy, but more on that in my memoirs.]

So with these resolutions in mind I went back to my Washington,DC office destruction program. I arrived in Brussels the following Monday morning, which meant the next “If It’s Tuesday…” piece was written from Belgium.  Woo hoo!

I enjoyed my three years in Brussels and learned a lot, both good and bad. The experience was something I have never regretted even though it was in Brussels where I realized my time with the firm that sent me would need to change, or end, after my return. But that’s a long story in itself.

P.S. The photo is me in front of The Atomium, built for the 1958 World’s Fair. In keeping with my Science Traveler theme, it represents an iron crystal.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Traveling the Sugar and Slave Trades of St. Kitts

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St. Kitts sugar factorySt. Kitts is the larger of two islands that make up the nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Nevis is most famous for being the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, the musical about whom I recently saw in Chicago. While St. Kitts is now a tourist mecca, the island is best known for its dominant position in the colonial sugar trade. Lesser known is that St. Kitts also was a major hub in the slave trade.

A few years ago I visited St. Kitts along with a few other Caribbean islands. Remnants of the past sugar industry stand mostly as ruins on the island landscape. Abandoned, but not that long ago – St. Kitts clung to sugar until recently, the last sugar factory closing only in 2005.

Today you can take a scenic railway around the island. With views of Nevis towering to southeast and Mount Liamuiga rising in the interior, the railway crawls the perimeter in search of sugar plantations. Sugar cane was the main source of sugar on the islands, and some remains for visitors to appreciate. Periodically the remains of cinderblock processing buildings and chimneys stick up out of the recovering natural vegetation. The railway itself is a remnant of the industry. Individual sugar cane growers would harvest the crop and do some initial processing, then wait for the train to stop on its daily circling of the island, stopping at each grower to pick up raw materials. Eventually the train would drop off the crops at the central factory the grew up in the early 20th century. It was this factory that finally closed its doors in 2005, turning over the island’s economy almost entirely to tourism.

A trio of local singers serenades us with old spirituals as a covey of school children in green-shirted uniforms keep pace with the train. The sugar ruins and spirituals remind us that St. Kitts was once a key cog in the slave trade triangulating between Europe, Africa, and America. Great Britain was the biggest purveyor of slave trading at that time. Bringing weapons and gunpowder from England to Africa, ships would cram as many kidnapped Africans as they could in the bowels of the ship, selling or trading the survivors for sugar and rum in Caribbean and South America, then bringing those commodities up to the slaveholding colonies – and then states – before heading back to England to start the process again. It was in St. Kitts that, supposedly but not fully confirmed, Thomas Jefferson’s ancestors got there start in the new world, and from here they became slaveowners that continued through Jefferson’s life.

Slavery was abolished in all the British Empire, including St. Kitts, on August 1, 1834. St. Kitts now celebrates August 1st as Emancipation Day, a public holiday.

As I soon head back to the Caribbean I remember my time on St. Kitts and its connection between sugar science and slavery. On this trip I’ll be seeing other islands that were focal points in the slave trade, hoping to learn more about the business that enslaved human beings for the profit of a few. More to come.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Chasing Classic Art – Art Institute of Chicago

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We all grow up with some sort of art appreciation. Recently I was able to realize my dream of seeing some classic art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Building on my odd taste in art as a teen, I specifically wanted to visit the Art Institute because I knew they held several of the original paintings I cherished.

I’ve been lucky. My three years living in Brussels and widespread travel in the world has allowed me to see some of civilizations’ greatest art: Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus in Florence’s Uffizi, Da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s School of Athens in the Vatican, Munch’s The Scream in Oslo, Picasso’s Guernica at the Reina Sophia in Madrid, Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat in Brussels, and many others. But there were more classic paintings that I had never seen in person – and several were at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Picasso Guitarist Art Institute of Chicago

I’ve had a thing for Picasso’s The Old Guitarist since my undergraduate days. Ironically, it was hanging in the Carriage House, a just-off-campus BYOB hangout built in, you guessed it, an old carriage house. Gone were the horses and hay, replaced by a small kitchen and an even smaller stage where a variety of unknown acts would play for broke students. So while a singer crooned folk songs or the naked piano player (yes, there was such a thing) cracked jokes to music, a print of Picasso’s masterpiece from his blue period gazed down from the side wall. Perhaps the oddity of the situation was what locked the painting into my mind.

