Travels & Traditions: Trieste, Italy - #113

The city of Trieste sits on the shore of the Adriatic Sea in the northeast corner of Italy.  It’s an Italian city that speaks Italian and eats pasta, but it was part of the Austrian Empire for hundreds of years so it also speaks German and eats sauerkraut. Trieste is a  monument to freedom of religion. A center for music from Puccini to pop. It has a two-thousand-year-old history of great theater, in dozens of different forms.  It’s home to one of the most romantic castles in Italy and the largest grotto in the world.  The city’s Italian heritage makes it romantic, but its Austrian heritage makes you show up on time for your kiss.  Interesting contrasts!  So join me, Burt Wolf, for TRAVELS & TRADITIONS  in Trieste, Italy.  

To the west of the city is the sea, and for the past four thousand years the sea has controlled Trieste’s destiny. Trieste is the most northern port on the Adriatic Sea, and that has made it one of the most important trading centers in Europe.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Sugar and spice and everything nice came up from the Mediterranean and went on to central Europe. The goods from central Europe came down and went out to the ports of the Mediterranean and Africa.

The first people to live in the area that became the city of Trieste settled here about four thousand years ago. They built a walled town on the top of what is now called San Giusto Hill.

About fifty years before the birth of Christ, the ancient Romans took over and eventually built a temple. When Christianity replaced the Paganism of the Romans, the Cathedral of San Giusto was built on top of the Roman temple. Some parts of the cathedral were actually built out of the Roman temple. The door jambs of the main entrance are Roman sculptures cleverly recycled.  Throughout the structure you can see Roman columns and supports that the cathedral builders reused. The present cathedral was constructed during the 1300s, when two churches that stood next to each other were combined. The facing side walls were taken down, and the buildings connected by a new central aisle covered by a ceiling that looks like the keel of a ship, and was probably made by carpenters who were normally working as shipbuilders. There are two beautiful Byzantine-style mosaics from the 1100s which are not easy to see until you place a coin in a box that turns on the spotlights.  Interesting symbolism -- contribute to the church and become enlightened.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): For three hundred years starting in the 13th Century, Trieste was in constant competition with Venice. Trieste had the better port but Venice had the better army.  In order to protect itself from the Venetians, Trieste placed itself under the protection of the kings of Austria.  One of those kings, Charles VI, in 1719 declared Trieste a free-port.  And that’s when things got to be fun. When his daughter Maria Theresa took the throne, she not only continued the policy of  having it a free-port, but in order to attract merchants from all over the world, she guaranteed social equality and religious freedom.

As soon as there were one hundred families sharing the same religion, they were allowed to build their own house of worship. Today the result of this liberal policy can be seen all over Trieste.

The Church of San Spiridione was built in the Byzantine style by the Serbian community. As with all Christian Orthodox churches, the interior is dominated by icons. The structure known as the iconostasis divides the space available to human beings from the space devoted to the divine. Majestic doors allow only the priests to move between the two worlds. The silver- and gold-covered icons depict life on the other side. 

The church of Saint Antonio Nuovo was built in the neoclassic style, which looks back to the architecture of ancient Greek temples. It’s the largest Catholic church in Trieste.

The Evangelical Church was built for the Lutheran community in the Gothic style:  sharp spires... arched windows. It was designed to remind the worshipers of their northern European history.

Trieste is also the home of the second largest synagogue in Europe. Its look is characteristic of Syrian architecture, which is where the original members of the community came from.  The Jewish population of Trieste first established itself here during the 12th Century.

These houses of worship stand as testimony to Maria Theresa’s understanding of religious freedom. She knew that freedom of worship was essential for a society whose economic base was international trade. 

Besides introducing religious freedom, Maria Theresa also directed the city’s architectural renaissance. The area which is now called the Theresian Quarter is an elegant example of 18th Century city planning.  The streets are placed at right angles. Rectangular squares open the space. Canals were cut into the heart of the quarter, making it easier for merchant ships to unload their goods directly into the import houses. The Grand Canal is an excellent example of the form.  By the end of the 1800s the city was so wealthy and so deeply involved in international trade that it was to a great extent Trieste’s labor force and Trieste’s money that built the Suez Canal. 

The Theresian Quarter is also home to one of Trieste’s most unusual shops. Its owner is Primo Rovis, who was one of the most important coffee traders in the world. His hobby is collecting minerals and fossils, which are offered for sale in his store. I asked Primo what fascinated him about these stones and his answer was quite interesting. He said that when we think of nature we usually think about trees and flowers and animals... things that are easy to see. Minerals and fossils are extraordinary examples of nature, but you must dig them out. He likes searching for beauty.

A few blocks south of the Theresian Quarter is The Piazza Unita D’Italia. It was once part of an ancient Roman harbor. Over the centuries it silted up and eventually became one of the largest and most impressive plazas in Europe. At the top of the square the City Hall looks out to the sea.  On the north side is one of the town’s oldest cafes. On the south side is the city’s most historic hotel, the Grand Hotel Duchi D’Aosta. The hotel’s design is meant to give guests the feeling that they are staying in the home of a well-to-do family. 

The original hotel on this site was built in the 1300s and was right on the sea. It was put up to offer a hospitable resting place for merchants arriving on trading vessels, and there’s been a hotel on this site ever since.  In 1805 the cafe on the ground floor became the first gastronomic establishment in Trieste to be open twenty-four hours a day. The citizens of Trieste wanted a place where they could party as long as they liked. Today the area is known as Harry’s Grill.  The bar was designed by the same architect who put up Harry’s Bar in Venice.  The Winter Garden that faces out on the plaza is heated in the winter months, but opens up to the Piazza during the spring and summer.   Across the street is the hotel’s wine cellar. It contains over 30,000 bottles (just in case everybody gets thirsty at the same time).  

The hotel Duchi is presently owned and run by the Benvenuti family. Their insistence on 21st Century technology beneath the hotel’s classical surface is very much the influence of the Austrian tradition. High-touch and high-tech:  the ongoing story of Trieste.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Keeping the city a free-port and guaranteeing religious freedom were very important.  But Maria Theresa’s most unusual effort was integrating the old aristocracy with the new merchants. The counts had the titles but the merchants had the money and money counted.  The question was, how are you going to get these two groups together?  The aristocracy wouldn’t allow the merchants into their homes, and they certainly wouldn’t go to the homes of the merchants.  But it was okay for the children of the aristocracy to meet the children of the merchants in a cafe, and eventually marry the money. Good plan. The dukes got the dough, the countesses got the cash, and the city got some great cafes, some of which are still open. 

Experts consider Trieste to be the world epicenter for great coffee. The Arab world knew about coffee since the 900s. But it only arrived in Europe during the 1600s. The Austrian capital of Vienna became famous for its coffee drinking, but it was the port of Trieste that became famous for bringing the best coffee beans to Vienna. And Trieste is still a center for fine coffee production. A perfect place to look at Trieste’s balancing and blending between the traditions of Italy and those of the Austrian Empire is a coffee company called Illy Caffe. 

 BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The founder of the firm was Francesco Illy, an accountant who had been drafted into the Austrian army during the First World War, and stationed in Trieste.  At the end of the war he decided to stay on here and go into the coffee business. In 1935 his analytical mind led him to the development of the first automatic espresso machine that used compressed air instead of steam. And that was a big deal, because up to that point most of the coffee in Europe had been made by boiling water and coffee together and holding it in a huge urn.  Very often when you got your coffee, it had been sitting in that urn for hours. 

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Italy introduced  the idea of made-to-order coffee and called it “espresso.” The word “espresso” means fast, as in “Federal Espresso.” But in terms of coffee it means “a single cup made for you when you order it.” In the beginning espresso was only made in coffeehouses.  Unfortunately, the early machines used steam, which extracted negative elements from the beans.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Francesco’s system was able to use water at a lower temperature that extracted only the best flavor elements. Just for the record, the ideal temperature for brewing coffee is between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Francesco also came up with a pressurized packing system that helped keep the coffee fresh. These days Illy makes their own special cans... puts in the coffee... takes out the air... and replaces it with inert gas under pressure, which keeps the flavor in the coffee.

At the end of the Second World War, the company was taken over by Francesco’s son Ernesto. Ernesto is one of the leading chemists in Italy and his passion is the science of coffee. He knew that he could make a great cup of espresso, but he wanted to understand the scientific principles that caused the flavor. And he wanted to be able to calibrate those principles so he could produce the same level of excellence every time. The Italian passion for a sensual experience coupled with the Austrian desire for control. 

The traditional system used for purchasing of beans by a coffee roasting company consists of receiving a small sample batch of beans, roasting them, and taste-testing. If you like what you taste in the sample, you order a larger quantity. 

When the shipment arrives from the coffee-growing country, you taste again to make sure that the shipment matches the original sample. Problem is, you are relying on your taste memory of the original sample and a series of tasting notes that you made weeks ago. You try to control as many variables as possible, but it’s difficult and not very scientific. From moment to moment things can affect your sense of taste. 

So Dr.Illy built a multimillion dollar lab and is figuring out how to get DNA fingerprints from coffee beans. They still taste-test the samples, but now they also make a chemical fingerprint for the beans they like. When the main shipment arrives, they take another fingerprint of the beans to make sure that the beans they got are the same as the beans they ordered.

DR. ERNESTO ILLY:  Espresso, contrary to regular coffee, is mainly olfaction; maybe sixty percent is the nose, and only forty percent is the taste.  In regular coffee you have eighty percent taste and only twenty percent olfaction, if the coffee is freshly-brewed.  So the slightest defect is perceivable.  We are trying to understand the complexity of the coffee flavor, which is a cocktail of many hundred components.  And not all the components have the same contribution.  Some are excellent, and they are beautiful, and some are negative, and they are stinking, and they destroy the pleasure.  So we are looking to understand the good components.  So we go back to the green coffee bean, and then we hope to be able to correlate this information with the genetic structure of the plant.  Because if something is in a bean, it has been expressed by a gene that is in the DNA of the plant.  We will be able to understand the excellence of a cup by looking to the DNA and say, “Oh -- the DNA has this and this and this gene, that are the genes of the high quality.”  And so you will have wonderful coffee from the very beginning, on the bean.

Until recently the only way to make a proper cup of espresso was to buy the best beans from a top-quality roasting company... grind them...  carefully measure them into the machine... pat the coffee down with the proper pressure... and send the water through.   For a second cup you cleaned the holder and started the entire process again.  Not the easiest procedure.  Not always done properly by the people behind the counter. And definitely not something that the average person is willing to do at home on a daily basis.  So Illy developed and shared with a number of other coffee companies and coffee machine manufacturers a new way to make espresso. 

ANDREA ILLY / CEO:  Here is the Easy Serving Espresso.  It’s a system made out of pre-ground coffee, already tamped, right dosing [amount of coffee].  And you have just to insert into the machine, and you have your coffee.  It’s as simple as this.  So what happens?  The espresso, which is the quintessential of coffee, and probably the most difficult way to prepare coffee suddenly becomes the easiest way to prepare coffee.  Look at that.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Every day over three million cups of Illy Caffe are served in over sixty different countries. Just another example of Trieste continuing its four thousand year history of international trading. 

The people of Trieste, like almost everyone in Italy and increasing numbers of people all over the world, use espresso as a restful break throughout the day, but they also use it to mark the end of a meal. The food in Trieste, like everything else in this city, is a blend of Italian and Austro-Hungarian influences. The most traditional type of eatery is called a “buffet.” Buffet Da Pepi is a good example. At first it looks like the neighborhood restaurants of Italy, but in Trieste they offer ham baked in a bread crust, hot sausages and sauerkraut. Clearly the influence of Austria.

The next step up is called a Birreria, which translates as “a place to drink beer,” but most of them also serve the traditional foods of Trieste. This is the Birreria Forst... good goulash with bread dumplings, sauerkraut, frankfurters, sacher torte, and apple strudel. Not quite the menu you would expect in a restaurant serving the historic foods of an Italian city. 

If you’re interested in views to dine by, the restaurant at the Hotel Riviera & Maximilian’s is a good spot.  About ten minutes’ drive out of town, it hangs over the only private beach on the coast and offers not only great views but some excellent Triestini food. 

We started with ham that had been baked in a crust of bread... ham that had been smoked... a mild local cheese... and frico, which is a pancake made from cheese, onions and potatoes.  Slices of each of those were served together.  Next was jute, a soup that truly illustrates the marriage between the gastronomic traditions of Austria and Italy. The base is made with beans -- very Italian, but the second major ingredient is sauerkraut.  Other first courses -- pasta with scampi and rice with shrimp.  Trieste is a major seaport, so it’s only natural that second courses start with an extraordinary selection of local fish and shellfish.  Meat dishes feature stinko, which is roasted shinbone of pork with pan-roasted potatoes. The Triestini also love fresh sausages served with grilled vegetables.  A favorite side dish is made from baked potatoes and onions.  There are also three traditional breads. One is a coil of dough filled with nuts, raisins, and chocolate. The second is a dry yeast bread made with lots of eggs, and the third is packed with nuts, raisins and cinnamon.  And of course, espresso at the end.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Coffee appears to stimulate the most creative and artistic parts of the human brain, which may be the reason that Trieste has such a distinguished cultural history. The citizens of this city have a greater dedication to music and theater than any other city in Italy.

This is the city’s Opera House, named after Verdi who for a while lived in Trieste and composed two operas for this theater. The building inherited a theatrical tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. The opera’s history may be old but its technology is up-to-date. The counter of the ticket office contains a computer screen that shows you the seating plan.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The purple indicates annual subscriptions, which will give you a pretty good idea of how devoted the people of Trieste are to their opera.  The white ones have also been taken, and the only ones that are available are the green ones, except for that one, which is about to become my seat.  And the whole system is on the Web, so you can purchase your ticket from just about anywhere in the world.

The most popular theater in Trieste is the Rossetti. It has been used for the presentation of opera, variety shows, the circus, boxing, wrestling, political rallies, which were sometimes difficult to tell from the wrestling and the first showing of a motion picture in Trieste. Stefano Curti is the director of communications.

STEFANO CURTI:  We host a variety of shows that go from drama to plays and musicals and pop concerts.  We work a lot with young people; we have a production of “Pinocchio” made by students aged nine to eleven, and this is in rehearsal now.  Over a third of our audience is under twenty-six, which is absolutely remarkable, if you think that -- We always think that the theatre is in crisis; in this city we have over three thousand students coming to the theatre every week to see the shows that arrive over here.  Tonight we have a pop concert, and it’s a concert from an artist from Venice, Patty Pravo.  She was a very popular artist in the 70s, and she enjoyed a remarkable comeback last year at the San Remo Festival, and we’re gonna have a sold-out night tonight.

We have the home of a very important puppet company, Piccoli di Podrecca, who were a world-famous puppet company in the 40s and 50s.  They travelled all over the world, and they stayed on Broadway for over a year.  And we now have a course for young people, trying to learn the art of making a puppet, of building a puppet.

Before the cultural forces representing Austrian and Italian traditions gave Trieste its social form, there were geographic elements that gave Trieste its physical form. This is the Grotta Gigante, and it is one of the largest caves in the world. Many of the caves near Trieste were inhabited by people coming to this area in prehistoric times and that was probably the case for the higher levels of the grotta. These are the caves of the cavemen.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): This is the largest cavity in the world with a domed vault. St. Peter’s Basilica could actually fit in here.

The grotta has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest cave available to tourists. The two white plastic tubes in the center of the grotta are part of a scientific experiment that is measuring the tides of the earth. It appears that it is not only the sea which rises and falls with the movement of the moon. The earth also expands and contracts with the lunar pull and that pulse is being studied here.   

