Happy New Year!

Hi from Brooklyn, NY! I did some other domestic traveling in 2011, the highlights of which included Key West in September.


And then I went to Hawaii again for Christmas and had a marvelous time with my sister's family from Pennsylvania and Tokyo!


Well, not the best photo of the family, but we sure enjoyed the restaurant (Roy's Waikiki, one of my favorites! And my grand niece, down at the left end of the table, loves their chocolate molten dessert). I also had lots of NYC company during the holidays...and we thoroughly enjoyed the sights.


But now it's time to start on my 2012 adventures! In just 10 short days (on January 14th), I leave for Ethiopia! To follow me on this trip, log on to my new blog at globedotting2012.blogspot.com. Postings will begin shortly. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Park Pl,Brooklyn,United States

What I've been doing since I got home...

What I've been doing since I got home: besides wearing something different every day :-) -- got hair cut and colored (#1 priority!!); received industry's Founders Award; walked high line, including new phase 2 (cool, but probably crowded on weekends); checked out mario's Eataly at 23rd street (cool); saw play, Lystrata Jones (hysterical--extended another week); went to mermaid parade in Coney Island (it's officially summer!); went to Spoon River project (play) at Green-wood Cemetery (still there another week); took a couple of long walks in neighborhood (don't want to give up on my walking); saw documentary about New York Times (interesting)...My travel made me so much more aware of everything around me here in NYC...so much to see and do right here!

So, until I hit the road again, will enjoy what New York has to offer.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Park Pl,Brooklyn,United States

Day 101. Brooklyn

My plane landed early....at 5:30am before customs even opened...we had to sit on the plane to wait for them to open. By the way, my plane took off at 8:15pm last night, and at 10:00pm, they closed the airport again and have said it will remain closed for at least 30 hours. (more eruptions of the volcano in Chile). That's what I would call "threading the needle."

Wow, it's weird being home!

So, back to reality, whatever that means for me now. At the advice of a good friend, instead of immediately trying to reevaluate my future, I think I will take another week or so to just be a visitor in my own hood. Food festivals, theater, museum exhibits, the High Line (the 2nd phase just opened this week)...and SLOWLY ease back into daily life. Savor the memories of an absolute phenomenal life experience, and work slowly on my re-entry.

I'll let you all know when I've figured out what direction my future will follow! The options are endless!

- Posted using BlogPress

Location:W 15th St,,United States

Day 100. RTW trip coming to an end...

I woke up on Day 100 of my trip to learn that the same flight on Saturday night to NY just took off at 5:00am this morning. So a two day delay was a good choice!

It was another beautiful, sunny day in BsAs. I had been wanting to try the Cafe Ramblas which was right on the corner, so since it was open, I headed there for another leisurely breakfast.

Then I headed back to the apartment to pack up and enjoy the apartment for this last day of my trip...a great place to reflect...


....especially on one of the two outdoor terraces...


Before leaving, I thought one more "chocolate Negro" ice cream from Volta up the street. When I got there it looked like something was going on in the plaza, so I walked over there, and some tango dancing was going on...perfect ending to my stay here.

Jason, "roadrunner" thanks you for letting him join me on my trip...


Yes, that's me in the mirror! Did you all recognize me without my green pullover? Are you all tired of that green shirt...I sure am! Katherine compared it to the travelocity gnome....the green Globedotter popping up in various places around the world. So she wouldn't let me throw it away!

Anyway, the plane took off on time....last flight, on what has been a phenomenal trip!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Day 99. Extra day in Buenos Aires. (Saturday)

I woke up this morning to the news that my plane from last night still hadn't left the ground....And it was 60 degrees and sunny in Buenos Aires...(and wasn't it raining in NY? :-).

