DVD: Frozen Planet, (NEW April 2012) narrated by David Attenborough, produced by BBC Earth

Although travel to the “last” continent, Antarctic seems almost commonplace these days,  a cruise into the Antarctic sea or a night or two in a luxury camp still is comparable to sailing by the Atlantic Barrier Islands on the East Coast  and saying that you’ve been to North America. Tourists see only the edges. Very few of us are the world-class adventurers who will brave the stupendous winds, the towering mountains, the treacherous, ever shifting ice to see the sights shown in this DVD set. Not to mention how expensive it is to survey that expanse.

No matter how much you have read about either pole of the Earth, when you watch Frozen Planet: The Complete Series (David Attenborough-Narrated Version),  you’ll come away from this experience with new knowledge. For instance in the Arctic, the film makers pursue the solitary life of a male polar bear who treks miles and miles and miles–sometimes in the footsteps of the female he is pursuing–mates, then fights off adversaries, mates again just to be sure, and then trudges off a bloodied and scarred shadow of his original pristine white, while she goes in search of a safe place to birth and raise her cubs.

No one quite equals David Attenborough in narrating the phenomenon of nature  films. A lesser voice of authority would not quite pull off the long list of superlatives that he is called upon to orate. However, the Discovery Channel’s U.S. version of Frozen Planet substitutes Alec Baldwin for Attenborough. Okay, I like Baldwin. He’s very good. But he’s not Attenborough, who at 85 has been narrating from mountains and oceans and deserts all over the world for decades.

Being the curious sort who likes to learn just how in the heck the film crew captured some of the amazing stuff on the DVD, I was delighted that seven special features and 47 video shorts show in detail just how long it took to catch the penguins emerging from an ice hole–and just how many months it took the crew to “effortlessly” catch just the right moment to share with us. Just what kind of equipment can stand up to the punishment of wind and weather and moisture? Not only that, but how incredibly courageous they had to have been to dive underwater in the Antarctic, into an ice cave, under the ice to get underwater shots.  The cameramen climb down into a volcano and enter ice caves  (Yes! Ice caves inside a smoldering volcano) under the Antarctic  just so you and I can watch the formation of icy art.  EGADS! I’m hoping no film makers were harmed in the making of this film.

On Disc 3 of the three-disc set, the sequence entitled “On Thin Ice” sums up what we have seen in terms of the rapid changes taking place and also looks at the history of scientific observation of the poles.  The solid sheet of ice covering the northern-most region is cracking and shrinking. Perhaps as early as 2020 there will be open water in the north where in human history we have only know solid white. As Attenborough lies on the ice beside a baby polar bear, you realize that the bear’s life and all of us are equally affected by the changes.

Inuit people of the Arctic region, who known the paths across the ice like we know the freeway exits near our home town, still traverse their land in dog sleds, gliding over known fissures that open up predictably each year. But now there are new, unpredictable cracks in the ice.  The Inuit, formerly roaming the ice to fish and hunt, now carry GPS devices to map the new cracks so that scientists can keep track.

The  production has been criticized by those who think it did not go far enough in discussing global warming.  Some people wanted the producers to explain why we are seeing the rapid change.  Personally, I agree with their choice to show the facts.  Frozen Planet draws us in to observe and become fascinated by the beauty and wonder of the extremes of the earth.  It shows us quite clearly how rapidly things are changing.  People have to be interested and care before they will take the next step of seeking change, and Frozen Planet accomplishes that goal.

The series aired on TV in March on Discovery Channel, and if you want to watch it in segments (with commercials) it is on the Discovery website.  The BBC released the e-Disc collection earlier this spring so that you and your kids can keep enjoying the superlatives of the Poles whenever you want.

Looking for tours? Tauck offers three icy adventures.

And Quark has lots of choices.

Rather read a book? Sarah Wheeler, writer about the polar regions, recommends five books on the Arctic and Antarctic at The Browser, always a dependable guide to good reads.

Movies about Antarctic? Here’s a long list from silly to serious.

Disclaimers: The DVD set was provided to me for review free of charge, but as usual that does not affect my reaction. The photos here are NOT from the DVD, but instead come from kind photographers who share at Flickr with a Creative Commons license. Please click on each photo to learn more about the photographer. Links to Amazon are affiliate links, meaning that when you shop through those links you are financially supporting A Traveler’s Library and we are most grateful for that support.

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Sanibel Island sunset

Destination: Sanibel Island, Florida, 1860s

Book: Blue Asylum (NEW  2012) by Kathy Hepinstall

The story of Blue Asylum follows the life of Iris, a plantation wife who perpetrated such an unthinkable act that her husband quite effortlessly got her declared insane and shipped her off to the most humane mental hospital in the country under the care of the self-assured Dr. Cowell on Sanibel Island. This deceptively simple story set me pondering the hardships of war, the definition of mental illness, feminism, slavery, American history, nature and survival.