The Grotta Gigante is one of Trieste’s favorite geographic structures; the castle at Miramare is one of its favorite historical structures. It’s situated on a picturesque point that stretches out into the Adriatic Sea.  The design was taken from the English and Norman castles of the late Renaissance. It’s surrounded by acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. It was built in the middle of the 1800s for Maximillian of Hapsburg, the Archduke of Austria. Maximilian was married to Princess Charlotte, the daughter of King Leopold of Belgium. They were the leading aristocratic lovebirds of the time and represented romantic bliss, but only for a brief period.  In 1864 Maximilian left Trieste to become Emperor of Mexico. Three years later he was executed by Benito Juarez. Charlotte went insane.  A story of tragic love, and one that has touched the hearts of the people of Trieste.  And Trieste has touched me.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The romance of the Italians balancing against the structuralism of the Austrians. Passion and punctuality -- and the best espresso in the world. What else could you ask for? I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief visit to Trieste, and I hope you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Bermuda - #112

The islands of Bermuda. They are the coral-covered peaks of a mountain that came up from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean seventy million years ago.  Today Bermuda is a fashionable resort with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches... a land with more golf courses per square mile than any other country... It has a functional architecture that is unlike any other in the world...  and an underground that is just as interesting.  It’s an island filled with sports -- and shorts!  Not bad for a twenty-one square mile rock sitting in the Atlantic, about six hundred miles off the east coast of the United States.  So join me, Burt Wolf, for TRAVELS & TRADITIONS  in Bermuda.

The first visitor to Bermuda was Juan de Bermudez, who stopped by in 1503, left his name on a rock and moved on. The Spanish knew about Bermuda because it was the spot where their treasure ships made a right turn to head back to Spain. The first settlers were a group of English colonists who arrived in 1609. They were on their way to Jamestown, Virginia when a storm took them off course and blew them into the rocks of Bermuda.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Eventually Bermuda became an English colony off the coast of North America.  But for four hundred years it has been trying to balance its British history with its American geography.  It’s only six hundred miles from North America, but it is 3,500 miles from England.  And from the very beginning, North America has been its biggest trading partner. Even today the U.S. dollar and the Bermudian dollar are on a par, and used interchangeably.  But that is not true for the English pound.

 This is the town of St. George’s. It was the first capital of Bermuda and has retained much of its historic English atmosphere. 

TOWN CRIER:  Oyez!  On behalf of the Mayor, the aldermen and common counselors, we welcome all of our visitors to St. George’s -- the oldest continually-inhabited English-speaking town in the Western Hemisphere!  Now:  the Mayor has instructed me of putting you in the chair and ducking you five times or until you repent!

WENCH:  For what?  I’ve done nothing wrong, I’m telling you.  You’re confused.  The Mayor’s confused, all of you guys.

TOWN CRIER:  I’m confused?  We’ll see who’s confused.  All those in favor of ducking this obviously non-repentant gossiping, nagging wench, say AYE!

CROWD:  AYE!!!

TOWN CRIER:  Step aside, come on --

WENCH:  I’m not getting wet today!

TOWN CRIER:  You’re not getting wet?  We’ll see --

WENCH:  No, I don’t wanna go in the water -- 

TOWN CRIER:  Raise her up!

WENCH:  No!  No!  Wait!  Wait wait wait!!! No no no!!!!  You’ve got the wrong person, I’m telling you!

TOWN CRIER:  You’ve been found guilty by a jury of your peers!

WENCH:  Oh, and look at the way they dress, like they can judge anything!

TOWN CRIER:  Excuse me, madam, excuse me.  These are our visitors, these are our guests.

WENCH:  I still wanna be pulled in and go home!  

TOWN CRIER:  You will be soon.

WENCH:  You guys, pull me in and I’ll take you over, we’ll buy a beer over at the Whitehorse --   No!  Don’t put me --

TOWN CRIER:  DUCK HER IN!

WENCH:  AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  PULL ME IN RIGHT NOW, YOU BUNCH OF MORONS!  THIS WATER’S FREEZING --

TOWN CRIER:  DUCK HER AGAIN!!!!!

WENCH:  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!   Okay, all right -- I confess it’s my fault --!

BURT WOLF:   Good, ‘cause I’m exhausted!

WENCH:  I’m very sorry, sir --

TOWN CRIER:  Yes?

WENCH:  -- and I promise I won’t gossip about... anything...

TOWN CRIER:  Bring her in!  That’s enough.  Be off with you, woman!

WENCH:  Off with me?  

TOWN CRIER:  You wretched woman!

WENCH:  I know where you live!

TOWN CRIER:  The next one -- push her out --

SECOND WENCH:  Okay -- I say I’m guilty!  I’M GUILTY!!!

On a small island in front of the town is a full-sized replica of Deliverance.  Deliverance was the ship built by some of the original shipwrecked colonists who wanted to continue their journey to Virginia.

St. George’s was the second English town established in the New World. The local church is St. Peter’s, which is the oldest Anglican church in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere. The altar was made of local Bermuda cedar in 1624. The triple-decker pulpit also dates from the 1600s. The vestry contains some of the most precious sacred vessels and rare silver in the western world... a Charles I chalice sent to Bermuda in 1625, a complete William of Orange communion set... and an Adams-period christening bowl. The British flag flies on one side of the church, the American flag on the other. Many of the headstones in the churchyard date back over three hundred years.  And right next to the church is a sweetshop called Temptations.  Their sign offers Heavenly Pies, Divine Hot Dogs, and Sinfully Delicious Ice Cream... the ice cream got me.

At the top of King Street you will find the State House, which is the oldest building in Bermuda. It dates back to 1620. The building was also used to store gunpowder, which did not please the members of the Assembly. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The governor, disregarding his own safety, agreed to store the powder in his home.  But when he found out that the Tucker family had stolen most of the powder from his home and sold it to General George Washington right smack in the middle of the American Revolution, he reconsidered and returned the powder to the State House -- storing it in the attic directly above the seats occupied by the Tucker family.  Nice touch.

As you travel around Bermuda you may notice that many people travel by motorscooter or bus rather than by car.  Bermuda banned all motor vehicles until the end of World War II.  And they are still not thrilled with automobiles. Today each family is allowed only one car, that’s it. There are no rental cars for tourists, but lots of taxis and the Bermuda bus system, which is very effective.  Many tourists rent motorscooters, which are easy to handle and lots of fun. The national speed limit of twenty miles per hour keeps the roads relatively safe. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The reefs outside the harbor of St. George’s always made the approach rather treacherous.  And as ships got bigger the problem became more pronounced.  In 1815 the government of Bermuda decided to move its capitol from St. George’s to Hamilton, which had a better harbor.  As a result, things in St. George’s got a lot quieter, and that’s one of the reasons they’ve been able to hold on to so much of their historic architecture. 

Bermuda architecture is one of the most interesting aspects of the community. The buildings are constructed with a design system that is unique to these islands. It is a response to the climate and the building materials that are found here in the middle of the Atlantic.  Vince Caan is a Bermuda taxi guide with a special interest in the local architecture.

VINCE CAAN:  The architecture in Bermuda is very unique.  The homes are very solid; there are no frame homes.  They’re made out of Bermuda stone, or concrete block in the modern day.  And we need that sort of structure to support our roofs, which -- we depend on rainwater from our roofs.  The roofs are made of Bermuda stone.  It’s cut into a slate; it’s about sixteen inches long and about a foot square and about an inch thick.  And it’s laid similar to the way you lay your shingles in America.  The roofs are painted with a lime wash, which is a lime powder you mix with water and it forms like a latex paint.  That helps to keep the water purified.  There’s a gutter incorporated into the roof, and it’s on a ten-to-thirty degree angle.  And the rainwater is caught from the roofs and goes down into the tank, and a pressurized pump system pumps it back through the house.  Every tank has a trap door, and the trap door by law must be on the exterior of the house.  And of course the Fire Department reserves the right of putting their hose in any tank.  They will replenish the water they take out -- so you don’t need hydrants.

Bermuda is noted for its pastel colors.  In the old days, that I can remember, you had two colors.  You had brick dust, and you mixed the brick dust with lime, which was white, and you got a pink.  So you’ll see multitudes of different shades of pink.  And the blue came from the old days, they used to put bluing in your white clothes, to whiten your clothes, so they used to crush that.  There used to be a blue cube, they used to crush it and mix it with the lime wash, and you got blue, pale blues.  So here we are in the modern day with computerized paint mixing, you got a variety of other colors.

These days the functioning commercial center of Bermuda is the city of Hamilton. For most visitors the primary attraction is shopping along Front Street. The older stores have been here for at least a hundred years. There are dozens of good shops selling everything from old maps to new paintings. Your best buys will usually be goods of British or Bermudian origin -- local arts and crafts, English cashmeres, linens, and fine china. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): These days, with internet commerce and competitive pricing, it’s pretty hard to be sure whether you’re getting the best price, unless you make a list of the things you’re interested in at home, mark down the prices and do a comparison when you get here.  Personally, my travel-related shopping is not based on price, but on bringing things home that remind me of the good time I had on the trip.

If you’re going to drop someone a card or a letter, it’s interesting to do it from Perot’s Post Office.  Perot was Bermuda’s first postmaster, appointed in 1821. His post office has much of its original feeling. You can sit on one of the high stools and write your card on the old desk.

A few blocks away from the post office is the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity. It is a blend of Gothic and Middle English architecture and constructed of local limestone and imported English stones. The pews are made of American oak. The prayer cushions are all handmade.  It’s traditional to have kneeling cushions in an Anglican church, but the idea of having each cushion made by hand to commemorate some aspect of Bermudian culture is unique.  In front of the altar is a set depicting the flowers of the island.  Others are traditional Christian symbols.  And some represent family memories.

Down the road from the cathedral is the Sessions House. The Parliament of Bermuda first met in 1620, which makes it the oldest parliament in the British Commonwealth, and the third oldest in the world, after Iceland and Great Britain.

At the edge of Hamilton’s waterfront you will find the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, a reminder that Bermuda is one of the world’s most important yachting centers, and host to thousands of visiting boats, as well as some of the Atlantic’s great races. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Competitive sailing got started in Bermuda during the early 1800s, when work boats were refitted for racing and British naval officers took up the sport. The most famous class here is called a Bermuda Fitted Dinghy.  It’s fourteen feet long, it’s open, but it carries enough sail to move a boat four times its size... which is a little like putting a jet engine on a skateboard.

As you walk around Hamilton you will see gentlemen going about in jackets and ties and shorts. Bermuda shorts are an accepted form of dress. They were originally based on the shorts worn by British troops stationed in Bermuda during the early years of the twentieth century. They are considered a most dignified form of attire for men and completely acceptable at all business meetings.

Today tourism is responsible for over sixty percent of Bermuda’s income, which is essential for maintaining an economy that is based on imports. Accordingly, the government of Bermuda has taken a deep interest in managing tourism and, unlike many destinations, they are more interested in quality than quantity. Over forty percent of Bermuda’s tourists are repeat visitors. The government wants new visitors but they also want everyone to come back, a traditional British approach to quality and continuity.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The government of Bermuda has set up a number of programs to make your stay as enjoyable as possible.  Each day there’s some public event going on designed to give you an insight into the history and culture of Bermuda.  Example:  on Mondays from November to March at noon you can come up to Fort Hamilton and see the skirling ceremony.

Bermuda is the northernmost coral island group in the world and sits on a two hundred square mile coral plateau, an area that is ten times the size of Bermuda itself. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The clear waters are filled with marine life and over four hundred identified shipwrecks, ranging from a Spanish treasure galleon to a Civil War blockade-runner.  Over the years Bermuda has become one of the world’s top destinations for wreck-diving, both snorkel and scuba.

For the easiest insight to Bermuda’s sealife you can stop into the Bermuda Aquarium. Their tanks are filled with local sealife and there’s a fascinating exhibit on coral. You can pick up a sound stick and listen to a tank-to-tank commentary. 

COMMENTARY (over headphone):  “The unfiltered water which is pumped into our displays is teeming with tiny larvae...”

Not quite the experience of a hundred-foot dive, but not bad.  And very convenient if you are with children.

  Another adventure made easy would be a visit to the Crystal Caves, with Maurice Ming.

MAURICE MING:  The key word we have to remember when going through these caves, the word is “imagination.”  That is due to the fact that the formations you’ll see and notice down below, they have taken on different shapes.  That’s the key word, “Imagination.”  Now, using your imagination, just look at the reflection on the pool back down there.  It looks like the New York City skyline, or the island of Manhattan.

BURT WOLF:   That’s right!  There’s Central Park --

MAURICE MING:  -- Central Park --

BURT WOLF:   there’s my apartment, there’s the kids’ school -- fabulous!

MAURICE MING:  You’re right at home!  Now, this archway formation we’re going through right here, it looks like church organ pipes.

BURT WOLF:   Can I touch one?

MAURICE MING:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:   It’s like soap.  Wax.

MAURICE MING:  Limestone rock is the same rock that marble is made from.  You can see how smooth it is?  For marble, the limestone rock, they put it through a process to get it that smooth -- this is nature has done its own job.  The water that you see inside this cave, it is salt water, this is part of the Atlantic Ocean.  There is no kind of marine life living in these waters, there is no vegetation growing in here.  And the reason that is is because there’s no sunlight that comes through here.  And that is why the cave is named “Crystal Caves,” because of the clarity of the water.  Notice coming through, you’re gonna feel some water dripping on you, coming through here?

BURT WOLF:   Yes, I did, actually --

MAURICE MING:  Let me explain.  It’s rainwater.  We’re talking from five to six months ago.  The reason it takes that long to reach down inside of here, the rainwater has to come through rock.  That rock is limestone rock; it’s a porous rock.  Now, once the rainwater does come through, and it reaches down inside this cave, what it does, it leaves a deposit behind.  The shape of all these formations is calcium carbonate.  These formations take one hundred years for one cubic inch for them to grow.  That’s about five centimetres every hundred years.  Now, look at this formation right here in front of us, I’ll explain this to you.  From the top, they’re known as stalactites, from the base, stalagmites.  Once they connect, they form a column.

BURT WOLF:   That stalactite is just about to touch that stalagmite.  

MAURICE MING:  True.  There’s a few thousand years in between there.

BURT WOLF:   A few thousand.  So we come back in a couple of thousand years, they’ll be touched up?

MAURICE MING:  We’ll both be in good shape by that time.

BURT WOLF:   Exercise and diet, that’s it.

MAURICE MING:  That will do it.

Besides sailing, snorkeling, scuba diving and spelunking -- a word which means “exploring in caves” --  Bermuda is an excellent place for tennis, which was imported along with other English traditions. There are about a hundred tennis courts on the island and it’s not difficult to find a game. 

Bermuda is also a great spot for golfers. The island has more golf courses per square mile than any other nation in the world. The fact that they are all on a small island has resulted in some challenging terrain. And some magnificent views. 

Every year around Easter time, you can experience another of the great sports in Bermuda -- kite-flying.  Many of them are handmade.  Al Seymour, Jr. is an expert on Bermuda kites, and teaches a class at the Southhampton Glebe School.

BURT WOLF:   Okay... I’ve got this right, now?

SCHOOLKID:  Yep.

BURT WOLF:   Good grip?

KIDS:  Yeah...

BURT WOLF:   And then I just push it up?

KIDS:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:   Okay, if I get it wrong, don’t laugh.  Too loudly.

AL SEYMOUR JR:  When I say “go,” you just push it up, okay?  Let it go!  Let it go now!

BURT WOLF:   Come on, let’s fly it!

