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Head to Uganda with An Award-Winning Photographer

Few people know Africa better than Rick D’Elia. Working as a renowned photojournalist, he’s spent the past decade recording the amazing work of relief and development organizations around the continent. By all means, see his talented portfolio at DeliaPhotographic. Now D’Elia plans to share the secrets of his trade, leading a tour through one of his favorite countries, Uganda. You’ll be immersed in the important works of NGOs in Kampala, meeting, greeting, and yes, taking shots of the folks hard at work. Then Rick will take you on a wildlife safari to see Uganda’s mountain gorillas, leopards, lions, and elephants. If you really want to see African culture and wildlife, and genuinely learn about recent politics and history, it’s hard to find a better guide. Obviously, you’ll also improve your skills as a photographer as well.

(Photo by Rick D’Elia)
 

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FarewellTravels Now Offers Savings

Before you book your next jaunt, check out the savings on my friend, Susan Farewell’s website, FarewellTravels. You can save $500 on sea kayaking jaunts to Baja, $800 off the cost of a sailing trip along the spectacular Dalmatian Coast in Croatia, starting in Dubrovnik, and discounts at inns and resorts in northern Vermont, Maine, and the Greek Islands. Just trying to save you a few bucks!
 

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Henry the Eighth, I Am, I Am

A mere 37-minute train ride from Waterloo Station in London brings you to Hampton Court Palace, the best-loved abode of King Henry VIII. All of Henry’s six wives lived at the palace at one point, including his last wife, Kathryn Parr, who married Henry in the upstairs chapel. Take the audio tour of the Grand Hall, apartments, and cooking area, where they would roast large quantities of beef on a spit, washed down with kegs of beer and far too young wine. Then stroll the grounds and try your luck at the Maze, the oldest maze in England, originally built in 1702. With hedges towering close to 8-feet high, the narrow, winding paths are over a half-mile long. It’s a special treat for the kids after touring the palace. A special treat for music lovers is happening on August 30th, when two of my favorite groups, Brand New Heavies and Incognito play a live concert at the palace. Check it out!
 

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London Walks

It’s impossible for a parent to teach his kids a British history lesson, without Junior blurting out in the middle of the Anne Boleyn beheading story, “Oh yeah, that’s cool. Can we go to the London Eye now?” So I was relieved to find an outfitter aptly called London Walks that for a mere 8 pounds per person (children under 15 are free) can educate, entertain, and keep my family walking for two hours. We took two tours with them last week, Westminster and West End and the Tower of London.  We were fortunate to have Tom Hooper as our guide on both walks. A former barrister, Hooper knows the history of the British Empire like the back of his hand. It also helps that Hooper is a wonderful orator with a booming voice and a penchant for digging into the sordid details. Like the beheading of Anne Boleyn, the beheading of King Charles the First, the beheading of Oliver Cromwell, after he died, no less. On the West End walk, we strolled from the Houses of Parliament to Westminster Abbey, all the way to Buckingham Palace, ending near Trafalgar Square. And my kids, ages 14 and 12, didn’t complain once. I quizzed them afterwards on how much they retained, asking them the names of the current prime minister and queen, and by God, they knew the answers. For that, Tom Hooper deserved to be knighted!
 

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Biking Along the Canals in Hertfordshire

After spending 10 days in the cities of Paris and London, we wisely chose to book our last night of travel in the UK at The Grove, a country manor less than an hour’s drive from London and Heathrow. Perched on a hillside with rolling grounds, the place is best known for its golf course. But it’s also a wonderful family retreat, complete with outdoor and indoor pools, beach volleyball, lawn tennis, croquet, and a gluttonous feast at the breakfast and dinner buffet. Yet, our favorite activity was renting bikes and finding a canal that borders the perimeter of the property. Narrowboats were riding through the locks, on their way north to Northampton or south to London. This web of waterways has been traveled for centuries.  Indeed, these canals were Britain’s first business superhighway, transporting goods around the country. Once the railroads were built, they were abandoned, only to emerge in the last 30 years as recreational areas. It was fun to see these long slender boats, many rented for a week holiday, making their way through the forested shoreline under bridges and past families of swans and local anglers. We pedaled alongside the canal for some time on a dirt path before returning to the resort and having fish and chips, washed down with a pint of lager, at their casual pub, the Stables.
 