Author Kathy Hepinstall presents the world of the 1860s with all its cultural quirks in such a deeply realistic way that I had to struggle my way back to the 21st century when I took a break from reading.

Ambrose Weller, another inmate, clearly suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome–a malady as yet unidentified during the Civil War. He periodically goes mad, shouting and struggling to concentrate on the color blue, as Dr. Cowell has instructed. But as he flashes back to his war experience, we gradually learn his whole story.  Here is his first flashback, an example of Hepinstall’s skill at painting nature.

Ambrose killed his first man in filtered sunlight, so close he could see his enemy’s face.  He was in a wood lot managed by the Mennonites.  Bluebirds had flown away, squawking, and the other animals had disappeared down burrows or into the holes of trees.  Even the ants had towed their white eggs into passages made in rotting logs.  The animals in that cool, brief forest were accustomed to the sleepy sound of an ax in red oak, and not the energy of war.

That last sentence alone magically conjures the entire Civil War. Simply brilliant.

Hepinstall introduces us to an attitude toward women that some still struggle against. Here made tragic by the comparison with the condition of slavery and the fact that the mental doctor considered the most compassionate in the country, sympathizes with Iris’ wronged husband and dismisses her story as (literally) crazy. The doctor’s thoughts:

Women, he decided, became unhappier the better they were treated.  He pitied her husband and wondered what tricks of perception, what prayers, what gin had got him through daily life with her.

Gems of descriptive writing come so fast, that I must have used up a whole box of metal pointers as I read through Blue Asylum. The sound of the sea: “It was a sound that bowed to no other, neither bell, nor cannonade, nor bugle, nor a man’s beating heart.”  A crowd is drawn by “the salty boiled-crab smell of rising tensions.”

The struggle between Iris and the doctor becomes “a microcosm of the great war raging in the far distance: one side that desired autonomy, and the other that took independence as a sign of madness.”

The young son of the doctor, trapped on this island full of adults, most of them considered abnormal, wonders if he is also crazy.  He does typical boy things, exploring the surrounding beaches and swampy areas, catching fish, collecting shells, trying to figure out the surrounding adults. His untainted world view throws in contrast the certainty of adult prejudices.

The story is not linear, but rather unreels in flashbacks between present actions. That technique particularly suits a story that draws the reader into contemplation of the workings of the mind.  It also limits what I can say about the story and the characters without spoiling your own meandering journey through their lives.  The journey is most worthwhile, although I felt a bit deflated by the end. I have tried to figure out my dissatisfaction, but perhaps it was only because I hated to have all these beautifully presented and interesting concepts come to an end.  I felt that I had been wandering through a gallery of ideas, painted in graceful colorful words and I just wanted to stay on Sanibel Island, or at least with the challenging woman, Iris.

Sanibel shells

To come back to A Traveler’s Library world–where we read books to inspire travel–you do not have to time travel to Civil War days to enjoy the beauty of Sanibel Island. We stopped there during a trip to Florida and were totally charmed. Sanibel and its sister island Captiva lie off the Gulf Coast across from Ft. Meyers, Florida. Sanibel particularly draws people to its shell-covered beaches as this book review for family travel points out. The Ding Darling Wild Life Refuge can show you what the island would have looked during the time period of Blue Asylum. The real life history of the island is interesting, too. On the other hand, you can just lie on a beautiful white beach and listen to the waves.

The lovely pictures of Sanibel here come from Flickr and are used with Creative Commons license. Please click on the picture to learn more about the photographers.  The publishers provided a copy of Blue Asylum for review.  The links to Amazon are affiliate links, meaning that if you buy through those links, you are supporting A Traveler’s Library. Thanks.

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One of her articles caught my attention and made me think of YOU. It is entitled, Five Great Vacations for Readers. I think you’ll agree that this article is right down your alley! Give it a look and tell me what you think.

Vera

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Destination: Florida Beaches

Book: The Magic of Seashells  (rev. ed. 2002) by Fredlee, Illustrated by Cissy Gray

By Jennifer Close

Have your kids ever found a shell and wondered what its name was? Do they want to know what might have lived in the shell before it was washed ashore or why the shell is faded in color? Magic of Seashellsby Fredlee answers many of these questions for your children.

Kim and Jeff wake up bright and early in the morning long before their parents while on vacation at a seashore resort. They get up and head to the hotel dining room to eat breakfast where they meet Stafford, who lives nearby and is also vacationing with his family. When Kim and Jeff mention that they had never been to this resort, Stafford suggests that they go collect shells on the beach.