Wood American Gothic Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute is also the home of Grant Wood’s much parodied American Gothic. Posing his dentist and his sister in front of an old carpenter gothic style house, Wood created one of America’s most recognized paintings.

Hopper Nighthawks Art Institute of Chicago

Another American artist, Edward Hopper, is best known for Nighthawks, his ambiguous statement on late night life is his most famous painting and likely second only to American Gothic in being repurposed and parodied.

Van Gogh Bedroom Art Institute of Chicago

Heading back to Europe, The Bedroom is one of three versions of Van Gogh’s bedroom in the “yellow house” of Arles, in the south of France. Joined for several tension-filled months by fellow artist Paul Gauguin, it was here that Van Gogh, prone to periodic psychotic episodes, cut off part of his left year, an event that ended his friendship with Gauguin. The Art Institute also has a wonderful self portrait of Van Gogh.

Seurat Sunday Jatte Art Institute of Chicago

Another masterpiece I’ve always wanted to see was French painter Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (sometimes simply called A Sunday on La Grande Jatte). Seurat’s most famous painting, at nearly 7 feet high by over 10 feet wide it is also his largest, a size that is even more remarkable given it is painted using the pointillist technique. Think of pointillism as an early form of pixilation, where small dots of paint are applied to the canvas such that the eye blends them into perceived color patterns.

There were many other wonderful paintings and sculptures at the Art Institute. One thing in particular that struck me was the number of paintings that reflected on science. I’ll have more about that in a future science traveling of art post.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Abraham Lincoln in Chicago

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In 1860 the city of Chicago hosted the Republican National Convention nominating Abraham Lincoln for President. But Lincoln’s presence is pervasive throughout the city today. Here are a few examples.

The Wigwam where Lincoln was nominated was a temporary structure, long since torn down to make room for skyscrapers and the “L” train overpasses. But recently they installed a marker stone with plaque at the location.

Wigwam marker Chicago

A seated Lincoln as “Head of State” graces Grant Park, not far from the Buckingham Fountain. Designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, this statue is “intended by the artist to evoke the loneliness and burden of command felt by Lincoln during his presidency.” It sits on a pedestal and a 150-foot wide exedra designed by famed architect Stanford White.

Abraham Lincoln Chicago

Another Saint-Gaudens design known by most as the “Standing Lincoln” (officially, “Lincoln: The Man”) can be found further up the lake in Lincoln Park. The sculpture shows a contemplating Lincoln, rising from a chair to give a speech. Copies of this statue stand in London’s Parliament Square and Mexico City’s Parque Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln Chicago

A lesser known statue is in Garfield Park, a short “L” ride west of downtown. Sculpted by Charles J. Mulligan, “Lincoln the Railsplitter” depicts a younger Lincoln, axe in hand, taking a break after splitting rails for fences on the farm.

Abraham Lincoln Chicago

These are the main statues of Lincoln in the windy city, but he appears in many other places as well. That’s him dominating the side of a building down the street from the Chicago History Museum. Inside the Museum itself you can find the actual bed that Lincoln died in after being carried across the street from Ford’s Theatre into the Petersen House in Washington, D.C. At the Art Institute of Chicago I also found miniature versions of two sculptures by Daniel Chester French. One was the familiar seated Lincoln known to all visitors of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The other is a lesser known standing Lincoln statue, the original of which can be found in Lincoln, Nebraska. The newest Lincoln in Chicago is a huge bust located in the lobby of the Palmer Hotel.

Even that wasn’t the last of the Lincoln connections. While in Chicago I also visited an obscure area called Canal Origins Park. Here was the beginnings of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, an internal improvement project that Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in creating, and which helped grow Chicago from a tiny lakeside village to the dominant powerhouse city it is today. The park and its bas-relief sculptures are, sadly, poorly maintained.

Canal Origins Park Chicago

I ran out of time before I could visit another statue of a young Lincoln located about an hour north of town, so perhaps I’ll be visiting Chicago again soon. For now, there are more Chasing Abraham Lincoln plans in the works. Stay tuned.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Sailing the Caribbean on Windstar

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Wind StarIt seems my travel this year has been heavy on places starting with “C.” Soon I’ll add Caribbean Cruise on one of the Windstar sailing vessels.