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Strolling Hampstead Heath

There’s an excellent exhibition currently on display at the Morgan Library in New York on the Romantic Movement’s influence on landscape design. One of the mottos of the movement came from a line in a 1731 Alexander Pope poem, “Consult the genius of the place.” Translation: Preserve the wild, unadulterated beauty of the grounds and don’t overmanicure. I though about that line while walking last week in London’s Hampstead Heath with my family, friend Claire, and her adorable daughter, Evie. The rolling hillside is rich with old growth forest, shaded trails, long stretches of lawn, and streams, where we wound up feeding ducks and coots. After a week of fighting crowds at the National Gallery, Covent Garden, and the Tower of London, it was wonderful to spend the afternoon at arguably London’s best attraction, one of its many exquisite parks. On a weekday, Hampstead Heath was relatively quiet and off the beaten track enough to savor the serenity with locals. Only a few miles north of the city hubbub, it’s the perfect oasis.
 

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Biking to Giverny

The past six weeks, I’ve been home less than six days, traveling on assignment to Newport, Cape Cod, Maine, New Brunswick, Paris, and London. Thankfully, I’ll be on my back deck most of August writing stories based on these trips. This week, I want to delve into some of the highlights of these recent excursions.

Those of you with a love of art history know Giverny as the home of Claude Monet. Less than an hour by train from Paris, you can make the pilgrimage to Monet’s home and his spectacular Japanese water garden inundated with day lilies, the inspiration for many of the works that hang on the walls of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and other impressive collections of Impressionism around the globe. Fat Tire Bike Tours escorts riders from Paris’ St. Lazare train station to the quaint village of Vernon. Once you arrive, you head to an outdoor market to stock up on picnic food–soft, creamy Reblochon cheese, slices of yummy Rosette de Lyon sausage, duck liver pate, warm baguettes from the neighborhood boulangerie, juicy strawberries and apricots, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. After passing out bikes, our guide Andrew led us to the banks of the Seine River where we watched a family of swans swim as we dug into our goodies. Then we were off on an easy 5km bike trail that connects Vernon with Giverny. We entered the picturesque hamlet and were soon walking over that Japanese bridge seen in many of Monet’s works. The whole trip took from Paris took about 8 hours and cost 65 Euros per biker, a perfect day trip for our family of four.
 

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Cemetery Hopping in Boston

I spent the past week checking out two local cemeteries in Boston, Mount Auburn and Forest Hills, for a story I’m writing around Halloween for American Airlines’ in-flight magazine. Surprising as it might sound, many folks venture to these cemeteries not to remember a loved one, but to stroll under the towering trees, jog, bike, and bird watch. Created in the first half of the 19th century, these are America’s first garden or rural cemeteries, built with a landscaping aesthetic in mind. They became incredibly popular with locals who came to breathe in the fresh air and picnic on the grounds. In essence, they were the first urban parks in America, created 40 to 50 years before Central Park in New York and the Emerald Necklace in Boston. Today, wandering into these two cemeteries is like taking a walk in a Victorian-era estate, down shady paths, under centuries-old oaks, cypress, and beech trees, next to lily-pad laden ponds. At Mount Auburn, climb the steps of the Washington Tower for panoramic vistas of the city.

The next two weeks, I’ll be traveling in France and the UK and will not be doing my daily blog. However, if I feel inspired, I might sporadically write from the road. Hope you’re enjoying the summer and staying active!
 

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Support the Active Community Transportation Act of 2010

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I like to write about rail trails across North America. Discarded rail lines converted into biking and jogging routes are not only a great way to spend a morning or afternoon, but add necessary commerce and a sense of pride to small, often rural communities across the country. That’s why I’m happy to support the Active Community Transportation Act of 2010 introduced by Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. The Act would create a $2 billion program over five years to help hundreds of towns across the country improve their trails. Please encourage your representative to co-sponsor this significant legislation. 
 

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The Caped Crusader of Birds, the Razorbill Auk

I was in Maine last week researching an article on birding for Yankee Magazine. My wife and I took a boat from a small fishing village in Down East Maine, Cutler, 10 miles off the coast to the southernmost nesting spot of the Atlantic puffin, Machias Seal Island. As soon as we arrived on the rocky shores, the plump black and white birds were whizzing over our heads finding herring to bring back to their young. We got close enough to the puffin to see its colorful beak, which was worth the ride over in the fog. However, we were also there to see another highlight, the black-hooded razorbill auk. A bright white line can be found under the bird’s eye. Contrasting with its sleek black head, the bird has the look of a superhero straight out of Marvel Comics. It was just as mesmerizing as the puffin to view. You can venture out to Machias Seal Island on a 4 to 5-hour jaunt with Captain Andy Patterson.
 

(Photo by Lisa Leavitt)