Kim, Jeff, and Stafford wander up and down the beach collecting shells. The first shell they find is a large horse conch. Stafford tells Jeff how the conch is a univalve snail and uses a single foot to move itself. They continue to search for shells into the early afternoon. They find cowries, cones, and more.

Shells found on Pensacola Beach

The first third of The Magic of Seashells is the story of Kim, Jeff, and Stafford. The second part of the book is a collection of shell pictures and descriptions. Each type of shell can be found in different areas of the seashore. You should look for conchs in shallow and muddy water. There are several different kinds of conch shells like the queen conch, the lamb conch, and the crown conch. The pictures show the shell and give the name, scientific name, and approximate size of the shell.

While looking through the pictures, my children and I discovered that the shells that we commonly find washed up on Pensacola Beach are scallops and cockles. These shells are typically found washed up on the beach and we are pretty sure that we have also found the rough scallop and Tyron’s scallop, though we aren’t positive! We think that we find the cut-ribbed ark and oyster shells as well. They were excited to learn that the giant shell that sits on the counter of their beachy bathroom is a whelk. We found that shell while we were in Virginia a few years ago. We aren’t sure what kind of whelk it is but they think it is a channeled whelk. After reading this story, we are now on the lookout for a Florida rock shell, which is a univalve bonnet. We do live in Florida after all so we just might find one!

The last part of the book has a couple of coloring pages to familiarize yourself more with the different kinds of shells.

Hunting for shells after a storm

Do you want to go shell hunting?

• You can collect shells all day long but early morning and just past low tide is the best time to look. Another good time to collect shells is after a storm.
• Bring a bucket and a shovel. Some of the shells bury themselves in the sand. The kids will have great fun digging in the sand.
• Shells can be found in the sand, on top of the sand, in the water, on rocky flats and in crevices so keep your eyes alert as you wander. If you find a cone shell, be careful because they can sting. We have found cone shells in the past and this was not something that I was aware of.
• Know the rules and laws for removing items from the beach you are visiting. Some allow it and others don’t.
• When you are finished collecting your shells, you can clean them by soaking them in bleach according to Stafford although we have never done this. We usually just clean our shells out with water. To help the shells maintain its natural beauty, you can rub the shell with a coating of cooking oil.

And, although the pictures here are of Pensacola Beach, don’t miss three other outstanding Florida beaches for shelling:

• Sanibel Island
• Navarre Beach
• Ft. Desoto’s North Beach

The photos of seashell hunting are the property of Jennifer Close. Please respect her copyright.  It is the policy of A Traveler’s Library to tell you about affiliate links.  If you click on the book cover or book title, you will be able to shop at Amazon and A Traveler’s Library will earn a few cents for each purchase. Thank you.

Jennifer Close  is the Family Travel expert at A Traveler’s Library, and as a contributor, regularly fills us in on books that enhance travel with children. You can find more of her family travel adventures at Two Kids and a Map.

NEXT MONDAY, A Traveler’s Library features a wonderful new historic novel that takes place on Sanibel Island. Seashells play a prominent part in the story.

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Destination: Alaska

Book: Alaska, The Fishes and Dishes Cookbook: Seafood Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska’s Commercial Fisherwomen (2010) by Kiyo Marsh, Tomi Marsh, and Laura Cooper 

Something Fishy

By Brette Sember

If you’ve ever dreamed of fishing (and eating) in Alaska,  The Fishes & Dishes Cookbook: Seafood Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska’s Commercial Fisherwomen by Kiyo Marsh, Tomi Marsh, and Laura Cooper (women who not only catch fish, but cook them in Alaska), is just what you need. Who understands fish better than the women who catch them for a living and eat them regularly?

Tomi owned her own commercial fishery boat for many years and as the women tell it, commercial fisherpeople in Alaska eat a LOT of fish, because it is fresh and plentiful on board and filling up their freezers on land, so they’ve all had much experience cooking up catches. The book is packed with recipes, but it also has stories about the life the women live out on the sea. We learn how Tomi bought her boat, how green her sister was when she joined her, how difficult it is to cook on a moving boat in rough seas, and what overwhelmingly hard physical labor it is to move the parts on a fishing boat and haul in the catch in the coldest and roughest of waters. As if that’s not enough drama, there’s even a love story and a dramatic sea rescue.

Alaska waters

The stories are enough to let you almost taste the sea spray and feel the numbing cold of the deep blue Alaskan waters, but the photos take you there without question. There are dramatic photos of the catch (halibut that look like sea monsters and crab so big they seem sci-fi), photos that show the toughness in these women’s souls and lots of shots that show what life is really like on these boats (hint: It’s not a cruise by any means!), but there are also scenes that bring the stunning beauty of Alaska alive: snow-capped mountains, rough seas, harbors full of fishery boats, mossy hills, ice covered buoys and boats, and moving, dramatic skies. The only thing missing is photos of the recipes themselves.

