Picture of the Day: Books For Sale in Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
7.23.2013 

Picture of the Day: Bananas for Sale in Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic
7.25.2013 

Heading Home From Bávaro

After leaving Santo Domingo on Friday, Frank and I spent the past four days at the Iberostar Grand Hotel Bávaro and sadly have to return home this afternoon. It has been perfect weather and we've spent our days either in the water or in the shade of cabanas. I am not one known for relaxing, but Frank convinced me that we should spend a few days here and he was completely right. I may get used to this...

Postscript: Frank wanted me to say that he is always right. I say haha!

Picture of the Day: Balcony View Overlooking the Caribbean

St. Thomas, USVI
10.2009 

Hello From Santo Domingo!

Frank and I are in the Domincan Republic for our honeymoon and our first stop is in Santo Domingo for a few days.

Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Christopher Columbus's younger brother, Bartholomew, and served as the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. As the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas, the Zona Colonial in Santo Domingo is full of amazing old buildings dating back four and five hundred years.

In our short time here so far we have had a chance to visit the oldest cathedral in the Americas, Cathedral of Santa María la Menor, which was constructed from 1512 to 1540, as well as the oldest still standing stone building in the New World, Casa del Cordon (1502), which now houses a bank.

In addition to the beautiful historic sights we have been impressed with how genuinely friendly everyone is here. As an example, while we were taking pictures in front of Cathedral of Santa María la Menor several people stopped to let us know that the entrance was down the street behind the building before heading along their way.

We've also had some delicious meals here from fantastic ceviche at La Taberna Vasca to sandwiches stuffed with ham, pulled pork, two types of cheese and green tomatoes at Barra Payan.

It has been a great two days so far and I am looking forward to exploring Santo Domingo more!

Picture of the Day: Port at Gustavia in Saint Barthélemy

Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy
5.30.2010

Picture of the Day: Leaves in El Yunque Rainforest

El Yunque Rainforest
Puerto Rico, United States
2.18.2007

I ♥ Red Telephone Boxes (or The Time I Was on BBC1)

I love red telephone boxes. Along with red post boxes and red double decker buses, they seem so quintessentially British to me as an American. Someday I would love to have one for my house. I'm not sure what I would do with it, but it would be really neat and a double decker bus is out of the question since it would be too tall for my garage.

Back in June 2005 while I was in London for a conference for work I ended up being on the BBC London News on the BBC1 television channel due my admiration for red telephone boxes.  I love all things BBC, especially listening to the BBC World Report on the radio, so I was really excited. 

On the last day of my conference the sessions ended at 1:30 pm so I decided to spend the afternoon sightseeing before meeting up with some friends at their flat for dinner. I planned ahead and brought a pair of flats and wore a t-shirt under my suit jacket so I could do a quick change and be on my way. Sometimes I am smart like that. Other times not so much. Like the day that I had off before the conference started when I decided to take a day trip to the Cotswolds and got lost walking in the countryside for a few hours resulting in terrible blisters and almost missing the last train back to London.  

Anyway, back to the story at hand. One of the places I wanted to go to see that afternoon was St. Paul's Cathedral because when I was visiting in 2003 the front was undergoing restoration.  On the cathedral grounds there was one of the old style red London telephone boxes so with me being me I couldn't help but take some photos.

The next thing I knew a BBC reporter, Karl Mercer, and his cameraman were asking me if I would mind if they taped me photographing the telephone box.  They explained that they were doing a story about the traditional London telephone boxes for the evening news.  There was a movement to reduce their numbers due to the rise in cell phone usage along with replacing some with more modern telephone boxes, however there were also people who felt they should be kept as part of the cultural heritage.  The cameraman taped me taking photos from a few angles and Karl interviewed me about why I liked the traditional telephone boxes.  They were really nice and even posed for a photo with me.

When I got to my friends' flat I asked if we could turn on BBC1, telling them the story of my adventure with the phone box.  Sure enough, at a few minutes before seven the telephone box story aired with short clips of a variety of people they had filmed that day including the Lord Mayor and me (refered to as "Lisa from California.")  I had been worried that I would come across sounding vapid on film but the story turned out well and now I can say I was on the BBC.

I figured that I couldn't end this post without mentioning the most interesting locale with a red telephone box that I have come across. This past November when I was visiting my sister on St. Thomas we spent some time in the BVI. As our boat pulled up to Marina Cay for us to have lunch, lo and behold, there was a red telephone box perched on the end of the dock. Not only is the phone still in working order, there is also a webcam focused on it so you can take a look at what is going on at the telephone box at any given time online.

Long live red telephone boxes!

Picture of the Day: Pink Shells and Sand on Palm Beach

Palm Beach, Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
7.04.2009 

Picture of the Day: Seagull at Lindbergh Bay

Lindbergh Bay, St. Thomas
US Virgin Islands
7.01.2010