The “C” places have included Costa Rica, Cuba, Charleston, Coatesville, Chicago, and Chasing Abraham Lincoln (a road tour of Lincoln sites in Illinois). The upcoming Caribbean cruise will take me to Curacao (and all the ABC islands) with touches in Colombia and Colon (Panama). Yes, more “C”s.

This will be my fourth Windstar cruise, and by coincidence my fourth ship of their six-ship fleet. My first trip with them was on their flagship Wind Surf, a five-mast sailing vessel carrying just over 300 passengers. The smaller – more intimate and more luxurious – experience was far more appealing than the big hotel ships stuffed with 2000-4000 passengers. Wind Surf took us to several islands between St. Maarten and St. Lucia. The upcoming cruise is on the company’s namesake ship, Wind Star, a four-mast sailing ship about half the size (148 passengers). Both ships (and the Wind Star‘s sister ship, the Wind Spirit) have a signature “sail away” song they broadcast on the outside speakers as they hoist the full sails to everyone’s delight, both on deck and on shore.

In between the two sailing cruises we traveled on two of their three yachts without sails, Star Breeze and Star Legend. These took us to the Baltic Sea and the Philippines, the latter including dinner with the captain. All three of their sail-less yachts are in the process of being enlarged, upping their capacity from 212 to 312 guests. We thoroughly enjoyed the larger cabins and yacht club and look forward to trying out the new Star Pride in the future. Eventually the plan is to cruise on all six of Windstar’s ships.

As my science traveling adventures continue I realize there are so many more places yet to see (and surprisingly, not all begin with the letter “C”). My travel list seems to get longer rather than shorter, but I’m working on it. I might even write a book about my travels some day.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln and the McCormick Reaper

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One of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous cases is one in which he never actually tried. On my second Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour I made an unplanned stop at the McCormick Farm, now part of the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

As populations grew the need for improved crop yields increased, and the mechanical reaper made that possible. Cyrus McCormick had invented a reaper that became the gold standard and stimulated others to “borrow” his ideas. McCormick sued rival John Manny for patent infringement, accusing him of stealing the McCormick reaper design. Manny’s lawyers called in Lincoln because of his jury skills and his local presence in Illinois, but then the case was transferred to the district court in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lincoln spent considerable time preparing for the case and writing a technical brief, but when he arrived in Cincinnati he was shocked to learn that an esteemed Ohio lawyer, Edwin Stanton, had been hired and his own services were no longer needed. Worse, Stanton treated Lincoln poorly, writing him off as a hick western lawyer of little value. While angry at being tossed out of what he thought was his case, Lincoln turned it into an educational experience, watching the trial and learning a great deal about how more classically educated eastern lawyers worked a case.

The era of farm mechanization had begun, and Lincoln the President later relied on his experience to push for and begin the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enhance the use of science in farming. McCormick’s reaper eventually led to the modern combine harvester; his company eventually merged with others to form International Harvester.

The McCormick Farm is a well preserved set of eight original buildings, including a grist mill, blacksmith shop, slave quarters, carriage house, manor house, smoke house, schoolroom, and housekeeper’s quarters. The original ice house was torn down in the 1960s. Outside the grist mill a wooden water wheel creaked eerily as it continued to turn after all these years. Inside, the mostly wood gear mechanisms showed how the grain was ground into meal. There are two sets of mill apparatuses: one solely for corn, the other for wheat and other grains. Grain is fed from a hopper in the upper level and ground at mid level while the main drive shaft and gears take up most of the lower level.

Another main building had the wood shops in the lower section and a museum in the upper section. Here there were many models of different McCormick reapers, a full-size original reaper, and tons of information about the history of the farm and the inventor. On the wall hung an old scythe and cradle, hand tools used to mow and reap crops before invention of the reaper. While onsite I also checked out the small blacksmith shop and water well.