AL SEYMOUR JR:  Well, the Chinese used to make hummers and stuff on their kites to frighten off people and -- I mean, it goes way back, thousands of years.  Put it right up to your ear, the string to your ear, you can hear it buzzing.  Press it a little bit, maybe --

BURT WOLF:   Oh, yeah!  I think it’s for you.  

AL SEYMOUR JR:  Yeah!

BURT WOLF:   Boy, quite a pull, too.

If you’re in Bermuda on Good Friday you will see an amazing display of kite flying. Thousands of kites head up into the sky.

AL SEYMOUR JR:  I think it began here when -- well, legend has it that a Sunday school teacher was trying to explain to some children how Christ ascended in His resurrection.  So she took a kite on a Bermuda hill, flew it to demonstrate and then literally cut the string and watched it drift away to sort of symbolize the event.

BURT WOLF:   It’s a great piece of symbolism.

AL SEYMOUR JR:  Yeah.

And of course, Bermuda has some of the world’s most beautiful beaches.  Along the south shore, Warwick Long Bay is the perfect spot for a stroll as the morning sun comes up over the horizon.  Jobson’s Cove is no more than thirty yards wide and protected from the open sea by a rock formation.  As beautiful and romantic a spot as you could wish for.  At the Mid-Ocean Club Beach you will find the Natural Arches, formed in limestone by the erosion of the sea.  At the moment these are the only significant arches on Bermuda, the government having legislated against the introduction of a McDonald’s franchise.  Elbow Beach runs along the southern side of the island and is considered to be the longest and one of the most picturesque. Elbow Beach is also the location and the name of one of the island’s most distinctive hotels.

The Elbow Beach Hotel was originally constructed in 1908 as a simple guest cottage. And there are still many guest cottages on the property. They’re spread out over fifty-five acres of landscaped grounds.  Sub-tropical flora... exotic plants... and manicured lawns, all of which  look out on a mile-long private pastel pink beach. And beyond the beach, a reef with a sunken ship that lies at a depth of sixty feet and can be accessed by Zodiac or from a shore dive.  Up on the hill is a 244-room deluxe hotel.  Six nights each week my old pal Erskine Phillips plays the piano. 

One of the things that makes Elbow Beach unusual is that it actually operates two properties at the same location. One is the group of traditional Bermudian cottages. The other is the main hotel. There’s a full-sized climate-controlled, fresh-water pool... tennis courts... water sports... and an arrangement with a local golf course that can confirm a guaranteed tee time up to one year in advance.  The Elbow Beach also has an excellent restaurant called the Seahorse Grill.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Let’s face it. England has not had an outstanding history when it comes to great food. Holding a large animal over a big fire was the basic recipe for hundreds of years. Fortunately British gastronomic tradition has not had a great influence in Bermuda. The cooking here is international techniques combined with local and imported ingredients.  And because it’s an island, fish is often the first choice. 

Traditional dishes include fish chowders seasoned with Outerbridge’s Sherry Pepper Sauce... mussel pie... Bermuda lobster... Sunday morning breakfast with codfish and potatoes... cassava pie at Christmas... and a glass of “dark and stormy”... dark rum and ginger beer.

Executive Chef  Neville King at the Elbow Beach has developed a contemporary Bermudian cuisine; he starts with a Bermuda fish chowder.  Pieces of grouper and whitefish have been simmered together to make a rich stock, to which tomato paste is added and brought to a boil. Onions, carrots, leeks, celery, tomatoes and potatoes go in and are cooked until tender. Herbs and Worcestershire sauce are added... a garnish of parsley and the chowder is ready to serve.

Dessert is a banana bread pudding.  Neville starts by cutting banana bread into slices... fanning the slices into a heat-proof bowl... and pouring on a vanilla pudding called a crème anglaise. The banana bread slices are pushed down so the pudding liquid soaks in.  That’s baked for about an hour in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven.

The pudding is served with a loquat liqueur sauce. Loquat is a local plum with a fleshy skin.  A good substitute for the loquat liqueur would be Amaretto.  A culinary celebration of Bermuda.

And finally there is the Gombey celebration. The word “Gombey” comes from the Bantu dialect of Africa and refers to a particular type of drum.  But it also means “rhythm.” Gombey dancing is a traditional part of Bermudian culture, a blend of West African dance, British Mummers, and military music, with a touch of Native American Indian. The group usually consists of men from the same family who pass on their style from generation to generation. There are similar traditions in many parts of the New World, from New Orleans to Rio, but only the Bermudian Gombey utilizes sticks to play the drums. Throughout most of the winter you will be able to find at least one Gombey troop in action.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well, that’s a brief look at Bermuda:  British history, American geography... a vacation experience that you will not find anywhere else in the world.  No neon signs. No billboards. No fast food. No superhighways. Just super people. I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip and I hope you will join us next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS . I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Las Vegas - #111

Once each year the ancient Romans held an all-out, city-wide celebration called the Feast of Saturn.  The feast was encouraged by the government and designed to let everyone take a break from the tensions of life.  The Roman god in charge of the event was Bacchus.  Bacchus was into having a good time.  He called for parades that exhibited the wilder part of human nature.  He encouraged the eating of great food.  He was personally in charge of drinking magnificent wines.  He loved gaming.  He wanted things to be big... and a bit outrageous.

The festival required the construction of things from the past or things that were foreign to the city.  The design of the structures that were built for the celebration were taken from distant cultures.

During the Feast of Saturn people were allowed to cross over the traditional barriers... to violate a few of the rules.  All levels of society got to take part in the action.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  When Rome fell, Bacchus retired to the old folks’ home for ancient gods, and led a rather quiet life.  But like so many retired people he felt that he was too young to just sit around.  He wanted to get back in the action.  He wanted to recreate the old Feast of Saturn, but he wanted the new one to be bigger and better than ever.  And most important, he wanted it to take place in the town to which he had retired... which just happened to be... Las Vegas.

So here it is.  The ancient Roman Feast of Saturn.  Twenty-four hours a day.  Every day of the year.

But Las Vegas is more than just the recreation of the Feast of Saturn.  In 1968 a group of architects from Yale University took a look at this town and wrote a book called Learning From Las Vegas.

They described the ancient markets in Europe with their narrow passageways... where communication takes place through direct contact... where you are persuaded to make your purchase because you can see and touch and smell the things you are offered for sale.

They point out that when the medieval market became Main Street the products moved back behind windows -- but you still had some direct contact.

Commercial strips do not present the actual merchandise that is available.  Here information about the product comes from a sign, a sign that must make its point to the people who are moving along in a car at thirty miles an hour, rather than walking through the market at three miles an hour.  The sign’s primary role is to connect the driver to the product.  The signs use words, pictures and sculpture to make their point.  It is a perfectly logical system for a population that moves around in cars.  The shopping strip is to Las Vegas what the Piazza is to Rome.

The architecture of the hotels and the casinos is also very specific.  The general lighting of the gaming room itself is low.  There is no contact with the outside.  Time and space are limitless.  You are in an environment without boundaries.  Outside there are palm trees and sand, surrounding a pool of refreshing water... an oasis in the desert.  Free of the boundaries of time and space, an oasis... once again, the themes of the Feast of Saturn.

The architecture of this city is popular architecture.  The buildings are fun; they’re filled with symbols that remind people of other things, of the wild west... of sudden wealth... of wishes coming true... The signs are like the triumphal arches of ancient Rome: they’re filled with meaning, they tell a story, and they channel the people through the city.  This is the architecture of inclusion, where everyone is welcome.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  There are some architects who feel the need to teach us what they consider to be tasteful, to build the buildings that they want to build, whether we like them or not.  And very often the results are sterile and dead.  For the most part, Las Vegas has remained free of that kind of architecture.  The buildings here are popular, and for the most part, I love ‘em.

One of the elements in the Feast of Saturn is an attempt to bring opposites together, a concept that always reminds me of marriage.  And now, it will always remind me of Las Vegas, because Las Vegas is the marriage capital of the western world.  Over 100,000 weddings take place here every year.

This is the Little White Chapel.  It’s been in business since the fifties and performs about five hundred weddings each week.  It is also the home of the world-famous drive-up wedding window.  You don’t even have to get out of your car.  But before you write off the drive-up window as Las Vegas glitz, listen to the story of how it got started.

CHAROLETTE RICHARDS:  The drive-up window got started one day when I noticed a handicapped couple trying to get out of their car.  I went to their car and I said, “Would you like to be married in your car?” and they said, “We’d love it!”  So, I opened up the door, and sat there and performed their marriage, and we cried, we prayed, and it was beautiful.  So I kept looking for the handicapped people that I could perform their marriages for, and then I noticed that there was people that had little children and they were crying and they didn’t want to get dressed to go inside, and so the Drive-up Wedding Window was started.

Some anthropologists believe that men and women began pairing off and living together in what we now call a marriage because they needed to eat together.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The women were the gatherers.  They collected the fruits and the nuts and the vegetables that constituted over eighty percent of the daily calories.  The lady of the house was responsible for the bulk of the family diet.  The guys were the hunters.  They went out a couple of times a week and if they were very lucky they brought home the bacon.  Not much in terms of quantity, but very important in terms of quality.  The meat they brought home contained Vitamin B12, which was absolutely essential for everybody’s survival.

Today, in almost every society, the wedding ceremony contains a series of gastronomic elements.  At the end of the wedding meal the bride and groom share the cake.  They cut it together and she feeds him the first slice.  What could be more symbolic of our ancient roles?  She does most of the work, he gets most of the rewards.  Not fair, but very traditional.

When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Feast of Saturn was converted into Carnival.  These days the most elaborate carnival celebrations are held in New Orleans, Venice, and Rio de Janeiro.  So it’s no surprise to find that one of the great hotels of Las Vegas, the one that is regularly chosen by the Zagat Guide as the best, is called The Rio All-Suite Casino Resort, and it has a carnival theme throughout.

A centerpiece for Carnival has always been the parade... a procession that lets new life come into the city and infuses the place with fresh energy.  Rio takes the parade to new heights with its 25 million dollar Masquerade Show In the Sky.  A 950-foot track hangs above the casino.  Floats hang from the track and travel around the room.  There are three parades, each with a different theme.

There’s the New Orleans Mardi Gras... There’s the South of the Border Show that combines sights and sounds from carnivals in Brazil and the Caribbean... And there’s Venice.  Hotel guests can make arrangements to get into costume and ride with the performers.  During the Feast of Saturn Bacchus would arrive with his procession and alter the focus of the proceedings.  He always needed to be at the center of attention.  The Masquerade Show in the Sky has a similar effect.  It lasts for about twelve minutes and takes place every two hours.  And just like the ancient parade, it’s free and open to the public.

Bacchus was the god of the theater.  He felt that it was essential to dress up and pretend you were someone else, to lose yourself in some other character.  He was also the god of masks and would often appear as a well-known person.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Bacchus was the god of vegetable sap, which meant he was responsible for the return of new life each spring.  Good eating was an essential undertaking for his followers.  Not a difficult thing to do around here.  In keeping with the carnival spirit, I set myself the task of visiting most of the restaurants at Rio and getting the recipe for my favorite dish.  The things I have to do to make a living.

So let’s see what’s good to eat... !  The first stop was Mask; it specializes in food from the far east.  The menu presents dishes from Japan, China, and Thailand.  The recipe that I took away was for a stir-fried dish of shrimp, snow peas and cashew nuts.

A full ten yards away from Mask is Mama Marie’s.  Mama’s is an authentic family-style Italian restaurant.  They bake their own bread, they grind their own espresso, and they make their own pasta, and they prepare an excellent chicken cacciatore in a southern Italian style.

For a taste of Northern Italian food, there’s Antonio’s.  You can start with a traditional antipasto... maybe a little lobster with fettucini, too.  The recipe I picked up:  Linguine Puttanesca -- black olives, capers, and mushrooms in a garlic and oil sauce.

Bamboleo holds a fiesta every day, offering the flavors of Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.  Since chocolate is indigenous to Latin America, it seems only appropriate that I should appropriate their recipe for a Kahlua chocolate brownie with mocha ice cream.

If you’re looking for good seafood, the place to go is Buzio’s.  The fish is flown in daily from all over the world.  The recipe that I took for us is for Chilean Sea Bass in a Creole crust, served with mashed potatoes and mushrooms.

Fiore specializes in elegant food from the South of France and the North of Italy.  You can order roast partridge, or a filet of ostrich -- which many people think tastes like chicken...  which raises the question “Which came first -- the chicken, or things that taste like chicken?”

Napa Restaurant specializes in the cuisine of Northern California, and is inspired by the work of Jean-Louis Palladin, one of the world’s great French chefs.  And today he gave me his previously secret recipe for a magnificent crab cake.

JEAN-LOUIS PALLADIN:  Eh, voilà!

The hotel also features two fabulous buffets -- the Carnival World Buffet, and the Village Seafood Buffet.

And finally, at the very top of the food chain -- the fiftieth floor -- you’ll find the Voodoo Cafe.  The food is Cajun and Creole.  How spicy is it?

Their house drink is called What The Witch Doctor Ordered... which I ordered with a bowl of Voodoo Gumbo, made with chicken and andouille sausage.  Can I get a little more light over here so I can write down the recipe?  Thanks!

Bacchus was big in food but his specialty was wine.  Accordingly, the hotel has what may be the world’s largest public wine cellar... over 65,000 bottles.  The Wine Cellar Tasting Room displays the collection, and the bar offers three hundred wines by the glass.  They also have something they call “flights.”  A group of three wines with similar characteristics are presented together.  The “Bubbles” flight will give you a taste of three different champagnes.  “Original Zin” covers the zinfandels.  “Sweet Dreams” will give you three of the world’s great sweet wines.  The prices for the flights are low... they hope you will find something you like and buy a bottle at the retail shop.

During the past fifty years Americans have dramatically increased their consumption of fine wine, and thanks to the public relations efforts of the wineries we have learned a great deal about which wine is supposed to go with which food.

But the truth of the matter is that we still drink much more soda than anything else.  So I’ve asked Barrie Larvin, who is the president of the International Court of Master Sommeliers, and the director of the wine program at Rio, if he would take his magnificent sense of taste and smell and tell us which soda went best with which food.

BARRIE LARVIN:  Well, the first combination we’re going to try is Diet Coke from a ten-ounce bottle.  Very deep in color... Very nice movement towards the rim of the glass, here... Looks as though it’s aged.  Very good nose.  Good balance of acidity and sugar.  There’s a sort of earthy flavor to it, and it’s very, very light.  Full of flavor, and that lack of sweetness which really makes it the product that would go with a frankfurter.

And now we’re going to try an orange soda.  It’s got that petiance [sic], those bubbles that you would look at some of those lighter champagnes.  However, a nice deep color now... good color of orange, even little pieces of orange floating in the glass.  It’s now balancing itself out a little bit, and it really looks good.  Not too much flavor, but it’s got a nice lightness to it.  It’s probably going to be better in a year, so that everything balances more.  And this is the drink for pizza.

Then we’re on to a very nice cream soda -- an English drink.  Looks good in the glass, again.  Nice bitterness... and that will go very well with a burger, probably fries.

And then, we’re going on to some game!  And we’re going to try a traditional Coca-Cola... Good smell... deep... bands of flavors.  And this is excellent, really excellent, with game.

Carnival is always about making fun of things that some people take too seriously.  Clearly Barrie has the right personality for this town.  And speaking of game, you can’t talk about Las Vegas without talking about gaming.  The word comes from an old Middle English word meaning “to amuse oneself” or “to play.”  And people have been playing at gaming for a long time.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Archeologists have found evidence that people were gambling during the Stone Age period.  They also found a pair of dice in an ancient Egyptian tomb and carbon-dated those dice at 3000BC.  The archeologists who found the dice were also surprised to find out that the dice were loaded.  Clearly, gambling has been going on for a long, long time.

