Milwaukee Avenue: When Citizens #Resist

Earlier this week a friend and I explored the length of Milwaukee Avenue in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. In a city where an avenue can stretch for a hundred blocks, Milwaukee Avenue is just two blocks.

I was struck by the rows of small houses built on lots that are a quarter the size of typical Minneapolis home lots.

The houses were built by a real estate developer in the 1880's in response to the large influx of working class people to Minneapolis. They were built economically to maximize profit, but with a consistent architecture that includes some flourishes. They look stunning when you look down the avenue and take the street in as a whole.

Travel Gear: Carry-On Backpack

I love to travel with just one piece of luggage: a backpack small enough to carry on to flights.

Earlier this year, I decided it was time to buy a new backpack. The final impetus was a flight I would be taking from Miami MIA to Lisbon LIS, Portugal. I would be traveling with only a carry-on, but I was concerned my backpack might not quite meet TAP Air Portugal’s stringent requirements. If I was forced to do a gate check, I would be out $180. This would hurt, as I had snagged a ticket for $100 plus the usual fees for the 8-hour journey.

Snapshots: Hadrian's Wall Path

My daily routine is pretty simple these days:

After a full English cooked breakfast, continue walking east across England, following the line of Hadrian's (Roman) Wall. If available, stop at a tearoom for a pot of tea and cake. At the end of the afternoon arrive at a comfortable bed and breakfast or inn for the night.

Two friends have joined the expedition for a few days. Our friendships total almost 100 years.

The Road to Minneapolis: Mile 1

I'm walking across the narrowest part of England, following the course of Hadrian's (Roman) Wall. Construction of the wall started in the year 122, and some sections remain to this day.

The walk is 84 miles, which I'm comfortably spreading over 7 days. On the 8th day I fly home to Minneapolis.

Planning a Trip to Spain with Kids

Our nephews (9 and 10) attend a school where literacy skills are taught in English, but several other subjects, including math and science, are taught in Spanish.

It's a joy to see the boys use their skills. In 2016, they slipped unselfconsciously into Spanish when speaking with a server from Spain in our Edinburgh hotel.

In 2019, my partner and I will travel with our nephews and their parents to Spain. The trip will broaden our nephews' horizons, and provide them with practical opportunities to develop their Spanish. It will also be a fun, family vacation.

For me, it takes a mental change of gears to imagine a kid-friendly trip to Spain. During the past few days I've had the rather pleasant task researching seaside towns where we would begin and end the trip.

Madonna Writhed Here

I'm staying in an idiosyncratic 12-room hotel in the town of Ronda in Andalusia, Spain. My suite fills three floors in a tower: first floor, entrance and bathroom; second floor, sitting room; third floor, bedroom. I'm going to get a lot of exercise tonight.

I'm pretty sure my bed is the same bed Madonna used in her Take a Bow music video from her 1994 album, Bedtime Stories. Part of the video was shot in the hotel.

You must know the scene: it's the one where she writhes on a bed in her underwear.

[Warning: NSFW below the fold.]

Travelling with Cultural Baggage

One of the challenges of travel is having to bring myself with me. If the trip is going to be more than passive entertainment, I have to try to erode my preconceived notions, prejudices, blindspots, and cultural programming.

This week I felt shock when I first saw the scene pictured at the top of this post. I had to remind myself I was in southern Spain, and not South Carolina.

Maybe this is just bad taste fancy dress. Then I saw whole families dressed up.

Snapshots: Hiking the Rota Vicentina, Southwest Portugal

The Rota Vicentina is a 450 km trail system in southwest Portugal. It includes the Fishermen's Trail along the rugged Atlantic coastline, the Historical Way that heads inland through rolling countryside, and loop trails that connect both worlds.

The system is good for point-to-point hiking where we moved to a different place each day, and hub-and-spoke hiking where we stayed in one place for a couple days.

The Emptiness of Social Media

Our explorations of Lisbon were enhanced by @RickSteves informative audio tour:https://t.co/f6SyieFh5v pic.twitter.com/1GjFxoVyV2

— Tom Wilson (@TomPhase3) March 18, 2018

In the past couple days there have been over 13,000 views of the above post in my microblog. Thirty-nine strangers have "liked" it.