Before leaving I left my name and website address in the guest book. Shortly after my return home I received an email from Amanda Kirby, an assistant at the Research and Extension Center, thanking me for my visit and providing some additional information and resources for the book I’m researching. All along my Chasing Abraham Lincoln road trip routes I’ve met many hugely interesting and helpful people, from local librarians to small museum curators to volunteers at courthouses. The tours have been a great way to study all things Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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To Kiss or Not to Kiss: Blarney Castle

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Blarney Castle, IrelandYou’ve heard the schtick. Visit Blarney! Kiss the Blarney Stone! Gain the gift of eloquence! But should you do it? To kiss, or not to kiss, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous condemnation by friends and family who bagger you with the question: “So, did you kiss the Blarney stone or not?”  Or to take up arms against a sea of tourists who pay big bucks to participate in nothing but a huge tourist hype…and by opposing, end them.*

*With apologies to Shakespeare’s Hamlet for disheveling his famous soliloquy.

The ultimate choice is, of course, up to you. Finding myself wandering around the Blarney Castle one rainy July day, I felt almost obligated to kiss the Blarney stone. Not from some Lonely Planet “must-do tourist check-the-box” list, but from the fear of hearing it from the Irish portion of my family bloodline. Okay, I admit it. This was kind of a bucket list thing for me and I really wanted to do it. So I did, thank you very much.

Blarney Castle, Ireland

Climbing the ever-narrowing tower steps to the top of the castle was at least dry, even if it did rekindle my mild claustrophobia. Half the castle was blocked by a green-mesh coated scaffolding for the most recent (continuing) renovation. Once at the top I joined a line of like-minded tourists (um, explorers) waiting for their chance to be manhandled into a narrow crevice. I must have missed the memo on this part but to kiss the Blarney stone – technically just the inside of the outer wall of the castle – you have to lie on your back, dangle your upper body into a small cutout hole in the roof, and while hoping the grip of the attendant on your body doesn’t slip due to the rain, lean back and kiss the stone upside down and backwards. Seriously, it’s like yoga at 90 feet. To ensure you get the most of the experience, a few widely spread iron bars are the only thing between your sightline and the ground far below. Please don’t lose your grip on me, Mr. Attendant. Jus’ sayin’.

After safely climbing down the stairs in the opposite tower, I walked around the grounds a little. If you get a good day (it rained the entire week I was in Ireland), take the time to walk through the gardens and check out Rock Close, a small natural enclave on the castle property.

Blarney Castle, Ireland

Usually I pass on the obligate “official photo,” but this time I was with family and thought it might be a good keepsake despite the rather unflattering photo. Only later did I hear stories of locals peeing on the stone at night and laughing heartily at the rock-kissing tourists at the local pub. Worse, that the stone and the accompanying hole was once a medieval toilet.

Sorry, I have a sudden urge to gargle a bottle of Listerine. But hey, if you want to kiss the Blarney stone, by all means do it. I did. Now, where did I put that bottle?

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Lincoln’s Rocking Chair – The Ford Museum and Greenfield Village

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Abraham Lincoln rocking chairMy Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour took me to Dearborn, Michigan to see the chair. “The Chair.” The rocking chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in the moment he was assassinated. The chair is in the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, which along with its outdoor venue, Greenfield Village, is a treasure trove for Abraham Lincoln aficionados.

After spending the previous day in the bowels of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Emily Rapoza helped me research their incredible Lincoln collection, I drove from Fort Wayne up to Dearborn to see the original rocking chair. After it had languished for decades in storage at the Smithsonian Institution, the aging widow of Ford’s Theatre co-owner Harry Ford reclaimed it in 1929, and it was soon auctioned for $2,400. The buyer? An agent for automobile pioneer Henry Ford (no relation to the Ford’s Theatre Fords). Henry Ford had revered Lincoln, the “humble, self-made man, the ordinary man who seized opportunity and raised himself up.” The Lincoln rocking chair now sits in a temperature and humidity controlled glass enclosure in the Henry Ford Museum.

But there was more Lincoln to the visit. Prior to the protected spot in which it now sits, the chair was held in the Logan County Courthouse in the adjoining Greenfield Village. This is the actual courthouse from Postville, Illinois (since renamed Lincoln, Illinois) in which Lincoln practiced in during his long months on the 8th Judicial Circuit. Ford had it transported to Michigan and restored to depict Lincoln’s visits between 1840 and 1847.