Dice probably evolved from the practice of casting stones or bones to foretell the future.  Years ago I was filming in a Chinese temple.  These women were asking questions about their future and casting stones for the answers.  Watch their hands and their body motion.  Look familiar?

Games with dice appear to have originated in the Orient and spread throughout the ancient world.  When they were used by public fortune tellers the onlookers would often bet on the outcome.  Some things never change.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Historians believe that the first card games showed up in Egypt and they showed up during the 9th century, and like dice, they were originally associated with telling the future.  By the 1200s, people were playing cards in southern Europe.  The Moors had brought the games to Spain, and the Crusaders had brought them back from the Middle East.  There is actually an entry in Columbus’ log book in which he describes his sailors as passing away their hours playing cards.

During the 1500s, the French divided the deck into four suits representing the four main divisions of mankind (as the French saw them).  The spades were for the nobility.  Hearts were for the clergy.  Diamonds represented the merchants and tradesmen... and the clubs stood for the peasantry.  Even today the royal cards present the costumes that were worn in the English court during the sixteenth century.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  After the French Revolution and then again after the Russian Revolution, the new populist governments tried to have the royal cards removed from the deck.  Revisionist dreams... they never had a chance.

The Rio also has a fitness center so you can get in shape for the casino.  See that guy?  He’s a dice shooter.  And she’s clearly buffing up for the slots.  It’s like I always say... you’ve got to try and stay in shape if you’re going to be at your best.

Outside the building...the Oasis.  And outside the oasis...the desert.

And there are good reasons to take a break from the city of Las Vegas and pay a visit to the desert.  The first people to live in this neighborhood took up residence about 13,000 years ago.  They lived in caves and dined on mammoths, with the sauce on the side.  None of their recipes have survived, but the land they lived on is pretty much intact and absolutely amazing.

The Valley of Fire State Park is just north of Las Vegas and well worth the hour drive.  This is the great American southwest, and to come to Las Vegas and miss this sight is to miss half of what this place is really about.  The highest formations are made of sand that was blown in here about 150 million years ago.  The dunes petrified into these extraordinary shapes.  There’s a little spur track out of the visitors’ center, and it heads up into Petroglyph Canyon Trail.

These petroglyphs are rock carvings that were put here by ancient tribes.  They predate any of the known native cultures of North America and no one knows why they were put here or what they mean.  Some anthropologists believe that they were part of a pre-hunt ritual... kind of a combination pre-game play plan and a pep talk by the head coach.  Whatever they are, they are certainly in a magical setting.

That’s nature untamed.  For a look at man attempting to control nature, drive down the road from Las Vegas about forty miles and take a look at the Hoover Dam.

For millions of years the Colorado River flowed out of the Rocky Mountains and down to the Gulf of California.  In 1905 a wet winter and heavy spring rains caused a series of floods that destroyed many of the farms in California’s Imperial Valley.  It was time for man to control nature... or at least give it his best shot.  His best shot turned out to be Hoover Dam, one of the most extraordinary construction projects ever undertaken.  Over five thousand people worked at the site.  New equipment was invented to perform tasks that were being tackled for the first time.  Workers were constantly being hit on the head with falling rocks.  At some point someone had the idea to take two caps, one facing forward, one facing back, and dip them into tar until they stuck together and became hard.  The first hard hats were invented by the workers on the Hoover Dam project.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Let me give you a quick overview of the project.  The Colorado River is running along here minding its own business.  These guys show up, they dig four diversion tunnels.  They are fifty feet in diameter... two on one side, two on the other side.  Then they build the cofferdams.  There was nobody named Coffer -- no senator Coffer from Arizona -- a cofferdam is just a big dam made out of stones and earth and lots of rocks.  They build one up here, and they build one down there... Gives them a nice dry space in the center... they build the Hoover Dam.  When the dam is finished, they seal off the diversion tunnels, the water comes rushing along, smacks up against the dam, six years later it fills up this whole area... You got Lake Mead!  Isn’t that amazing?

PAT PATERNOSTRO:  It was June 6, 1933 when they began, Six Companies began placing concrete into Hoover Dam.  The first bucket went in on that day.  They did this by having about twelve cable weights stretched across the canyon walls; they had two concrete mixing plants right here on site, a lower one and an upper one -- as they got higher, they needed the upper one.  The cable weight would pick up a bucket of concrete -- it was a 22-ton bucket, which would hold eight cubic yards of concrete -- swing out over the canyon, lower it down into a form.  It took them two and a half years to complete the dam to get it to its height.  The concrete of Hoover Dam is 3,250,000 cubic yards of concrete.  This is a lot of concrete.  It’s enough concrete, you could build a walkway three feet wide, two-and-three-quarter-inches thick and circle the equator one time.  It’s incredible.

Our nine generators on this side, on the Nevada side, are the original generators.  Each one of these generators produces 130 megawatts; probably enough electricity to supply an average city of about forty to fifty thousand people.  All of them are working together and producing power, probably enough electricity to supply the needs of the entire city the size of Los Angeles.

Construction of the Hoover Dam began in 1931 and cost the federal government 165 million dollars.  It was finished four years later... two years ahead of schedule.  And the sale of the electricity that it produced has earned back the government’s investment.  Good news for Las Vegas, because if there was ever a town that depended on electricity, it’s this one.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well...that’s a brief look at today’s reincarnation of the Feast of Saturn and some of the things that make Las Vegas so interesting.  It would be really easy to write this place off as just gold and glitter, but along with the cash comes compassion, and around the dazzle is the desert with its magnificent natural beauty.  I hope you enjoyed this visit and that you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: The New Hong Kong - #110

Hong Kong thinks of itself as “The City Of Life”... filled with energy... always in motion... vibrant during the day... and exciting at night.  A modern commercial and financial center.  A match with the great cities of Europe and North America.  And that’s true.  But that is only half the picture.

The other half can be seen and understood by taking a look at Hong Kong’s most popular religion.  It’s known as Taoism, and it’s more a philosophy than a religion in the Western sense of that word.  Taoism’s teachings go back over two thousand five hundred years.

The most important graphic symbol in Taoism is the yin and yang.  It’s a statement of the constant oppositions in life:  dark and light, good and evil, male and female.  These opposing forces are in conflict, but they also complement and counterbalance.  Each takes over a spot at the very center of the other.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  In the end everything is brought together and united in a single circle...it turns out that all things are one thing.  The word Tao means “the way’ and what Taoism tries to do is teach people how to get in step with the way of the universe.  And the most important skill in getting in step with the way of the universe is the ability to balance opposites.  And that is what Hong Kong is all about.

Hong Kong is old and traditional, but it is also new and futuristic.  It is a capitalist city in a Communist nation.  It speaks English and it speaks Chinese.  It is Eastern and it is Western.  The old hand-made junk sails past the computer-designed cruise ship.  And it is this city’s skill at balancing opposing elements that makes it such a fascinating place for a tourist.  So join me, Burt Wolf, for TRAVELS & TRADITIONS in Hong Kong.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, England bought large amounts of tea from the Chinese...purchases that put a great strain on England’s balance of payments.  To even things up, England forced the Chinese to buy opium from English traders who brought it in from India.  A nasty business and the Chinese tried to put an end to it by forcing out the English, European and American opium traders.  In response, the English sent in the marines and forced the Chinese to give them the island of Hong Kong as a trading base.

In 1997, after more than one hundred and fifty years as a British Colony, the English gave Hong Kong back to the Chinese.  Most people thought that Hong Kong would change drastically,  but that does not appear to be the case.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  I was here just before the handover and I’ve come back to see what changes have taken place, and from the point of view of a tourist, they seem very small.  The tension that built up prior to the handover seems to have dissipated, everybody’s gone back to work, the city seems a bit more relaxed and enjoyable, and the first thing I noticed when I arrived at the airport is the royal coat of arms is gone and the pictures of the Royal family.

The Bauhinia flower, known for its ability to endure difficult conditions and still flourish, has become the official emblem of Hong Kong.  The Central People’s Government gave a gold-plated sculpture of the flower to Hong Kong as a gift.  It’s called “Forever Blooming Bauhinia,” and it stands in front of the new Convention Center.  The flower has replaced the profile of Queen Elizabeth on the Hong Kong coins.  The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club has lost its “royal” standing and now sits alongside the rest of us as merely “The” Hong Kong Jockey Club.  The shopping is better than ever and there’s good value for your money... There’s a magnificent new airport with more direct flights from Europe and North America... and the world’s longest road-and-rail suspension bridge has opened and become something of a sightseeing attraction along the lines of the Golden Gate in San Francisco.

Below the bridge is the harbor of Hong Kong, which is the busiest harbor in the world.  The best way to see it is on a Star Ferry. The ferries shuttle between Hong Kong island and the mainland district of Kowloon.  These boats have been making this one-mile trip since 1898, and at 25 cents per ride it’s a great value.

Your next ride should be on the funicular railway to the top of Victoria Peak.  This is the highest point on Hong Kong island, and the ideal spot for an overview of Hong Kong and the mainland across the harbor.

Another high point for most people visiting Hong Kong is shopping... and the person to shop with is Helen Giss.  In 1978, Helen moved from Little Rock, Arkansas to Hong Kong.  As the wife of a corporate executive, she often found herself offering shopping advice to her husband’s American and European business associates during their visits to Hong Kong.  Today she is considered to be one of the world’s great shoppers, and she has built a substantial consulting business along the way.

HELEN GISS:  This is Mode Elegante, it’s one of the tailors that we use, and this is Bacon Lee... This is Burt Wolf, Bacon.  We’re here to take a look at some beautiful fabrics for Burt for a jacket.

BACON LEE:  Sure.  Some kind of cashmere, or...

BURT WOLF:  Well, you tell me what I should be looking for.

HELEN GISS:  Okay, I think you should be looking for a fabric that you would never buy at home.  And I always encourage people to get a cashmere blend, or a wool blend which includes mink, or something kind of unusual.

BURT WOLF:  A mink and wool...?

HELEN GISS:  Yes, mink and wool.

BURT WOLF:  Can I see... what does that feel like?

BACON LEE:  Let me show you some sable mink.

BURT WOLF:  Mink...

HELEN GISS:  Sable and mink.

BURT WOLF:  ...sable, and cashmere.  I am not going to find this in my neighborhood store.

BACON LEE:  No, they don’t make a ready mix.

HELEN GISS:  Not a chance.

BURT WOLF:  And it’s a good idea to bring an example of what it is you want, and they’ll fit it.

HELEN GISS:  Absolutely.  If you have a favorite jacket, or if you have some pictures of some things that you think might look good on you.  You know, it’s always wise to give them as much input as you can.

BURT WOLF:  What would a double-breasted blazer in cashmere-mink...?

BACON LEE:  Roughly it would cost you around, say about 480 something.

BURT WOLF:  Four-hundred and eighty U.S. dollars for a sable, mink and cashmere double-breasted blazer.  That is a good buy.

HELEN GISS:  That is a good deal!

BURT WOLF:  I never thought I was going to get a mink!

HELEN GISS:  And we’re in Trio Pearl which is one of my favorite places.

BURT WOLF:  Oh!  This is very serious stuff, isn’t it?

HELEN GISS:  It’s very beautiful.  Almost all of our clients, when they come into Hong Kong, one of the first things they ask me about is jade.  Jadeite.  The precious... every range of it, every color.  A lot of people don’t realize that it comes in a lot of different colors.

JEWELER:  This piece is brown.

BURT WOLF:  Brown jade.

HELEN GISS:  Brown jade.

JEWELER:  It used to be a belt buckle.  That’s half of the buckle.  It was cut off from a buckle.

BURT WOLF:  What other colors besides green and brown?

HELEN GISS:  The beautiful lavender...

JEWELER:  The lavender, yes.

HELEN GISS:  The lavender color, here.

BURT WOLF:  That’s quite surprising.

HELEN GISS:  It is surprising and most people don’t really... I think a lot of people don’t realize that.

BURT WOLF:  Why is green more popular than the others?  Why do we think of jade as green?

HELEN GISS:  It just goes way back in history.  The more green, the more... you know, the better.  And one of my Chinese friends said to me one time that the very best description of supreme quality jade would be what you and I use at home – Prell shampoo.  That color – 

BURT WOLF:  That’s the right color?

HELEN GISS:  That’s the right color!  The color green, the fact that it’s translucent, it’s even – 

BURT WOLF:  So you see people shopping for jade and they have a bottle of Prell in their hands?

HELEN GISS:  Absolutely.

BURT WOLF:  They’re skilled shoppers.

HELEN GISS:  They’re skilled shoppers.

BURT WOLF:  I’ll remember that.

HELEN GISS:  Right.  Usually, when they set a piece of jade like this they will leave it open on the other side so that you can hold it up to the light and see how gorgeous the color is.

BURT WOLF:  That’s an important thing to know.

HELEN GISS:  And also you can see that they didn’t do anything to it.  You know, they haven’t touched it up or done anything like that.

JEWELER:  You see, like all our setting, the back is all open.  Most jeweler’s shops close the back, so they make the back piece of metal like a mirror so it gives more light underneath.  So it gives...

BURT WOLF:  The stone looks better but it really isn’t.

JEWELER:  That’s right.

BURT WOLF:  So I got a bad stone and a good mirror.

JEWELER:  That’s right.

BURT WOLF:  And it looks great, but it ain’t.  Okay.  Good to know.

HELEN GISS:  Hollywood Road is where most of the antiques in Hong Kong are located right now.  Not all of them, but most of them.  And one of the things I really enjoy showing my clients are the antiquities.  Here we have a Han Dynasty stick man, and the stick men were excavated in the nineties – the early nineties – and I think National Geographic did a big article on them.  And the Han horse here that is without his legs because his legs were originally wood, so they –

BURT WOLF:  It’s amazing that things of this age and quality can be purchased just in a shop.

HELEN GISS:  It’s absolutely amazing.

BURT WOLF:  Not in a museum.

HELEN GISS:  It’s absolutely amazing.  And it’s really... this is where a lot of the antiques that are in the museums in America are coming from.  All along this street.  And over here we have a whole set – the groom and the horse, it’s Ming Dynasty, so that’s four to six hundred years old.  The attendants, and the sedan chair and the sedan chair carriers.  And it’s probably, it looks to me as if this whole set was excavated from one site.

BURT WOLF:  And they’re burial objects?

HELEN GISS:  Yes, they are burial objects.  It wasn’t just the really wealthy people that were buried with what they needed in the afterlife, but also the farmers were buried with what they needed in the afterlife.  And this probably dates, I’m sure it’s pretty... it’s Han Dynasty.

BURT WOLF:  Two hundred B.C.?

HELEN GISS:  Two hundred B.C.  And it’s even got a little pig in the yard.

BURT WOLF:  I’m just astounded that this stuff can be bought in a little shop.

HELEN GISS:  And this is the jade market.  It’s had a couple of different lives since I’ve been in Hong Kong.  But the most wonderful thing about it is that you really can buy bits and pieces here that don’t break the bank.  All kinds of... and a lot of it is new – newly carved.  But that’s okay.  You know, I think...

BURT WOLF:  That’s white jade?

HELEN GISS: ...if it pleases you.  This is white.  And if it pleases you, you know, it’s kind of fun for you.

BURT WOLF:  Hong Kong dollars.  Okay.

HELEN GISS:  Yeah... It’s kind of fun for you to be able to have it.