My family visited Alaska two years ago and fell in love. All of us took a nature cruise from Sitka (one of the most beautiful places on earth) among the islands nearby and we experienced the beauty of the sea and landscape (not to mention otters, whales, and eagles) which this book makes real again for me.

Alaska Fisherman and his salmon

My husband and son also went salmon fishing and had a taste of what it’s like to bring in a big catch. We ate salmon for months and months afterwards, and fortunately, I had this book to help me find ways to cook it. It was my bible for a very long time.

Crab, Bacon and Asparagus Frittata, Salmon Nambam, Smoked Salmon Devilled Eggs, King Crab Dip, Shrimp and Sesame Green Bean Salad, Salmokopita, Grilled Rosemay Balsamic Salmon and more are the recipes that encouraged me to think about fish in a more creative way, beyond my staples of grilling with some dill and lemon, or baked or poached with hollandaise. I also loved the very in-depth tips about how to tell when fish is done, how to choose a fresh fish, now to clean a fish, store it and even details about how to clean and store clams, mussels, oyster, geoduck, shrimp, and crab.

This is my favorite recipe from the book (sometimes I just make the sauce and use it on grilled salmon, or on other fish I’ve baked or pan seared) and the good news is that it is amazingly simple:

Seared Salmon with Spinach Sauce

4 (6-ouce) salmon fillets, skinned and deboned
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
2 big handfuls fresh spinach, cleaned
¾ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
3 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup heavy cream
Chopped chives, for garnish

Pat the salmon fillets dry, and season with the salt and pepper. Set aside at room temperature.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for about 8 minutes, until golden and soft. Remove from the heat.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the spinach and blanch for several minutes, until the spinach is bright green and wilted. Drain.

Put the onion, spinach, parsley, mustard, sour cream, and heavy cream into a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a medium pot, and set over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the salmon and cook on one side for 3-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn the salmon over, and cook for 2-4 minutes, or until the salmon is beginning to flake, but there is still a little translucency in the middle. Remove from the heat.

Place about a half cup of hot spinach sauce on each plate. Top with a salmon fillet, and sprinkle with chopped chives.

Brette’s Shortcuts: I often use frozen spinach in this recipe, defrosted and squeezed dry, which skips the whole wilting step. In a pinch, I’ve also used onion powder instead of onion.

As a regular contributor to A Traveler’s Library, Brette Sember writes about food and travel.  The pictures used in this post all belong to Brette. Please respect her copyright.  The links to Amazon are affiliate links, and although it costs you no more to shop through those links, you will be supporting A Traveler’s Library and Brette Sember’s blogs. Thank you.

Brette has written many books herself, including cookbooks. Don’t forget to check out her latest, The Muffin Tin Cookbook, and see her other books at Amazon as well.

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Destination: Yemen (Played by Morocco)

Movie: Salmon Fishing in Yemen

By Jane Boursaw

I went into Salmon Fishing in the Yemen knowing very little about it, other than Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor were the leads, and that it’s based on a novel by Paul Torday. That was enough to get me in the door. Once I got there, I found so much more.

With what I’m about to say, you’d think they’re trying to pack too much into this little arthouse film that’s been gaining steam since its limited release in March. But somehow, it all works in a quiet, subtle way that sneaks up on you and makes you happy you saw this film. Let’s go a little further:

It’s a drama. This movie is as much about human connections as it is about salmon fishing in the Yemen. Emily Blunt plays a British investment consultant named Harriet who’s tasked with carrying out a crazy dream of her wealthy client Sheikh Muhammed (Amr Waked). He wants to bring salmon fishing to Yemen, not only because he loves to fly-fish, but also because it would be a good thing to pass along to future generations. He’s not the kind of stereotypical sheikh you might expect to find on the big screen. He’s insightful, caring and thoughtful.

It’s an inspirational story. In case you need a little primer on your geography, Yemen, which is a country located in Western Asia that occupies the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, isn’t exactly the dampest spot on the planet. To bring salmon fishing there, it will cost the Sheikh millions of dollars, the construction of a dam, and a major act of God to marshal all the forces needed. It’s ok, though. He’s a patient man, and once he sees a tiny spark of possibility that it can be accomplished, that’s all he needs.

It’s a love story. As Harriet is bringing all the pieces together, destiny intervenes, and British fisheries staffer Dr. Alfred Jones becomes involved in the project. He’s a rather stodgy, by-the-book office worker  who’d rather talk to the fish in his backyard pond than have meaningful conversations with his wife. She heads abroad to a big job, and he heads to Yemen, where he begins to view the world in a bigger way. He also meets Harriet, who’s already told her Afghanistan-bound boyfriend Robert (Tom Mison) that she’ll wait for him to return from war. It’s more of a love quadrangle than a triangle.