The chilly, rainy day I visited made the warm and dry courthouse a welcome retreat. A somewhat bored docent was happy to see someone he could entertain. Finding a knowledgeable patron, his love for talking about Lincoln cascading out like the water Lincoln saw flowing over the lip of Niagara Falls. I decided not to tell him about my own book about Lincoln and let him run on with an incredible font of information about the courthouse, Lincoln, and legal circuit. He also told me the wardrobe sitting in the corner of the courthouse was believed to have been built by Lincoln’s father, Thomas. The knowledge and enthusiasm the docent exhibited was exhilarating. He was so enthralling I didn’t even tell him I had written a book on Lincoln.

One of my previous books was about Thomas Edison and Greenfield Village also has a replica of Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park lab, including some original outbuildings and even soil carted in by train from the New Jersey site. I had visited the current Menlo Park site museum and its towering lightbulb, as well as his West Orange (NJ) and Fort Myers (FL) laboratories, so it was a great treat to see one of his first labs as it was. Even more exciting, I fortuitously was there during one of the periodic visits by Edison himself, an actor who came into the lab in character and told us all about his current work. Afterwards I toured some old saw and grist mills important for my research.

Lincoln furniture, Ford Museum

Back inside the Ford Museum I found a small center table and side chair once owned by Abraham and Mary Lincoln in their Springfield, Illinois home. Furniture owned by other writers like Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe were a thrill to see. I also spent some time in the Agriculture section of the museum where I could see some of the technological improvements (e.g., a McCormick reaper) that I’m researching for my next Lincoln book. For the science geek in me they had a Mathematica section with all sorts of cool exhibits.

Both the Museum and the Village have much more worth seeing and I highly encourage everyone to make the trip. There truly is something for everyone here and one can’t help but learn some history and science while being entertained.

My Chasing Abraham Lincoln tours continue! Much more to come.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Seeing the Real Cuba – Camagüey

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American travel to Cuba has been restricted since the early 1960s, although some Americans have visited the capital city Havana on cruise ship stops. But Havana is no more the real Cuba than Paris is the real France. To really understand the nation you must get out to the country, which includes Camagüey, roughly 350 miles east of Havana.

Camagüey is actually the third largest city in Cuba with its 325,000 inhabitants. Unlike the more cosmopolitan Havana, Camagüey retains its deep Spanish influence. The city also retains the charm – and tendency to get lost – in its winding, narrow streets. As we discovered during our three days there, Camagüey’s old town area is a maze of blind alleys and small squares with small streets leading off in many directions. We visited several of the squares, starting with the one right outside our quaint hotel, as well as to the outlying countryside to visit farms.

Camaguey, Cuba

Local mythology claims that the confusion caused by this maze was intentional as a means of getting invaders hopelessly lost in the city, but in reality it probably is just a lack of central planning.

In Camagüey and environs we visited with many local artists including Pepe Gutierrez (beautiful work in leather), the Casanova family (potters), Ileana Sanchez and Joel Jover (eclectic painters), and Martha Jimenez (sculpture and painting). Each gave us an exhibition of their work, then answered our sometimes insightful, sometimes clueless questions. Usually this was through translation by our local guide since most Cubans outside Havana are as monolingual as most Americans.

We also got a sense of the realities of food distribution in this centrally controlled communist economic system. A visit to an outlying dairy farm gave us a first hand look at cow milking and horse shoeing, but also the knowledge that all the milk produced is sold to the government (except for some held for personal family use). Farmers aren’t allowed to sell directly to the public. Instead the raw milk is sent to the government, which has it pasteurized in a government-approved plant and then redistributed back to the people. The same process is used for other commodities such as rice, chicken, wheat, eggs, etc.

Which gets us to the ration stores. In Camagüey and the other small towns we stopped in it was common to see groups of people milling around outside. Some of this was to capture any breeze as air conditioning is essentially non-existent outside the tourist hotels (indeed, many places don’t have running water or electricity much of the day). But crowds also gathered at ration stores that were expecting a shipment of chickens or eggs or bread, surging in with their ration books to get their allocated portion before the supply ran out. When we were there the country had been suffering under a grain shortage, which meant a lack of not only bread but feed for chickens, and subsequently also a shortage of eggs. Even when you could get these commodities, the amount allocated to each family was extremely limited (e.g., a few eggs for a family for the week).

While the central collection and distribution system is inherently inefficient and prone to corruption, much of the chronic shortages are due to two factors: 1) Cuba is an island and can’t produce enough food to meet its needs (about two-thirds of the rice eaten is imported, a stunning fact for a nation in which rice and beans is the base dish at every meal), and 2) the ongoing (and now expanded) U.S. embargo, which blocks any U.S. direct trade with Cuba as well as effectively blocking trade from other countries by penalizing those foreign businesses that try to do business with Cuba.