BURT WOLF:  That’s like twenty-five bucks!  That’s really nice.

HELEN GISS:  Right, exactly.  Which is terrific.  It’s really wonderful to pick up things like this here at the jade market – where the stones are natural, and they make wonderful little gifts, and you know, they’re reminiscent.  Generally, the carving is something that is reminiscent of a traditional Chinese carving.

BURT WOLF:  And you can bargain here?

HELEN GISS:  And you can definitely bargain here.  Absolutely.  It’s part of the fun.  Definitely.

BURT WOLF:  Are there general shopping rules that apply almost all over the world?

HELEN GISS:  I think so.  I think that the main rule is knowing what things cost in your home country.  You know, doing your homework, and knowing what it is you want to buy, and not going out with a preconceived idea of what you’re going to find.  I want people to buy things they wouldn’t normally buy at home.

The serious shopping takes place in the Kowloon district on the mainland or on the north shore of Hong Kong.  But there is one light-hearted spot for shopping on the south shore of Hong Kong that you may want to visit.  It’s known as the Stanley Market.  A bazaar-like structure selling clothing, souvenirs, inexpensive jewelry, and just about everything else in the tourist shop inventory.  I’m getting a traditional suit for my grandson.  It will give him a certain look of authority when we go out for Chinese food.

Hong Kong has about six million residents and about 15,000 restaurants, which gives it one of the world’s highest ratios of eateries to eaters.  Stephen Wong is a local food authority, and he gave me an excellent gastronomic tour of the city, starting with a traditional Chinese breakfast.

STEPHEN WONG:  We should actually start the day with the congee.

BURT WOLF:  Congee?

STEPHEN WONG:  Congee.

BURT WOLF:  And this is a rice soup.

STEPHEN WONG:  Yes.  And this is normally eaten with deep-fried batter.  This is the most famous of all the deep-fried batters. [Speaks Chinese]

BURT WOLF:  What’s it called?

STEPHEN WONG:  [speaks Chinese] It means “oil-fried ghosts.”

BURT WOLF:  Ghosts!

STEPHEN WONG:  Demons.  You know, in the old days, there was a couple who were villains to the emperor.  So people hated them, and this is the couple.  So they dump it in a wok and deep-fry them they were so hated.  Nowadays, it’s one of the most popular snacks in Hong Kong.  [Speaks Chinese]

BURT WOLF:  Deep-fried bad ghosts.  I got it.

STEPHEN WONG:  You got it.

BURT WOLF:  I eat this with the rice soup.

STEPHEN WONG:  Right.

BURT WOLF:  Porridge.

STEPHEN WONG:  Porridge, right.

BURT WOLF:  I have seafood in mine, what do you have in yours?

STEPHEN WONG:  I have thousand-year-old egg and preserved pork.  It’s an acquired taste, I must say.

BURT WOLF:  It certainly is.  And the rest of this stuff?  Are we eating it in the right order?

STEPHEN WONG:  Any order, but this all goes with the congee.  The congee is the center.  Anything goes with the congee.  Normally it’s a chow mein with fried noodles, really simple, inexpensive, but very tasty.

BURT WOLF:  Now, when I’m taking noodles and they run very long like that, am I supposed to put it in my mouth and then stuff it in?  Or am I supposed to...?

STEPHEN WONG:  No, no, please.

BURT WOLF:  Never like that?

STEPHEN WONG:  No.

BURT WOLF:  Okay, how do I do it?

STEPHEN WONG:  Do it from there – from below your chin... Yes!  And then slurp it up.  Right.  Never do this.

BURT WOLF:  Never.

STEPHEN WOLF:  Never.

BURT WOLF:  Never!  I’ll never do that again, I promise.  What does this stuff cost?

STEPHEN WONG:  Well, you know, we are having a larger than normal breakfast today.  But it’s not costly.  You see, your congee is $2.50... mine is $2.00... this is fifty-cents per piece... the soybean milk is fifty-cents... this is a dollar each... So, altogether about ten dollars for two for a huge breakfast.

BURT WOLF:  But it’s really enough for four.

STEPHEN WONG:  Exactly.

BURT WOLF:  So about two and a half dollars per person for a breakfast like this – U.S. dollars.

STEPHEN WONG:  Exactly.

BURT WOLF:  It’s a great value.

Another group to take up residence in Hong Kong came from the northern city of Shanghai.

BURT WOLF:  How can I tell Shanghainese cuisine?

STEPHEN WONG:  Well, Shanghainese cuisine is identified by its use of sugar, vinegar, and fermented white rice.  So it tends to be a little more sweet and sour, but also a fine balance between the tastes.  Now Burt, on the table we have four bowls of 

most authentic Shanghai dishes.  This is the most representative of that region.  This is the stir-fried freshwater shrimps – quickly stir-fried to perfection.  Stir-frying is spectacular.  It retains the flavor.  It’s not a long process.  It’s a short process retaining the actual flavor of the ingredients.  So, the Shanghainese stir-fry their food, we Cantonese stir-fry our food.  This is a braised pork ball, we call it “Lion’s Head” because of the size of the pork.  Look at this.  Huge pork ball, minced pork, served in a casserole with Shanghainese cabbage.  Over here, is of course the pea shoots.  Stir-fried again and served with crab meat.  Over here, we have the freshwater fish served with a sweet and sour sauce.

BURT WOLF:  Mmmm.  Now that means the same in Chinese as it does in English.

STEPHEN WONG:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  This is a restaurant that serves Chiu Chow cuisine.  That is the northeastern corner of the Jiuong Dong [sic] Province, which is the province that Hong Kong is in, if I recall.

STEPHEN WONG:  That’s right.

BURT WOLF:  And it’s known for more intense flavors, lots of dipping sauces, lots of seafood, lots of homemade sauces.

STEPHEN WONG:  Chiu Chow is also a coastal area, so seafood is caught in abundance.  And they make very wise use of different fruit sauces to compliment the seafood.  Over here we have the deep-fried shrimp balls, normally eaten with a honey sauce or a tangerine oil.  This side we have the Chin Jiu [sic] scallops with pepper leaves.  And over this end we have the deep-fried crab balls, again eaten with a honey sauce.  So this is a real good starter.  Over here, as you know, yin and yang, tai chi, this is a very famous tai chi vegetarian soup with a spinach puree – the dark green side representing yin.  And then, of course, the lighter side – which is a chicken mash with egg white – representing yang.  And not all yin are yin, there’s a little bit of yang here.  So it’s excellent.

BURT WOLF:  You always need a little bit of yin in your yang, that’s what I always say.

STEPHEN WONG:  Over here is the signature dessert because this is what we call pan-fried Chiu Chow noodles.  Normally eaten with vinegar and sugar.  So you can call it a noodle dish, but then also you can call it a dessert because sugar is used.  Probably this is the only noodle dish in China where white sugar is used for enjoyment.

BURT WOLF:  Oh, here’s one of the ancient foods of China.  It’s called the maraschino cherry.  Many years ago you found them in Buddhist and Taoist temples, but now they’re in Shirley Temples.

When Hong Kong’s Happy Valley racetrack opened in the mid-1800s, big British companies supported the sport of horseracing, and many people believed that the Jockey Club controlled Hong Kong.  The members seemed to exercise more power than the British Governor, and it was no coincidence that the colony’s Legislative Council met on Wednesday afternoons.  That was Race Day – and the only day of the week that all the members of the council could be expected to be in town.

Each year,  more than three and half million tourists and residents visit the original Hong Kong racecourse in Happy Valley, or the new course across the harbor.  There are 75 race meets each year, and the betting totals over twelve billion U.S. dollars.  More money is bet each race day in Hong Kong than at any other track in the world.

WILSON K.M. CHENG:  Horseracing is the most popular sport in Hong Kong.  On a race day like today, we have about fifty to sixty thousand people coming to the track, and we have about one million people from all over the country participating in the game in one way or another.  They can go to our off-course betting shops or do their betting through telephone and at the same time watch the television.

The Hong Kong Tourist Association has a “Come Horseracing” tour that will guide overseas visitors to the track and through the rituals of racing.  And don’t feel sad if your bet doesn’t win.  The Club is a non-profit association that supports medical, educational and welfare organizations.

People have been living on Hong Kong and the surrounding islands for over 6,000 years, and you can get a look at what this area has been like for many of those years by visiting one of the outlying islands.  The largest is called Lantau.  It’s twice the size of the island of Hong Kong, but it has very few inhabitants.  The peaceful atmosphere has made it a haven for Buddhist monasteries.  The most famous is Po Lin, home of the world’s largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha.

The 250-ton statue is more than one hundred feet high.  The upraised right hand represents compassion, and the left one offers happiness.  He sits on a lotus, symbolizing purification.  Surrounding the Buddha are six additional statues, each of which is presenting an offering – light, fruit, flowers, musical instruments, incense and ointment.

The Buddha was built in Nanjing, China, where sculptors paid special attention to the eyes.  The trick is to get a serene expression that looks down benevolently on the monastery below.

Outside the main hall is an area where incense is burned and messages are sent to deities and ancestors.  The main temple has a series of sacred hangings.  Buddhists believe that if you pass underneath these hangings, your sins will be forgiven and your soul will be saved.  The Po Lin monastery also has a number of restaurants open to the public.  They specialize in traditional Buddhist vegetarian recipes.  A meal of vegetables, mushrooms and bean curd is believed to cleanse the system.

True to the tradition of balance, a day of serene soul-searching at the Buddhist monastery of Lantau finds its opposite in the Hong Kong night.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Taoists don’t see life as following a straight line.  They think of it as twisting and turning back on itself and forming a circle.  And in forming that circle, they remind us that all things are one thing.  When the government of the city of Hong Kong was given back to the Chinese, it completed a circle.  A circle that took over 150 years to make a turn.  But in making that turn, it turned Hong Kong into one of the most interesting cities in the world.  I hope you have enjoyed this brief visit to The City Of Life and I hope you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Naples, Florida - #109

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  At the turn of the century the wealthy families of North America began building winter homes in Florida.  The rich and flashy of the northeast built their homes on the east coast of Florida.  The rich and never-to-be-flashy of the mid-west built their homes on the west coast of Florida.  They came here to Naples and constructed a community of quiet luxury.

Today, Naples is one of the richest and fastest-growing cities in America.  But because it sits on a strip of land that runs between the Gulf of Mexico and the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades, the residents are deeply involved in protecting their natural environment.  In other words, Naples loves the good life but it is just as concerned with its wildlife.

In the next half-hour, we’ll take a walk into one of the most unusual swamps in the world... discover the origins of the teddy bear... unearth an orchid that smells like chocolate... and visit a zoo where video technology is used to give you an amazing close-up view of some of the rarest animals on our planet.  So join me, Burt Wolf, on TRAVELS AND TRADITIONS... as we take a look at Naples, Florida.

In 1885, Walter Haldeman, the owner of the Louisville Courier newspaper, sailed down the west coast of Florida.  He was looking for a healthy spot to build a winter home for his family.  At the time, the lower west coast of Florida was almost totally deserted.  There was no one in Naples -- no houses, no tents, no Native Americans.  There wasn’t even a Naples!  What there was was a beautiful seven-mile crescent beach lined with pine trees and palm trees.  Haldeman and a group of his friends bought the land and drew up the plans for Naples.

Today, the place to get your first look at the low-key luxury of Naples is Third Street, where people enjoy getting around on bicycles.  It’s part of the Old Historic Shopping District, and it’s made up of flower-lined streets... one-of-a-kind shops... restaurants... and galleries.  A few blocks down is Fifth Avenue, Naples’ official main street.  Elegant shopping.  Good eating.  And Wynn’s Food Market.  Wynn’s has been a family-run fixture here for over fifty years, and I was told that I must stop in and taste their coconut cake.

BURT WOLF:  What do you think about the coconut cake?

CUSTOMER 1:  It’s the best.

BURT WOLF:  They’re the best?

CUSTOMER 1:  The best ingredients, the best taste.  The best on the street, the best in Naples.  That’s all I can say!

BURT WOLF:  I’d better get a piece of this cake immediately.

CUSTOMER 1:  You mean you haven’t tasted it yet?!

BURT WOLF:  I’m going to taste it now.

CUSTOMER 1:  Oh, don’t waste any time!

BURT WOLF:  Okay.  Could I... That’s your regular coconut cake?

TIM WYNN:  Yes, sir, that’s it!

BURT WOLF:  Great.  I would like, uh, I would love, uh... Can I get just a slice of it with a fork?

TIM WYNN:  One ready to go to eat, huh?  We can do that for you.

BURT WOLF:  See, I’m not the first person to ask this here.

TIM WYNN:  Oh, we sell many slices every day.

BURT WOLF:  Now, why do you think this is so famous around here?

CUSTOMER 2:  Well, I’m just very fond of coconut.  Anything with coconut in it is fine with me!

BURT WOLF:  I’ll get a piece for you.

CUSTOMER 2:  Thank you!

BURT WOLF:  Can I interest you in a piece of coconut cream cake?

CUSTOMER 3:  Oh, absolutely.

CUSTOMER 4:  What is it?

CUSTOMER 3:  Coconut cream cake.

BURT WOLF:  We’re taking an impartial survey here.  Could I have a piece of that cake?  Now what was it?  It was pudding that was in here?

TIM WYNN:  Yes, a coconut pudding.

CUSTOMER 1:  The old pudding trick, huh?

BURT WOLF:  Mmmm... Mmmm... Mmmmm... Sometimes words are not necessary!

CUSTOMER 3:  It’s absolutely wonderful.  In fact, I would purchase -- is that it?

CUSTOMER 5:  That’s it!

CUSTOMER 3:  We want one.

BURT WOLF:  I’m going to be working here on commission, you know.

For a taste of the wilder side of Naples I spent some time at the Caribbean Gardens.  Fifty-two acres of unusual plants and animals, it began in 1919 as a private garden with 3000 species of tropical vegetation.  In the Sixties, Larry and Nancy Jane Tetzlaff, well-known leaders of wildlife expeditions, brought their collection of rare animals to the Gardens.  These days their sons Dave and Tim run the park.

What struck me about Caribbean Gardens was their unusual use of video monitors.  First you see film of an animal in its natural habitat... then they bring out the real thing.  The impact is fascinating.

DAVE TETZLAFF:  We live in a media age where people want instant images.  And for a long time when we did educational shows here, we could describe things to people, but when you really see it... I mean, you can talk all day about how a leopard jumps out of a tree on something -- when people see this up on the screen it’s like dynamite.  It’s just like they walk away saying, “Wow, we’ve never seen anything like this before.”  But when you take the live animals, which I think is very important, and combine them with that, you’re giving people a very unique concept where you’re talking about something but showing it at the same time.  To preserve animals I believe it’s a legacy.  It’s the responsibility of everybody -- every living man, woman, child on this planet -- to continue.  It’s our responsibility.  And I think, sadly, in the future a lot of folks are going to look at the twentieth century and think, “Man, these guys really messed things up.  They had so many animals disappear or became endangered during this hundred year period.”  So I think now’s the time to correct these problems.  And zoos provide a definite vehicle to bring endangered species -- their plights, conservation -- to the public.  It’s the best way to do it.

BURT WOLF:  Did you ever see a tiger before?

BOY:  No way!  Until now.  And they almost got extinct.

BURT WOLF:  Yeah?  What does “extinct” mean?

BOY:  Well, it means killed.

While I was at the gardens Tim Tetzlaff took me on a boat trip where I saw a group of islands inhabited by different species of primates.