It’s a political thriller. Things are tense between the Brits and Arab entities. To smooth things over, Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas), the Prime Minister’s tightly-wound press secretary, latches on to salmon-fishing as a good will story and starts engineering photo ops and chance meetings. The Yemen people are not at all happy about this project, and the Sheikh’s life is in danger.

It’s a comedy. Providing comic relief is Alfred’s superior Bernard (Conleth Hill), who finds himself in the unenviable position of having to secure 10,000 salmon from British waters and move them to the Yemen.  The Brits aren’t happy about that. The Yemen aren’t happy about that. No one is happy about that. Especially Bernard.

As you can see, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is many things, but at its core is the story of several people embarking on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible. Most of all, it’s just a really great movie.

And the locations are fantastic, with shooting taking place in Scotland and England, with Morocco standing in for Yemen. This may be because Yemeni officials have been wary about allowing any feature film to be shot on location ever since the controversial Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini filmed several scenes for his 1974 Arabian Nights in Old San’a without telling Yemenis it would have graphic sex.

Even as recent as 2005, when Bader Ben Hirsi filmed A New Day in Old Sana’a in Yemen, there was upheaval over filmmaking in the country, and the production crew feared for their life. Perhaps films like Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, though not shot there, will help to further the cause of filmmaking in the country.

For more about my love for Emily Blunt, check out my recent review of The Five-Year Engagement.

Photos from the movie are used courtesy of LionsGate.

NOTE FROM VMB: Learn more about Yemen from this author interview with Jennifer Steil and the  review of her book, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky.

Jane Boursaw is a contributor to A Traveler’s Library, writing about her specialty, movies and TV shows. For us, she finds movies that make you want to travel.

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Harry Potter: Hagrid's Hut

Destination: Scotland

Book(s): Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

 Reading (and Visiting) Harry Potter in Scotland

by Dr. Jessie Voigts

What’s more fun than reading a book? Going to the location where the book was set – or where the author wrote said book.

As a reader of A Traveler’s Library, I assume that literary travel is your thing. It is one of mine! Reading  many books about a place before we go, or being inspired to travel by a book – what could be better?

Well, the trip can be enhanced with books that have also been made into movies. And, literary travel can further encourage reading – not only the blockbusters, but books of all sorts, including local literature, local guidebooks, and more. Head to the bookstores where you travel, and ask which books were set or written there. You’ll come away with many new books to read, and a new appreciation for place.

The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, changed the face of Young Adult literature. It inspired more reading, new genres, and new interest in books, reading, and the UK. And the Harry Potter books aren’t only for teens – I suspect many more adults than teens read them.

There are now Harry Potter tours in England and Scotland that visit places featured in the books or movies. Some of the most scenic locations from the Harry Potter movies are set in Scotland. What better location to inspire literary travel? Our family went to Scotland and was able to travel in Harry Potter’s footsteps! Watch the movies before you come, and bring your books to read on the long plane ride.

Most of the Scottish locations for the Harry Potter movies were filmed in the western Highlands – of course, because it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here’s where you can find the locations for:

Harry Potter steam engine

** Hogwarts Express

While we all know it starts at Kings Cross Station, in the movies, the train crosses a very scenic viaduct. This is the West Highland Railway line, crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

This railway line runs around 42 miles, from Fort William to Mallaig. The Glenfinnan Viaduct is located at Lochaber, and is 100 feet above the ground! There are 21 large arches that support the railway bridge, which covers over 1,000 feet to cross the valley. To get up close, park in the parking lot of the Glenfinnan Monument. This commemorates the location where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard, thus starting the 1745 Jacobite Rising [corrected date]. The parking is free, and there’s also a gift shop and restroom. Look at the railway schedules to determine when the train will cross. While most of the trains are modern, occasionally there will be a historic “Harry Potter” train taking tourists. You can take a Harry Potter train yourself on the Jacobite Steam Train, running from Fort William to Mallaig. (Here’s a video of the steam train).

Extra bonus – the flying car scene, from the Chamber of Secrets, was also filmed here. Be careful crossing the road to the Monument – there’s no stop sign for cars hurtling around the bend. I don’t move very quickly, and this was a dicey proposition. If you just want to see the train on the Glenfinnan Viaduct, it is viewed easily from the parking lot.

Lake Torren, Scotland. The bare spot surrounded by pines would be Hagrid's Hut.