I headed up to the La Biela Cafe for a leisurely breakfast. Then took a swing around the Saturday market at the plaza. Then I walked up to Plaza San Martin and caught the subway over to the San Telmo neighborhood where I walked around the cobblestoned streets, and grabbed a late lunch...before walking to the Plaza de Mayo to see if I could find the Parisian Cafe Tortoni....where I got my favorite, chocolate and churros! By 7:00pm, I was all "walked out" and so popped back on the subway and headed back to the apartment. What a great day on an unusually sunny, winter day in BsAs!

(I checked, and last night's plane finally took off at 3:30 this afternoon).

Day 98...not time to go home yet! (Friday)

As I previously reported, I moved my flight from tonight to Sunday night to avoid the chaos at the airport due to the closure yesterday, and continued cancellations today. My Round The World ticket allows changes, and the apartment we're in was still available for the weekend, so it didn't make sense to get into the fray. Katherine headed on to the airport for her Delta flight to Atlanta, which, surprisingly, took off on time.

So instead of heading to the airport, I headed to the Teatro Colon, which was staging a piece by Puccini which included three one act operas. I was able to get a seat in Row 5. It was long (3-1/2 hours), and mostly "dark and brooding" (even the costumes were all black, except for one little boy in white in the last act...reminded me of the little girl in red in the movie, "Schindler's List."), but I still enjoyed the experience, and the conductor/orchestra did extreme justice to the Puccini music. I wasn't, however, impressed by the acoustics, which they are so proud of? Maybe I was sitting too close? :-) When people were on the back of the stage, or when they turned sideways, I felt their voices were quite faint. Of all of the places where I went for music or opera, the best acoustics were at the theater that I went to in Budapest for the jazz concert. Royal Albert Hall also had awesome acoustics (but then, that was Eric Clapton!).

I got back to the apartment to find out that my plane still hadn't left! So, right choice to postpone....I would have been in the airport all night!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Day 97. Tango Show. (Thursday).

On Thursday, I opted for a day of rest. Katherine still wanted to see some sights (and do some more shopping :-). One of the highlights of her excursion was doing the backstage tour of the Teatro Colon. It has just reopened after a major renovation....and she was impressed. They claim it has some of the best acoustics.





A second highlight for her was going to the Plaza de Mayo to see the Thursday march of "the Madres". This ritualistic march started out as a quiet, peaceful demonstration by the mothers whose children disappeared during the military dictatorship in place between 1976 and 1983. They wear white head scarves to symbolize the blankets of their children...These scarves are painted on the ground in their honor around the plaza where they march...


Katherine saw this group who appeared to symbolize the original marchers...


However, as we have learned while here, the "madres" has turned into a political machine, supporting specific political candidates and receiving contributions from various politically-motivated sources. They now view their organization as a bigger-picture human rights organization, and have a lot of political clout. Katherine's guess was that this group represents this new direction...


It is also known as a peaceful demonstration, but this week, the media was out in force...


Our guess was that this was related to the breaking news this week that one of the administrators of the organization has allegedly been pilfering funds for "his" own use.

Politics seems very interesting in Argentina, and there was lots of activity while we were here, as there is a presidential election this year. Lots of candidates. And much speculation about whether or not the current president will run again, or if her husband, who was the president before her, will run.

So enough about that...may be hard to follow in the US, as it has become evident while here that the US doesn't seem to cover what's going on down here very well.

For our last night in Buenos Aires (or Katherine's last night anyway :-), we opted to go to one of the tango shows. They have gotten mixed reviews from folks as being too tacky, too commercialized, not very good food, etc. But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We went to the Piazola (sp?) show (he is a famous tango composer whom Katherine knew about). First there was a tango lesson included. It was not quite the same as our private lesson with Cherie and Ruben, but we got to try out our moves that we had learned, so it was fun (Cherie, I still can't get the hang of moving my feet so far backwards!). Then dinner, then the show. They have singers in between the dancing, and Katherine and I would agree with the critics that we could have done without that. They also did a couple of folk dance numbers which we thoroughly enjoyed. Then they invited audience members to come on stage and dance with the dancers, which we of course did, which was a fun cap-off to our tango evening!

Location:Ayacucho,Buenos Aires,Argentina