TIM TETZLAFF:  We first started the primate expedition cruise back in 1992, renovated all the islands for habitat for the primates, and it’s turned out to be a wonderful thing.  Guests love being this close to the animals, seeing them, you know, totally open, just a few feet of water in between and love to see them in their natural environments which is one of the biggest pluses we have here on the whole Caribbean Gardens to begin with.

These are ring-tailed lemurs.  There are thirty-two species of lemurs, this is perhaps one of the most easily identifiable because of that beautiful striped tail of theirs.  And that actually works very well for signaling, and they’ll actually take that tail, and they pull the tail up between their legs and they rub it furiously up and down on their chest where they have a scent gland that secretes this rather pungent odor.  Next, they take the tail and they rub it through their wrists, where they have more scent glands, to get the tail real offensive smelling.  Then they drop down on all fours and then they put the tail up over their head, over their back, they approach the other lemur they’re having the argument with , and they begin waving that offensive smell in each other’s face.  And, pretty much, whoever’s tail smells the worst gets whatever they want.

BURT WOLF:  It’s like the U.N.  That’s a strange group of animals coming onto that island; what is that?

TIM TETZLAFF:  Yes, that is one of our transient exhibits -- Homo sapiens.  We have a traveling exhibit of different ones that come in daily.

BURT WOLF:  That’s like a whole family?

TIM TETZLAFF:  Oh yes, it’s a family unit.  Once again, generally speaking, the mother rears those until they’re about eighteen years of age and, regardless, the male kicks them out of the family.

BURT WOLF:  Funny colors!

In 1888, Kentuckian Walter Haldeman, the founding father of Naples, began executing his plan to build a community in an impenetrable wilderness.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): A few years later he built the original Naples Beach Hotel and Pier. Now, the pier was essential because in those days the only way you could get to Naples was by boat. The hotel was essential because Mrs. Haldeman was getting lonely and the only way that Mr. Haldeman was going to keep her in Naples was to build a hotel so her friends could come down and visit her.

Today, the descendent of the original property is called The Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.  It’s right on the beach and since 1946 it has been owned and run by the Watkins family.  Mike Watkins is the president, and his objective is to keep the hotel’s local flavor.  Mike is also interested in the ecological aspects of his property.  In the middle of the hotel’s 18-hole golf course there is a greenhouse where five thousand orchids are grown and put to use in the hotel.  Marty Zewalk is the resident expert on orchids and he conducts classes.

MARTY ZEWALK:  Orchids, basically, are the largest plant family in the world.  They are air plants.

BURT WOLF:  What does that mean?

MARTY ZEWALK:  In their native environment in tropical zones, they’re actually clinging to the trunks of a tree.

BURT WOLF:  They’re growing in air, not earth.

MARTY ZEWALK:  Right.  They’re growing in air.  People kind of confuse the fact that they might be parasitic, but they’re not.  They use the trunk of the tree, or, as we domesticate them in pots and baskets -- strictly for support.  We now have over 150,000 hybrids.  That’s man conquering nature creating shapes and colors that never existed before.

This one is a very popular one and its nickname is “Dancing Lady.”  If you use your imagination, the flowering skirt and the torso and the head and the arms are the dancing lady and when it’s bouncing in the breeze, therein lies its nickname.

Next on the list, the nickname is “Donkey Ears” because of the stiff shapes of the leaves, but very well known by being the Butterfly Orchid.  And I think it describes itself.

This is an amazing one; this is called the Chocolate Orchid.  And if you do take a turn to smell, it smells just like chocolate.

BURT WOLF:  You have to smell that -- it’s quite amazing.

After class I stayed around for lunch. Gunther Killian is the chef and he prepared a Florida tomato stuffed with blue crab salad.  Next was rigatoni pasta with mixed grilled vegetables and for dessert a Florida fresh fruit tart with kiwi, mangoes and raspberries.

For a look at nature in the wild, I paid a visit to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, just outside of town.  Corkscrew is 11,000 acres of protected wilderness... a giant ecosystem on the edge of the Florida Everglades.  It’s owned and operated by the National Audubon Society and considered one of their most important projects.

Ed Carlson discovered Corkscrew when he was a teenager and was awestruck by the wild beauty of the place.  Since then he has devoted his life to protecting the region.  Today, he is the manager of the sanctuary, but he describes himself as the “Chief Swamp Rat.”

BURT WOLF:  Why do people come to Corkscrew?

ED CARLSON:  It’s a world-class natural resource.  It’s got it all; it’s got the old growth forest, got abundant wildlife, it’s a wetlands so it’s got things like alligators in it, you know.

BURT WOLF:  Alligators!

ED CARLSON:  Yeah, alligators.  It’s where the tropics and the temperate zone meet, so we’ve got tropical plants and temperate plants.  It’s just beautiful.  Well, that’s the edge of the cypress forest up ahead.

BURT WOLF:  Why are cypress so important?

ED CARLSON:  Well, cypress is an extremely valuable wood.  It’s a beautiful wood for building and for trim work and it’s very rot-resistant.  It’s extremely valuable to the lumber industry.  So it was basically clearcut throughout its range in the United States.  So it was the long-term interest of Audubon in the nesting and the birds [and the] continued observing of this activity that they realized the forest was being cut down.  So it’s interesting to argue whether the birds saved the trees...

BURT WOLF:  ...or the trees saved the birds.

ED CARLSON:  Right, but this forest is the largest stand of old grove virgin unlogged cypress left anywhere.

BURT WOLF:  Anywhere in the world?

ED CARLSON:  Of this forest type, yes.  Anywhere in the world.

That’s the state tree of Florida.  The locals call it the cabbage palm, and actually the heart of that palm is edible, that’s where heart of palm comes from.

BURT WOLF:  Those little cans of the hearts of palms comes from there...?

ED CARLSON:  Yeah, well, those come from another country, but this palm is also edible and to the locals that’s a big vegetable.

BURT WOLF:  What are those?

ED CARLSON:  These broadleaf green plants are called alligator flags.  And they’re a relative of the banana.  Why do we keep talking about food here?  But they are a relative of the banana, and they grow in the deepest, wettest areas of the swamp.  So if you were looking for an alligator, that would be an indicator plant.

BURT WOLF:  And if you were looking to avoid an alligator...

ED CARLSON:  ...you’d stay away from it...

BURT WOLF:  ...it’d do the same job.  Great.  I’ll move along here if it’s all the same to you.  I heard that alligators are afraid of people, is that true?

ED CARLSON:  Wild alligators are afraid of people; that is absolutely true.  In fact, when you’re in an area where alligators aren’t used to seeing people, you probably won’t see them at all, they’re so shy they’ll go under water or move away from you.  You can see alligators here because they see people every day and they know not to fear people.  But alligators lose their fear of man when you feed them.  And that’s the problem; they associate people with food.

BURT WOLF:  And they’re fast.

ED CARLSON:  They can be fast.

BURT WOLF:  What’s the future of this place?  What’s going to happen?

ED CARLSON:  The future’s good because we didn’t get into the last chapter.  We saved the birds, we saved the forest, and now we’re saving the whole watershed.

BURT WOLF:  End up saving the people.

ED CARLSON:  There you go!

BURT WOLF:  I like that program!

Somewhere between the wildlife and the good life lies the Teddy Bear Museum of Naples.  It was set up to house the 1,500 teddy bear collection of Mrs. Francis Pew Hayes.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Her collection began in 1984 when her grandson gave her this bear as a Christmas present. It turned grandma into an “arctophile”...which is the technical word for somebody who loves teddy bears.

Since then the collection has grown to over 3,500 bears and each year about 50,000 people stop in for a hug.  The museum is run by Mrs. Hayes’ son, George “Brownie” Black.

GEORGE BLACK:  It’s called a teddy bear because in 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt took a hunting trip for bears in Mississippi.  And he didn’t find one to shoot, but the guides found one and invited him out and he refused to shoot it.  And from that a cartoon got drawn by Clifford Berriman of the Washington Star, and thereafter whenever they did a cartoon, the bear was in the cartoon.  And it was actually called “Teddy’s bear.”

BURT WOLF:  How did it become a doll?

GEORGE BLACK:  It was first introduced as a boy’s companion, similar to a girl’s doll.  And very quickly girls also learned that it was a little bit more durable than their porcelain dolls, so they started playing with bears also.

BURT WOLF:  When people come here to the museum, what are they surprised about?

GEORGE BLACK:  First, the building.  We’re not the normal square, white stucco building.  We’re an all-natural wooden octagonal-shaped building.  Secondly, I think they’re surprised at the range of the bears that they see here.  A lot of people think they’re just crib toys and they don’t know anything about the artist bears and their variety.  And three, just the sheer number of them.  Teddy bear business is a multi-billion dollar-a-year industry.  Teddy bears themselves -- these cute cuddly guys -- are one of the top three, if not the top collectible in the world.  And when you add in the associated items like shirts and postcards and magazines and books and jewelry, it’s astronomical.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): When I was a kid I didn’t have a teddy bear and as I grew up I didn’t feel the need for one. But I have just changed my mind.

Teddy Bears aside, most visitors to Naples come here because it is considered a vacation paradise.  Then they go home and face a different reality.  But that didn’t work for Walter Wiesmueller.  He came to Naples to vacation and decided that he preferred paradise as a permanent address.  So he moved his glass making factory from Bavaria to the beach... and he named it Glasparadies.

WALTER WEISMUELLER:  We bring everything here from the screw to the table, the furniture, the oven... everything what you see here, we move it here.

ROGER HILL:  We set up the oven and the warehouse in the back and the retail shop in the front, and the museum.  Basically what we have going on today is that we have a glass blower here from Romania and another one from Germany, and Walter, of course.  Walter’s going to open up the oven right now and we’re going to look inside.  To melt the glass we’ve got to get it to be maybe 1500 degrees Centigrade, which is almost 3000 degrees Fahrenheit -- it’s very, very hot.

Glasparadies also has an historical collection of glass that dates back over 4,000 years, including something called “Farmer’s Silver.”  German peasants could not afford real silver; glass blowers developed a technique for blowing a little silver dust into the glass.  You ended up with objects that looked like they were made of silver, but were much less expensive.  Walter brought examples of hundreds of different types of glass from Germany to Naples.

Walter also brought his drums!

In 1983, things in Naples took an international turn.  The Ritz-Carlton Hotel opened.  The Ritz-Carlton group has over thirty hotels around the world and they brought their international experience to the neighborhood.

The entrance to the hotel and the design of the lobby has become the visual signature for the company.  Every afternoon they serve a classic English tea.  And just outside is the verandah, lined with old-fashioned thatched rocking chairs.  The objective of the Ritz-Carlton is to find a balance between the group traveler and the leisure business traveler.  Since I travel with a group and (believe it or not) this is my business, I headed directly through the hotel to the seashore and balanced myself on a stool facing the Gulf of Mexico.  A nice little boardwalk ends at an outdoor restaurant called Gumbo Limbo.  It’s a relaxed spot for lunch or dinner, and good for a tropical drink.

The Ritz is also working to develop a reputation for gourmet cooking.  Marc Guizol is the Dining Room chef.  He was born in France, where he began his career.  He also worked in London and Portugal.  What does a chef do to get a star for his restaurant?

MARC GUIZOL:  An enormous amount of work, definitely!

To make his point, Marc prepared a three-course meal that started with a grilled tuna-tomato relish-and-guacamole cocktail.  The main course was roasted loin of lamb with peanut butter sauce.  And for dessert:  a bowl of mixed fruit -- blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries -- in an elegant strawberry sauce, topped with a fruit sorbet.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  As you may have noticed, tomatoes keep showing up on the local tables, and for good reason.  Florida is famous for its tomatoes and they are shipped to cities all across the country.

A note to keep in mind, however, is that when they are shipped from Florida they are not fully ripe.  That helps keep them in good condition during the trip, but when you see a Florida tomato in your market it may still have a pink color.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  That’s okay.  However, when you get them home, you do not want to put them in the refrigerator.  The cold stops the ripening process and kills the flavor.  You want to let them ripen at room temperature.  Two or three days and the red will come out and they will be ready to eat.  Now, we eat a tomato as if it were a vegetable but in reality it is a fruit.

If you let other fruits like pears or bananas sit next to a ripening tomato, the tomato will ripen even faster.  And always keep them stem side up.  The area around the stem is very delicate and easily damaged.  You don’t want the weight of the tomato to rest on that surface.

And this is the Edgewater Beach Hotel, and much of what makes the Edgewater special is what it doesn’t have.  No crowds, no hype.  Just low-key elegance.  John Ayers, Jr. is the managing partner of the hotel, as well as the president of “Visit Naples.”

JOHN AYRES, JR:  We’re the opposite of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.  We’re a place that people come to to relax, to... to get to know their kids again, and to read that book that’s been on the shelf for three months that’s been nagging at them... in fact, it’s the kind of place that I know you’d really enjoy bringing your family to, and we hope you’ll do that.

The Edgewater’s Club Dining Room faces the Gulf of Mexico and has one of the best views to dine by in Naples.  Bill Hoever is the chef.  He made an egg white fruit frittata, a jerked chicken with a mango chutney relish, and a gulf red snapper sautéed with fresh tomatoes, olives and white wine.

And finally, if you want to be transported like the wealthy while looking at the homes of the wealthy, you can take a sightseeing cruise on an elegant yacht.  The 90-foot Naples Royal Princess will transport you along the waterways while serving you breakfast, lunch, supper or cocktails.  I asked Bill Barnett, the Mayor of Naples, to tell me what I am looking at.

BILL BARNETT:  Well, you can buy a lot today -- I think the most inexpensive lot you could probably buy down there would probably be $350,000 today and the homes go up to anywhere from fifteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-five million dollars.

BURT WOLF:  What’s the most expensive one?

BILL BARNETT:  The most expensive one that I have seen is about thirty-three million.

BURT WOLF:  Thirty-three million dollars?

BILL BARNETT:  Thirty-three million dollars.

BURT WOLF:  Who lives in it?

BILL BARNETT:  I don’t know who lives in it now... They don’t let us know some of those things.  But they’re really getting some phenomenal numbers.

They also have something called a “dockuminium,” which is basically a condominium for your boat... actually, it’s a parking place for your boat and it can cost you upwards of $200,000!

The cruise puts you smack in the middle of the story of Naples.  One side of the river is palatial and pricey... just a hundred yards away, the other side is protected and priceless.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Well... that’s a brief look at Naples, Florida...balancing between the good life and the wild life.  It started out fighting the wilderness so it could establish a community, then taming the wilderness so it could build a city and now it’s very busy trying to preserve the wilderness that was here originally.  That’s life.  And that’s TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Richmond, Virginia - #108

This is Richmond, Virginia, one of the most significant cities in the history of the United States. It is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was the capital of an independent nation during the Civil War. And most significant for the traveler, Richmond is home to some of the most important reminders of our nation’s past.

In the next half-hour, we’ll take a look at Virginia’s oldest plantation; it’s been here for over 350 years... we’ll learn about the Civil War Trails, and the battlefields of Virginia... we’ll go white-water rafting through the center of town.... and finally, we’ll taste some of the traditional foods.  So join me, Burt Wolf, for TRAVELS AND TRADITIONS in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1607, when the first English colonists came to Virginia, the nearby waters were filled with seafood and the forest with game, fruits, vegetables and nuts. The land could have supplied the settlers with the food they needed.  And yet they were starving to death. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): There were at least two major reasons for the starvation. First of all, the Virginia colonists didn’t want to eat any food here that they had not already eaten back in England -- a deadly idea. And second, most of the colonists to Virginia were from the middle class. They were tradesmen and merchants who knew very little about fishing, farming or hunting.  Fortunately the native tribes traded with them, taught them about corn, and so many were able to survive and eventually learn how to farm.