** Hagrid’s Hut

Not only can you see the location for Hagrid’s Hut, but you can stay near where it was filmed and walk there every morning to see the mist rise off Loch Torren, the small lake, as I did. The location is in Glencoe, at the base of Ben Nevis. Stay at the Glencoe Cottages, and talk with owner Victoria Sutherland and hear the stories of the filming. Just 3 minutes walk away from the eco-friendly cottages is Loch Torren, in Clachaig Gully. The flat spot, halfway up the hill, is where the Hagrid’s Hut scenes were filmed. On a cool, misty morning, wander up to the Loch, coffee mug in hand. Sit amidst the bracken and feel the Highlands – and the world of Harry Potter – all around you. Once the mist has cleared and your coffee long gone, skip some stones on the smooth loch and ripple the beautiful reflections. This was one of the highlights of our time in Scotland – surrounded by such beauty, and seeing the books and movies we loved coming to life.

Ben Nevis, Scotland

** Quidditch matches

The Quidditch matches were filmed in beautiful Glen Nevis, with Ben Nevis (the largest mountain in the UK) in the background. While you won’t be able to fly your broom, you CAN hill walk (hike) the area. Be sure to take a good map, and possibly hire a local guide. Don’t tackle Ben Nevis on your own – Glencoe Cottages owner Victoria Sutherland told us many stories of the local search and rescue team heading out late at night, to save a lost or stranded visitor. Bet they all wished for a broom and quick exits!

Harry Potter Scenery

** Outdoor scenes

Many of the outdoor scenes were filmed around Ben Nevis, near Glencoe. Drive around Fort William and visit Steal Falls where the Triwizard Tournament was held (Goblet of FIre), and hike the 7 mile–long Glen Coe, to experience the backdrop of Prisoner of Azkaban. Head to Loch Arkaig to see the gorgeous lake filmed in the Half Blood Prince. Loch Shiel (at the Glenfinnan Monument) and Lock Eilt were used as the backdrop for the exterior of Hogwarts. Wherever you go in the Western Highlands, the scenery will be quite familiar to Harry Potter readers, both from the magical writing and from the movies.

Have you visited any of the locations of the Harry Potter films? Did it bring the stories alive for you? Did it inspire more reading of books set in the Western Highlands of Scotland? What about other films, made from books?

It is the policy of A Traveler’s Library to inform you of affiliate links. If you click on the book title links to Amazon and buy anything while you are there, it helps support A Traveler’s Library, even though it costs you no more. Please do use our links. All photos courtesy of and copyright by Jessie Voigts and Tom Voigts.

Jessie Voigts, of Wandering Educators, is a regular Contributor to A Traveler’s Library, bringing us cultural inspirations for travel.

(See more Harry Potter locations to visit in this post from Gone With Family. )

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Ohio Woods

Destination: The Ohio Valley, and history

Music: Wilderness Plots, Rosehill Records performed by Tom Roznowski, Tim Grimm, Michael White, Krista Detor, Carrie Newcomer

Article by Kerry Dexter

Tim Grimm

In a used bookstore in Bloomington, Indiana, Tim Grimm began leafing through a small  book. He was aware of the author, Scott Russell Sanders, a writer of both fiction and non fiction, but Grimm had never come across this long  out-of-print book. Within its pages he found stories, some a page or two long, some just a paragraph or two, about people and events in the Ohio Valley  in the days between the American Revolution and the Civil War,  a time when Indiana and Ohio were frontier country just turning to settled land. The book was called:
Wilderness Plots: Tales About the Settlement of the American Land.

Within the pages of this little book, he  heard songs.

Every month, Grimm meets up with a group of fellow songwriters to share ideas, inspiration, and challenges. Tom Roznowski, Michael White, Carrie Newcomer, and Krista Detor were the other members of the group at the time he came across the book. ”We give each other challenges,” Newcomer explains. “Sometimes it might be about form: come back next month and bring a song that has no chorus and make it work, for example. Sometimes it’s about ideas: come back next month with a song from the stories in this little book. That pushes you to use  all the crayons in your box of crayons,” she adds. “You have all these tools as  a songwriter, and when you step outside what you normally do, you have to think about them a little differently

The five are  very different voices, both in writing style and in physical singing voices, so they each came up with quite different approaches to these pieces of history. What the songs they made hold in common, though, are graceful storytelling, vivid use of language and music, and  strong sense of character and place.

Though it hadn’t been their original plan,  over the months the five liked the music they were coming up with so well that they decided to make  an album. They decided to call it Wilderness Plots in honor of the stories which inspired the songs.

At times, the songs hew quite closely to the story line on the printed page. At others, there’s just one line that informs the song, and with others, the substance is the musician thinking about ideas suggested by the tale.