If all you see of Cuba is Havana you’ll walk away with a false perception of the island. One obvious example is reflected in the hundreds of “classic cars” used as taxis to shuttle tourists around the capital city. In reality, there is only 1 car for every 167,000 Cubans. What cars they have are cobbled together and unreliable, as is the availability of gasoline (or homemade oil) needed to keep them running. Travel by ox or horse cart, or by bicycle or pedicab (one of our regular forms of transportation in Camagüey and elsewhere), is more the norm, as is walking. A lot of walking. Oh, and the big ritzy western-style Hotel Nacional in Havana is a huge contrast to the tiny, more humble, adobe abodes in which most Cubans – including those with professional jobs like psychologists and hotel managers – live (pay rates are also strictly controlled by the government).

I traveled on one of the “people-to-people” tours with Road Scholar that take advantage of an exemption in the embargo. With the recent administration edict further restricting travel, I’m not sure whether these programs can still run. If they can, I highly recommend going to Cuba and getting out to the towns and countryside far away from Havana where you can learn a little more about the real Cuba.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Chasing Lincoln’s Almanac Murder Trial in Beardstown

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On my most recent Chasing Abraham Lincoln trip I stopped in Beardstown, Illinois to visit the site of one of Lincoln’s most famous cases – the Almanac Murder Trial. Beardstown has the only active courthouse that Lincoln practiced in, and the 1858 trial was both sensational and controversial.

Almanac trial

I arrived at the Beardstown Courthouse Museum around 3:50 pm. The sign said it was open only until 4 pm, so I rushed in to find a nearly empty foyer and some locked doors. As my hopes began to fade I encountered a resident volunteer guide named Paula Woods. I felt intrusive as I told her I would like to see the museum, as she fumbled for an old-fashioned keychain reminiscent of a jailhouse. Before we were finished, I actual did see the jailhouse cell that had held Duff Armstrong, the man charged with murder.

Even before she opened up the first door leading to a small room filled with Lincoln and trial-related artifacts, the visit turned into something special. In the foyer Paula pointed out a tall sign highlighting the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area and the Looking for Lincoln campaign. I had indeed heard of it, I said, and had in fact just participated in the LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Leadership Academy program (hence my late arrival to Beardstown). It turns out Paula isn’t just a volunteer, she is the Chair of the Commission that runs the courthouse museum and other historical locations in Cass County. She is also on the LEAD program Board!

The 4 pm closing time quickly sped away as Paula showed me the exhibits and then unlocked the door to the stairs leading to the second floor courtroom. The court is still in session, she explains, with cases heard about once a month. Entering the doorway I was standing in the very court where Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong. The key witness in the trial claimed he clearly saw the fight by “the light of a high moon” around 10 or 11 pm that night. Aha, thought the scientifically minded Lincoln and produced an almanac showing the moon “runs low” that night and was already setting by the time of the incident. Having shown the witness lying, Duff Armstrong was acquitted. On the wall is a large painting depicting the moment Lincoln pointed out the discrepancy to the jury, the almanac clear on this point.

The almanac most often depicted was the Old Farmer’s Almanac for that date, although no one actually knows if it was that one or another of the several available at the time. There is even a suggestion that the almanac was forged, but modern recalculations show the moon would indeed have been unusually low that night, part of an 18.6-year lunar cycle that affects lunar declination.

As people started to show up for a pre-arranged community meeting in the courtroom, Paula took me around other parts of the courthouse, including the jailhouse. It was here that Duff Armstrong spent his days and nights waiting for his trial to start. Lincoln had been friends with the Armstrong family for many years and wrote Hannah Armstrong as soon as he heard about her son Duff’s predicament. Lincoln refused payment, citing his work as thanks for all the favors done by the Jack and Hannah over the many years of Lincoln’s life.

Long after the official closing time I thanked Paula for staying late on my behalf. We discussed the work of the LEAD program and Heritage Area, as well as how my book has successfully brought Lincoln to a broad swath of the American public. Having started the day with the LEAD students, it was time to head north for more adventures Chasing Abraham Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!