By the middle of the 1600s Virginia’s main crop was tobacco. It was extremely profitable and led to the development of the plantations. A twenty-minute drive east of Richmond along the James River will bring you to Shirley, a plantation that was originally established in 1613. These days it’s home to the tenth and eleventh generations of the Carter family. Historically important areas of the property are open to the public.  Charles Carter, of the eleventh generation, was my guide.

CHARLES CARTER:  Here we have our early central heating system, built about 1830s, about a hundred years after the house was made.  You can adjust the register for the amount of heat that you’d like to come up -- air, hot air... although we’re not so sure it was that effective in the central hall with the open staircase.  So the staircase is 250 years old, or better, and it still works quite well, as you can see.  According to an engineer, this should not hold up.  It’s like a bumblebee -- it shouldn’t fly.  It’s called a “flying staircase;” you can probably see the vibration.

BURT WOLF:   What keeps it up?

CHARLES CARTER:  Two wrought-iron straps, about an inch thick and four inches wide.  They run from wall to wall.

BURT WOLF:   So it’s like a suspension bridge, right inside the house.

CHARLES CARTER:  Exactly!

BURT WOLF:   Oh, great!

CHARLES CARTER:  Each generation has its own portraits done; it’s sort of a family album on our walls here.  And this is one of our family album.  We’re fairly sure that she looked like this -- at least her face, we’re not so sure about the body.

BURT WOLF:  Why is that?

CHARLES CARTER:  Well, in the time that these portraits were done, it was not uncommon for an artist to go around and stay at the family places, and they’d bring a selection of pre-painted bodies.

BURT WOLF:  And you could pick from a whole bunch of different bodies which one you wanted?

CHARLES CARTER:  Right.

BURT WOLF:  And then they would paint the face on it.

CHARLES CARTER:  All they had to do was make the sale and paint the face... This is Elizabeth Carter.  She’s dressed very much like Lucy Randolph was.  You can see that her body and her dress are very very much the same.  Walliston, the artist, seems to have had a very consistent standard for cleavage in his portraits. ... So the plantation is here because of water, because of the river.  It was the Main Street of the colonial times, and it was also the cheapest form of transportation, the most efficient, and it was a good way to get the tobacco out, and anything else that you wanted to get in, which would include, obviously, all the furniture that you’d see in here, as well as tools... paintings, obviously, and also -- probably what you may be interested in -- all the sources of food.

The planters preferred to import much of their food rather than give up a tobacco field.  By the late 1600s, things had changed. Virginia developed its own style of cooking, a style that was based on local food products. And there was a particular interest in seafood.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Captain John Smith, who was made famous by Pocahontas, wrote in his diary that the waters of Virginia were so filled with fish that thought he could catch them with a cooking pot. And people are still interested in the seafood of Virginia. 

The watermen of Virginia harvest over eighty different species, which are shipped fresh to cities throughout the world. One of the oldest harvests is for clams. Hundreds of years ago the local tribes used clam shells as money. They felt that because of the purple streak on the inside of the shell, clams were particularly attractive and valuable.

Virginia watermen also bring in scallops. A scallop swims backwards and can’t see where it’s going, even though it has fifty eyes. Sounds like part of our Federal Government. Besides the scallop, they bring in oysters, which were one of the mainstays of the early colonial diet and are still one of Virginia’s most popular seafoods.

The state also has a striped bass catch, and of course the ever-popular, totally adaptable and multi-talented... soft shell crab.

About an hour’s drive northeast of Richmond is the town of Urbanna, Virginia -- the home of Catherine Via and Beatrice Taylor. They are sisters. They are grandmothers. And they are the only two women in the United States with a commercial license for soft shell crabbing.

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Come on over here and let me show you how the process of a shedding works.  This one -- this is a soft crab just pulling out of its shed.

CATHERINE VIA:  See him pulling the legs out?

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  He’ll completely come out --

BURT WOLF:   Oh, that one!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  (over)  -- an all-new crab.

CATHERINE VIA:  (over)  Yeah!

BURT WOLF:   So that’s the new crab --

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:   Ohhh, wow!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  And this is like a buster that’s just starting to come out.

BURT WOLF:   A “buster”?

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Mm-hmm.  A buster.

BURT WOLF:   ‘Cause he’s bustin’ out.

BEATRICE AND CATHERINE (unison):  Busting out.

BURT WOLF:   And that’s the shell!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Okay, he’s out now.

BURT WOLF:   That’s amazing!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Okay... this is a male crab.  You can tell by his apron right here.

BURT WOLF:   Right, looks like the Washington Monument.

BEATRICE AND CATHERINE (unison):   -- the Washington Monument.

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  And the other is the --

CATHERINE VIA:  Capitol!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  -- the Capitol.

CATHERINE VIA:  The female has an apron just like the Capitol.

BURT WOLF:   No wonder the politicians like these!  

(Laughter)

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Well, we’re leaving the dock and going up here to Urbanna Creek; we’re in the creek and we’re going on up into the mouth of the Rappahannock River.  That’s where my pots are.  You see, everybody has pots out here.  Your pot has a number on it; you’re assigned a number.  Mine is I-54.

BURT WOLF:   I-54.

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Mm-hmm.  It’s like playing Bingo, right?

BURT WOLF:   Something I can do --?

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  And what I have to do is try to get in close enough to reach it here with my stick.  Just catch it within the rope.  Right there.  You missed it, Burt.

BURT WOLF:   I am an extraordinarily talented person at this!  You can see that I was a natural born crabber!  

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  (over)  We will make another turn.

BURT WOLF:   As a matter of fact, I crabbed about everything for the first three years of my life.  We’re going to have a second try.

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Catch it down right where the rope is tied.

BURT WOLF:   Sure.  You got a lot of tape?  We’re gonna be here awhile, sports fans.  Ah yes, a natural born crabber. 

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  See if I can get you right on it this time.

BURT WOLF:   Now, I’m catching the line here.

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Yes.  The line.  There -- you got it!  You had it.  

BURT WOLF:   I got it!  I got it!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  You got it!  Only you’re supposed to let the hook do the work.

BURT WOLF:   Well -- no one is perfect!!!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  (over)  What difference does it make as long as we got it?

BURT WOLF:   We either have lunch or we don’t have lunch!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  We’ll see.  (Over)  These have only been out one day...

BURT WOLF:   Triumph at last!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  So whaddya say?  Look at here!

BURT WOLF:   Lunch!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  Would you believe it?

BURT WOLF:   Lunch!  Oh, and fish!

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  (over)  We’ve got peelers --

BURT WOLF:   What are those little fish?

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  (over) -- we’ve got fish!  We have a ripe peeler --

BURT WOLF:   Yeah?

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  -- two ripe peelers --

BURT WOLF:   Do we have bread?

BEATRICE TAYLOR:  -- no bread, we forgot to bring the bread... so if all my pots have done this well in a day, we’re gonna have a really good catch.

BURT WOLF:   Mm-hmm!

We took our catch of the day and headed into Urbanna’s Virginia Street Cafe.  Lunch was clam chowder, a soft-shell crab sandwich with Urbanna coleslaw, and for dessert, Southern pecan pie.

The people of Virginia are preserving their traditional foods, but they are also preserving the historic buildings in which those foods are eaten. A walk around Richmond makes the point. 

This is the Executive Mansion. It has been the residence of Virginia’s governors since 1813, which makes it the oldest continuously occupied governor’s mansion in the United States.

And that is The White House Of The Confederacy. It was built in 1818 and during the War Between The States it was the home of President Jefferson Davis and his family. Next door is the Museum of The Confederacy, with the world’s largest collection of Confederate artifacts.

This is the Virginia State Capitol building. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson in 1785. It’s the home of the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Inside is a sculpture of George Washington.  It is the only portrait of our first president that was produced while he was still alive.  The head was made from a plaster cast of his face.  It’s what George really looked like.  Most of us, on the other hand, think that President Washington looked like the portrait on the one dollar bill, but that is not the case.  This painting was produced by a man named Gilbert Stuart, who openly admitted that he disliked Washington and was going to make him as unattractive as possible.  People who are familiar with this story think that it is particularly unfair to President Washington, and respectfully request that our Federal government change the picture on the one dollar bill.  They believe in truth in portraiture, especially for a president who is famous for not telling a lie.

Virginia’s desire to preserve the reminders of its past has led to the development of a project called “Virginia’s Civil War Trails.”   It’s a state-wide program that guides tourists through the battlefields of the War Between the States.  If you call 888-CIVIL WAR, you’ll receive a pack of information that will guide you through the historic landmarks.  Mitch Bowman is the director of the project.

MITCH BOWMAN:  Well, here we’re standing on Malvern Hill, and it’s representative of a lot of Virginia’s Civil War sites; that is to say this was an old Native American site, the Arahoutek Indians here, part of the Confederacy of Tribes several centuries ago; that John Smith found when he first sailed up the James River about half a mile behind us.  Then Marquis de Lafayette camped here in the summer --

BURT WOLF:   It’s like a hot neighborhood!

MITCH BOWMAN:  Exactly!  Well, it’s a very high plateau, Malvern Hill is, about 150 feet above sea level.  In the summer of 1862 the last major battle of the Peninsula Campaign was fought right where we’re standing. Burt.  It was a day very similar to today, quite hot and humid, the first of July 1862.  And it was in parade-ground formation, because these Union troops were not even dug in, nearly 30 cannon were lined up on this ridge, firing back down the half-mile field directly in front of us.

BURT WOLF:   The Confederate troops were coming up this way?

MITCH BOWMAN:  Exactly right.

BURT WOLF:   Confined in by this formation on either side.

MITCH BOWMAN:  Well, very, very true.  And going back to the layering of history on this site, both sides, on the east and west, dropped dramatically down into swampy marshland.

BURT WOLF:   So the only way was to come right up this way.

MITCH BOWMAN:  Exactly.

BURT WOLF:   And the cannons were here.

MITCH BOWMAN:  And the cannons were here.  And because of the swampland, the Confederates were unable to employ their artillery properly.  And keeping in mind, this was the sixth battle of that week, known as the Seven Days Campaign.

There were nearly 8,000 casualties on this day’s battle, roughly 5,000 on the Confederate side, 3,000 on the Union side.  And a commander noted, looking at the field, after the battle, that it had a singular “crawling” effect.  There were nearly 5,000 wounded and dying troops out here on the field in front of us.  And you can imagine 5,000 people out there lying down right now today, and if they were crawling it gave the whole plateau, the whole field almost a “moving” kind of feeling to it.  So it’s really just... horrific action up on what is today a very peaceful spot.  And I think the visitor traveling along our trails, having seen the five battlegrounds within this week before they get here to the sixth one, gets a really profound sense of that continuity, that progression.

Another example of Richmond’s desire to preserve its past is the Jefferson Hotel.  The Jefferson opened in 1895 and has been part of Richmond’s social life ever since.

At the center of the hotel’s Palm Court lobby is a lifesize marble statue of Thomas Jefferson. It stands beneath a 35-foot Tiffany stained-glass skylight. Next door is the Rotunda.  It’s an extraordinary room. It has a 70-foot-long ceiling decorated with a reproduction of a Tiffany skylight.  The Rotunda and the Palm Court are connected by the Grand Staircase. The word around town is that this staircase was used as the model for the one in “Gone With The Wind.”

At the top of the staircase is the Lemaire restaurant. It was named after Etienne Lemaire, who was the maitre d’ at the White House during the years when Thomas Jefferson was the President of the United States. The restaurant specializes in updated versions of traditional Southern recipes... a classic Virginia spoonbread... oysters and clams on a bed of sautéed spinach... striped bass with cabbage and English peas... and honey-glazed roast tenderloin of pork.

The Jefferson Hotel is in Richmond’s downtown area... which is a good place to begin a short tour of some of Richmond’s neighborhoods. Church Hill has St. John’s Church, which was built in 1741. This was the church where Patrick Henry said “give me liberty or give me death.”

During the 1800s Shockoe Slip was a warehouse district. Today it is the nighttime neighborhood. 

Carytown is a good spot for walking, shopping, visiting museums and galleries, or seeing a movie at the Byrd, a restored  movie house from the thirties, where a ticket costs 99 cents... which is “as good as it gets.”

There is a general belief that you haven’t completed your tour of Richmond until you’ve toured Monument Avenue. It’s a wide boulevard with monumental statues in the center. You will encounter generals... and the president of the Confederacy... a scientist... and a tennis star -- Arthur Ashe.

After which you could be “served” a good meal at Millie’s Diner. Millie’s is in the historic Kullman diner that was originally built in 1941 for neighborhood factory workers.  It’s packed with lovers of good food and good music.  They have a great jukebox.  We had Millie’s original signature dish called Devil’s Mess -- peppers, onions, eggplant, and hot Italian sausage, stewed with curry and pan-fried eggs.  And for dessert, a peanut butter cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwich.

Fanning out from Monroe Park are a series of streets that have come to be known as The Fan District. It may well be the largest intact Victorian neighborhood in North America -- over two thousand townhouses designed by many different architects of the time. 

As you travel through the Fan you can’t help noticing all the flags in front of the houses. In a town that holds tight to its traditions, anything that might seem faddish would definitely be out. But house flags in Richmond have become a tradition... and it only took twenty-five years. The person responsible is Millie Jones, whose business is called Festival Flags.  And that’s the flag that started it all. 

MILLIE JONES:  The “It’s A Boy” was the flag that I hung out for the birth of our son, Jonathan.  And when I did, of course, everyone came by to say “Oh my goodness!  What a wonderful way to announce the birth of a child!”  And then you see the progression of his life throughout -- when he was twelve... when he was twenty-one... and, of course, his confirmation with the butterfly flag.  And then people would call up and say, “Would you make one of those for me?  That is just the neatest thing I’ve ever seen!”  And that’s really how it started.

BURT WOLF:  How many flags do you make a year?

MILLIE JONES:  Oh, upwards of ten thousand.  It just simply depends.  We do a great deal of custom design work, but we also do this mass-produced work as well.  And we’re strictly made right here, you know.  We do not import.  And we are made right here in Richmond, Virginia.

BURT WOLF:  Pick out one that you like.

MILLIE JONES:  I like this one especially here.  This is apple blossoms.  And we have wonderful dogwoods, of course.  Virginia is known for its beautiful dogwood.  And, of course, the hot summertime -- the sunflower is fabulous.  Celebrate the cow, right?  Then, of course, I think we’re overtaken by squirrels in Richmond, but this one is done for several different reasons.

BURT WOLF:  Why do you think people like flags?

MILLIE JONES:  Well, because they make you happy.  They’re very colorful; they make you ask questions.  Flags are a reason; flags are a marker; flags are for celebration.  And that’s exactly what we have.  We have reasons for celebration, and that’s why people love them.

Another Richmond area that has been able to preserve some amazing material is the Jackson Ward District. At the beginning of the 1900s Jackson Ward was the center of one of our country’s most successful African-American business communities. It is home to Richmond’s Black History Museum, and its director, Brian Little.

BRIAN LITTLE:  The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia is a place that’s a repository for the life struggles and accomplishments of African-Americans within Virginia. We receive about 17,000 visitors a year; we have different types of exhibits -- art shows, history, cultural programs, and several different other types of offerings to the community. Jackson Ward is the birthplace of black capitalism.  It was once the black Wall Street of America.  Looking at the 1920s, 30s and 40s, we find black entreprenurialship here in this Jackson Ward community.

One of the inspirational figures in this business community was a woman named Maggie Walker.  Her home in Jackson Ward is a major attraction.  At the turn of the century she became the first woman millionaire, and the first black president of an American bank.