In the song Aurora, written by Detor, she and Grimm sing  as a couple testing their spirit and their marriage as they move from the known into the unknown to pioneer a town in the wilderness.  Roznowski  speaks in the words of a man who looks at trees and sees cities  rising in Trees, and Grimm ponders the thoughts of another who is a both a cobbler and a preacher and has an experience which changes his view of both callings in Frostbite on the Soul. In Israel Coe, White adds in a song  that will make you laugh and at the same time remind you of how hard frontier life could be.

Carrie Newcomer

Newcomer looks at a seller of dubious medicines who ends up searching his soul In Healing Waters. In Biscuits and Butter  she offers a sparely written story of a woman coming to terms with loss, death, and grief on the frontier, and in One Woman and a Shovel, Newcomer brings  in a feisty woman who is inspired by hope. Hope inspires Detor’s character In More Than I Dare Say, as well, a woman who is taking an unusual step of determination to make things better for her children.

There are nineteen songs in all on the album, weaving a rich tapestry of hopes, dreams, change, fears, and history.

It didn’t stop with this recording, either. Grimm, Detor, and Newcomer have  each recorded  alternate versions and additional songs inspired by Wilderness Plots on their own solo albums, and WTIU, the public television station based at Indiana University in Bloomington, has done two programs on the music. One finds the musicians in  a songwriter’s circle, singing the songs and talking about the landscape and ideas they drew on for the writing of them, and the other is a concert presentation.

You may see some of the concert footage at the WTIU web site, and here is an excerpt from the writer’s circle program, a song written by Krista Detor on which all five sing.

Kerry Dexter, from Music Road,  is a regular contributor  to A Traveler’s Library, writing about music-inspired travel. Follow her posts at Music Road for musings about music and introductions to fine artists.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Galata Tower, Istanbul

Destinations: Istanbul, Berlin

Book: Letter from a Stranger (NEW 2012) by Barbara Taylor Bradford. (Review refers to the Macmillan Audio unabridged recorded book).

Barbara Taylor Bradford has written 26 international best sellers over the past 31 years.  There is no reason to believe that Letter from a Stranger will not become the 27th, no matter what I think of it.  Her website claims she has sold in excess of 82 million books (30 million of her first, A Woman of Substance, 1979). She is one of the 50 richest women in Britain.

Obviously she has hundreds of thousands of loyal fans.

I’m not one of them.

Listening to this book on an audio tape was a bit difficult, because I kept wanting to just flip through the pages and look for the next marginally interesting part. It was also difficult because the reader gives everything an equally breathless emphasis– whether granite countertops or a mysterious letter about a missing relative.  Ken wandered through one day as I was listening without headphones and wanted to know if it was a children’s book, because the reader sounded like a kindergarten teacher talking to five-year-olds.  These factors certainly didn’t help my reaction to the book, but don’t account for my overall dislike.

Concerned that my reaction might be idosyncratic, and therefore not very useful to the readers of A Traveler’s Library, I decided to check my reactions against reviews in Goodreads of  Bradford’s books.  There I found an almost even split between people who adore everything she writes, and those who care about writing style and can’t stand to read bad writing. This reviewer pretty much summed up my views,“This is a very long, verbose book that has a good story buried among its endless descriptions of, well, just about everything.”

Although that review was written about Woman of Substance, it applies equally to Letter From a Stranger.

Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn, Istanbul

Bradford has a fascination with architecture and decor and with minute descriptions of makeup and clothing. On the other hand, I never got a clear picture of what people looked like, except that I was told a dozen times that Justine, the heroine, had the same blue eyes and fair coloring as her grandmother. And I gave this book a try because I was interested in seeing the lives of people in Istanbul, but other than lists of tourist sites, a detailed description of a luxury hotel on the Bosporus and mentioning the Bosporus frequently, the book could have been most anywhere.

And then there is the tell rather than show that marks Bradford’s writing. We are told endlessly that Justine and her twin brother are very simpatico.
Yeah, we get it.  They know each other’s thoughts. But it does make one wonder why she has to say, “Remember, I was a journalist before I started making documentaries” ? Hmmm, he didn’t notice?

Justine is going to Turkey and she’s not going to contact her mother first, and she’s going to tell everyone she is going to film  a documentary. Yeah, we get it. We don’t need to be told every few minutes.

Tulips

And while I’m talking about Justine, a documentary film-maker who runs her own production company in New York…why is she so uninformed? Her new boyfriend the ex-CIA agent has to explain Nazi Germany to her. Her grandmother has to explain the 15th century Tulip Mania to her. And on and on. Obviously this is excuse for exposition, but Bradford doesn’t seem to trust her readers to know ANYTHING.

The one almost saving grace comes about half way through when the story rather suddenly switches to a second, related, but very different story set in Berlin during World War II.  That story, with some judicious editing, could have been the better half and in fact was far more interesting than the manufactured intrigues of the wealthy folks living along the Bosporus with all their (GASP!) family secrets that are meant  to be oh-so shocking. Not only that, but the descriptions of pre and post Berlin far outshine the descriptions of Turkey, if you are looking for travel inspiration.

Believe it or not, I really don’t like to write negative reviews.  I want to like books. I want them to engage me.  But I also feel the need to warn you about what you are getting. Now if you are in the fold of the loyal Bradford fans, by all means use one of my Amazon links and order the book. (You’ll be helping support this venture). I can’t blame you for wanting to check it out for yourself. You could, of course, get on that long list at the local library of people waiting with bated breath for the latest Bradford novel.

Disclaimer:  MacMillan Audio provided a free copy of this audio book for review. They may be regretting that action, because rather obviously, I say what I think. All photos here are from Flickr, complements of Creative Common licenses. Please click on each picture to learn more about the photographers who so generously share their work.

So let’s have it. Are you a Bradford fan? Or do you expect more out of a best-seller?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Monks and wood sellers outside Angkor Thom

To Western eyes, coming from countries where church is separated from daily life, clergy is separated from the general populace, and you believe in one creed at a time, there was a lot to get used to in Cambodia.  For one thing, most boys from Buddhist families become monks at some time in their lives, and women may become monks, too.  It may be for a short time before they move back into daily life, or it may last a lifetime. But either way, you will see the brightly colored orange robes and shaved heads everywhere.

I found it disconcerting to see the aesthetic looking monks smoking a cigarette or chatting on a cell phone. Our guide, never short of opinions, was disturbed by a old man in black who sat in a courtyard of the tumble-down Angkor Thom. It is unusual to see monks in black robes, and in searching for an answer as to why someone would wear black, I found many–but none definitive.  At any rate, this smiling old man with the shaved head held out for me a small cheaply-made metal figure of a buddha.  I took it, thinking it was a gift, but he held his hand out asking for payment.  That set off our guide. Monks are supposed to accept what is given, but not ask.  ”The monks have forgotten how to be monks,” he fumed. No wonder, since they were routinely slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge during the days of Pol Pot.

One of the ways of earning good karma is by caring for the temple, and after climbing the seemingly endless flights of gray stone stairs to the top level of Angkor Wat, we found this small room with its homemade broom and basket, although we did not see the caretaker.

Cleaning supplies Angkor Wat

Since all of the temple complexes changed hands at least twice between Hindu and Buddhist regimes, it is possible to see both religions reflected in their art.

Carved stone pillars, Banteay Srei

Statue at Banteay Srei

The most beautiful temple of all, Banteay Srei, is sometimes called “The Woman’s Temple.”  Legends say that long ago, when all the Cambodian men were off fighting the Thais, the women built this temple/fortress and became female warriors. As is the case with all the temples around Siem Riep, the truth is lost in time. But it is easy to think of this as a feminine construction. It is petite and graceful compared to the other temples that seem to lord it over their surroundings. And the carvings are ornately executed on a golden stone that practically glows. ( I did not get that gold color by processing–that’s how it looks.)

I should add that we were extremely fortunate because we visited only three months after the last of the Khmer Rouge had been cleared out of this area. Before that year, no tourists had been able to visit Banteay Srei.

Our guide lighting candle to tree spirit outside Ta Phrom

The most interesting lessons in religion that we had in Cambodian came not from the carvings that tell both Hindu and Buddhist stories in the temples, but from the stories of our guide’s life. Here he stopped at a hollowed out tree and lit a candle. He explained to us that it was a custom to honor the tree spirit. We never were quite sure whether he believed in Animism along with his belief in Buddhism, or whether this was part of a tourist-pleasing act.

But we were inclined to think that he at least half-way believed in otherworldly spirits when he told us that he could not linger at the end of the day, because he had to get home to his two young daughters, who would be home from school.  His wife had died some years before and his older daughter, he said, had trouble sleeping because she was sure that she saw her mothers ghost in the corner of the ceiling. While at the time, I thought this was a young child’s reaction to losing her mother, I learned that the ghosts of ancestors is a much more serious business than I thought, when I read and reviewed In the Shadow of the Banyan.

In the decade since I was in Cambodia, I have learned a great deal more and hopefully am slightly less naive. It is just one more reason that I would love to return to that country and see what I might have missed.

These pictures are all my property, scanned form old prints. Please do not copy without express permission. The post is my contribution to Travel Photo Thursday.  To see more travel photos form around the world, go to Budget Traveler’s Sandbox  (which this week features beautiful Nova Scotia) and click on any of the names at the end of the main post for more photo essays.

Have you re-visited a place at two times in your life and found that it seems a different place because YOU are a different person?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.