BRIAN LITTLE:  Maggie Walker’s quite a unique person.  She wanted to start a business, she went into a white bank for a loan and she was declined the loan.  And she was a woman who believed that “No” was not the right answer for her.

BURT WOLF:  I love her!

BRIAN LITTLE:  So she decided that she wanted to pull from the community and start her own business by empowering the community to begin a savings and loan bank, if you will, the Saint Luke’s Pennies and Savings Bank.   She decided to corral the community together and to get everyone to bring their pennies -- not dollars, not nickels, not quarters -- to her bank to begin a savings account.  And she took from one cent to ten cents to ten dollars or what have you, and she turned those pennies into dollars, which later began a great investment for the community. So, she empowered this community by using her own techniques and her own principles of business to teach others -- young and old -- how to invest their dollars so that one day they can begin to purchase land, purchase houses, start their own businesses, and that sort of thing.  And when we look at Jackson Ward as the birthplace of black capitalism, we begin to see how her principles play into the development of this community. ... The community’s being revitalized; we have a project right now that the City Manager and the City Council has approved entitled “Vision 2000,” which allows the community to reinvest in its own historic properties.  We have properties that are being renovated on a daily basis; as we look at the community we start to see persons -- for example, who are refurbishing their houses and making them, restoring them back to their original flair and original architecture, peeling off the paint to find out what’s underneath... all of this is being part of the whole revitalization of Jackson Ward.

As I mentioned earlier, Richmond is here because of the James River and the James River Falls. For centuries the river was the most important means of getting around. And it can still give you an interesting trip. You can take it on the old paddlewheel steamer, the Annabel Lee, or on an even earlier form of transportation, the raft. The Richmond Raft Company has a city franchise for rafting trips right in the center of town. They’ll supply you with all the gear you need and a trained guide. The objective is to give people a close look at the beauty of the falls and a better understanding of this natural resource. 

Richmond is a city of traditions, but it’s important to remember that its oldest traditions include being a great commercial center and a cultural capital. Today Richmond is home to twelve of Fortune Magazine’s 1000 largest companies. The English businessmen of the early 1600s who put up the original money for the exploration of Virginia would love what’s happening here now.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief visit to Virginia, and that you will join us next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Tampa Bay, Florida - #107

Tampa Bay sits on the west coast of Florida, facing the Gulf of Mexico.  It is a significant business center... a major port... and a resort.  It is at the center of a multi-city metropolis that includes Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. Native tribes had been living in the area for thousands of years when the first European explorer arrived in 1528. One of the expedition’s officers described Tampa Bay as “the best port in the world.”

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And right after that, nothing much happened for about three hundred years.  Then in 1821 the United States government took over... and nothing happened again.  The real beginnings were in the 1890s, when a visionary railroad industrialist by the name of Henry Plant built a railroad line connecting this area with the northeast and the midwest. The Tampa Bay began to develop and Henry helped it along by building the city’s first great hotel.

It’s a Victorian palace in Moorish revival architecture, which he called The Tampa Bay. Today it’s part of the University of Tampa, but its silver minarets and gold crescents have become a symbol of the city.  Some of the original rooms have been restored, so you can see what a deluxe hotel was like during the 1890s. 

The original Tampa Bay fishing village that had been built by the Spanish and the Cubans was eventually turned into the Hyde Park district. Today it is home to some of Tampa’s wealthiest families and finest shops. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Shopping is always a somewhat surreal experience for me but the real Surrealism is here at the Salvador Dali Museum, which has the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by the Spanish Surrealist.

Born in 1904, he was given his first one-man show when he was only twenty-one.  Soon after, he joined the Surrealists, who preferred to deal with dreams rather than conventional imagery. But Dali went one step further:  he declared that he was not just a Surrealist painter but was himself surreal.  By the time of his death in 1989 Dali, his distinctive mustache, his publicity events and his extraordinary talent gave many people the feeling that he was, indeed, something beyond real.

You might also like to stop into the Aquarium, which focuses on the ecosystems of Florida. There’s a self-guided tour that takes the visitor through four different aquatic environments -- from cypress swamps and bogs to a mangrove forest and a salt grass marsh. 

If, however, you prefer to see nature in the wild, take a twelve-mile drive north of downtown and pay a visit to Canoe Escape.   It’s a quiet adventure through a 16,000 acre wilderness park, where you can enjoy the beauty of the Hillsborough River and discover the local wildlife.  Canoeing gives you a perfect opportunity to paddle back in time and experience the river as it was seen by the original natives.

Another few minutes and you will be on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.  The Tampa Bay area has two of the top ten public beaches in the world -- over thirty-five miles of powder-white sand... gentle surf... and the Guinness Book record for the most consecutive days of sunshine -- seven hundred and sixty-eight.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Tampa’s port and its easy access to North America and the Caribbean made it an ideal site for commercial activity. One of the first men to realize this and take advantage of it was a man named Vicente Martinez Ybor, who set up a cigarmaking factory at the edge of Tampa in 1886.

By the turn of the century the area became known as Ybor City. And it was the cigar manufacturing center of the world. One hundred-fifty factories produced more than 100 million hand-rolled cigars each year. Today, the center of Ybor City is a National Historic Landmark District.  Rosann Garcia is the president of the Ybor City Museum Society. She also offers customized historic tours.

ROSANN GARCIA:   This is a community that was founded by immigrants that came here to work in the cigar industry, and their imprint is still evident today -- Spanish, Italian, Cubans, Romanian Jews and Germans.  Mr. Ybor found out about this location from a friend, Mr. Guttierrez, a colleague of his who was looking for guava trees in this area, but said to Ybor, “We don’t see any guava trees, but we do -- I see there potential for your cigar industry.  Since you have to move out of Key West and Cuba because of labor problems, come and take a look at Tampa.”

These are the casitas, or the cigar workers’ houses.  In order to lure the cigar workers to Tampa, the cigar manufacturers decided that they needed to offer something they wouldn’t have in Cuba, and that was single-family residential homes that they could rent to own.  So thousands and thousands of these casitas, or cigar workers’ houses were built throughout Tampa.  One of the things that’s unique about small cities at the beginnings is the home delivery of fruits and vegetables and fish and whatever.  So bread was delivered and placed on this nail outside the front door.

BURT WOLF:   (over)  They just slapped the bread against it?

ROSANN GARCIA:  Exactly.  Slapped a three-foot long Cuban bread --

BURT WOLF:   -- kept it off the floor... I love it!

ROSANN GARCIA:  Sure.  Well, Burt, the cigar capitol of the world is still alive.  And we have cigar shops throughout Ybor City, hand-rolling cigars, bringing in the handmade cigars from Central America, and I want to take you into a shop that’s very typical of the Ybor City cigar shop.  Another really unique feature about this is that you can get your hair cut , get a cigar and enjoy the afternoon.

BURT WOLF:   Barber shop and cigar store.

ROSANN GARCIA:  All in one.  The cigar label art was very important to attract the buyer.  Some themes would have been concentrating on animals, or presidents, flowers, and of course the very beautiful, sexy women, because that was certainly of interest to the male smokers... very handsome men for the ladies’ cigars --

BURT WOLF:   I like things to be balanced, that’s good...

ROSANN GARCIA:  Mm-hmm.  There’s the very beautiful Tampa label that does feature the minarets in the Tampa Bay Hotel, and some beautiful foreground shots of the beach and water, you know, just to give you a feeling of the area.  The most important person in the cigar industry was El Lector -- The Reader.  

BURT WOLF:   He would sit in the middle of the room and read to all the people who were rolling the cigars.

ROSANN GARCIA:  Yes.  He educated them about current events and world events, and in the afternoon he read novels and poetry.  So people who might have been illiterate were very educated and cultured, and could discuss with each other what they heard for the day.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The same ethnic groups that lived in Ybor City a hundred years ago -- the Spanish, the Cubans, and the Italians -- are still here, and their traditional ways of eating and drinking are still part of their everyday life.  But in those hundred years of working and living next to each other, a lot of recipes have been exchanged. 

This is the La Segunda Bakery, which is being run by the third generation of the Moré family.  They are famous for their Cuban-style Palmetto Bread. 

RAYMOND MORÉ:  If you notice, they’re rolling it out, and they have to work it very extensively to get the gas out of it.  But it’s very pliable then; they roll it out to thirty-six inches, they bring it here and then they put the palmetto strips on it.

BURT WOLF:   Why do they put the... palmetto?  From the tree?

RAYMOND MORÉ:  It’s a bush that grows about five feet, and it’s a weed in Florida, so we have people that pick it fresh every day and bring it in.  Nobody cares, nobody wants it.

BURT WOLF:   And what does it to to the bread?

RAYMOND MORÉ:  Well, the only thing it does, if you notice it retains moisture underneath; it sticks to the bread.  And once the bread has dried and creates a crust, it goes into the oven, it’s got to try to expand.  And all this does is forms a weak spot so it can tear and actually blossom up like a flower.  Just retains moisture is the only thing.

BURT WOLF:   (over)  Nice!  No flavor.

RAYMOND MORÉ:  No flavor.

BURT WOLF:   Just so you don’t get a --

RAYMOND MORÉ: -- a big broomhandle-looking stick.  It lets it blossom out.

A Spanish family, famous for its Cuban bread, and take out pizza. Ybor City on a plate.

And while you’re in the neighborhood you might like to stop into The Tropicana for a typical Ybor City Cuban breakfast.  This is the town’s morning hangout, and an ideal spot to meet the local community.

BURT WOLF:   What is a Cuban breakfast?

MAN # 1:  It’s cafe con leche with Cuban toast.

MAN # 2:  You’ve never eaten Cuban toast?

BURT WOLF:   No, I haven’t.

MAN # 2:  Oh, you’ve gotta try it.

BURT WOLF:   It doesn’t sound like a very filling breakfast --

MAN # 3:  What they do, what they do is they stick the toast down into the coffee.

BURT WOLF:   Aha.  Well, we need some coffee.

MAN # 1:  This is Cuban toast.

BURT WOLF:   All right, so now I dip it --

MAN # 2:  You’ve gotta put sugar in it.

BURT WOLF:   Gotta put sugar in it.  How much sugar?

EVERYONE:  Whatever... whatever... it’s your taste.

BURT WOLF:   I have a kind of sweet personality to begin with so I’m just gonna use a little.  Hah!  So now I take the bread and I dip it in?

EVERYONE:   Yes... that’s right...

MAN # 1:  Tasty, right?

BURT WOLF:   That’s the whole thing?

MAN # 1:   That’s the whole thing.

BURT WOLF:   Bread...

MAN # 1:   Your little finger has to --

BURT WOLF:   One finger out?  That’s authentic?

MAN # 3:   Now:  the reason they do that, in the old days they were very poor and the bread was two or three days old, it was real hard.  And they’d get it soft , they’d stick it in that coffee to soften it up.  Is that correct?

MAN # 1:  Yes, that’s right.

BURT WOLF:   Is that why they used to dunk donuts in the Second World War, ‘cause the donuts were stale?

MAN # 1:  That’s right.

BURT WOLF:   Uh-huh.

As you would expect, the Italian immigration to Ybor City resulted in a number of good down-home Italian restaurants.  Bernini is an excellent example of the current generation.

But the most famous dining establishment in Ybor City is the Columbia Restaurant, which opened in 1905. The founder was Casimiro Hernandez Sr., an immigrant from Cuba who named the restaurant in honor of his favorite song about his new homeland...”Columbia The Gem of the Ocean.” These days people come in to enjoy the decor, including an unusual collection of painted tiles... the Spanish food... and the floor show.

The food at the Columbia is some of the best in the Tampa Bay area.  There are cheese and chorizo sausage appetizers, black beans and rice, wonderful paellas, sautéed plantains, chicken and yellow rice, shredded beef, flans... and a Godiva chocolate cake.

If you would like to balance the night life with a little wild life,  I’d suggest a day at  Busch Gardens.  In 1959 the local Busch family put up a beer brewery on the edge of town.  August Busch, who was the head of Anheuser-Busch, added a bird sanctuary and some gardens so his family and his workers would have a nice place to take a break.  It soon began attracting neighborhood visitors and tourists. Today it is internationally famous.

Personally, I prefer thrill rides that are a bit more earthbound.

SUSANNAH WILSON:  Our Serengeti Plain is one of our landmarks at Busch Gardens, and this Serengeti Safari is probably one of our most popular attractions, because guests can get right in the back of this truck, see these animals right up close, probably closer than they would see in Africa, and we also bring food to feed them.  Hi, Claudia.  This is Claudia; let me give you a carrot and some apples.  Now, they do have teeth, but they don’t have upper incisor teeth like a horse, so that’s why you don’t have to feed them like this, you can use your fingers.  And sometimes we’ll even try to get them to stick their tongue all the way out, so you can see how long -- it can get eighteen inches, which is a pretty long tongue.  Isn’t it?  Show him how long your tongue -- Their tongue is also, you can see, real dark.  Usually they’re feeding on acacia trees, and with their tongues all the way out all day long, it can get sunburned.  So that keeps their tongue from getting sunburned.  Our herd is an important breeding herd --

BURT WOLF:   I haven’t even put the dressing on!  Give me a minute!  I hate when you rush the cook.  How did the long neck evolve?

SUSANNAH WILSON:  Well, when you look at animals in a particular habitat, they all fit a different level, a different niche.  The giraffes are at the best level because they don’t have to compete with too many herbivores for food.  Now, being at such a level, they’re also great at being able to spot predators.

BURT WOLF:   They’re like a big watchtower, and they warn the other animals.

SUSANNAH WILSON:  (over)  Exactly.  Once the giraffes start moving, then other animals take notice and then they know that something may be coming.  And it’s neat too, because even though they’re so protected here at Busch Gardens, they don’t have to worry about too much, you can still -- you know if something’s going on on the other side of the park ‘cause the giraffes will spot it first.

THE MYSTIC SHEIKS OF MOROCCO:

“Babyface... you’ve got the cutest little babyface...
There’s not another one can take your place, babyface...
Babyface... I’m in heaven when I’m in your fond embrace...”

One more time!

Part of what makes the Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg area enjoyable is its history of being able to restore the old, while introducing the new. An excellent example of that skill is the Renaissance Vinoy Resort. It was built in 1925 during one of Florida’s land booms. The architectural style is Spanish Mediterranean Renaissance, which made it look very traditional, but it was one of the first hotels in Florida to have steam heat and the very first to utilize a construction that was fireproof.  From the day it opened it attracted a successful and famous clientele. Sunbathing was always part of the ritual, and an even tan was sought after then as much as it is now.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): To achieve the desired overall tan they used a piece of equipment called a sunbathing solarium.  They would rent a box like this, open to the sky, and for a nominal fee, take it by the hour or the day.  They would come inside, close the door --

-- then you took off all of your clothing. Nude tanning, right next to the pool, in the privacy of your own solarium. The solariums, by the way, were coed, which made the whole thing even more outlandish. 

During the early 1990s the property became part of Renaissance Hotels and Resorts, which operates more than eighty upscale properties around the world.  At the Vinoy, the objective was to highlight the property’s unique historical qualities.  They spent over ninety million dollars bringing it into shape. As you walk around, you can sense the original aspects of the building. The Renaissance Vinoy is a Florida landmark and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  It’s also a member of the Historic Hotels of America.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): In 1990, when the hotel was being renovated, the construction crews came upon a hidden vault filled with silver serving objects, each wrapped in a newspaper from the 1930s.

There is no information about the silver in the company records, and no one has any idea of who put it away or why.  The newspapers, however, date from the 30s, right in the middle of the Great Depression.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): My theory is that one of the owners was afraid that the Depression would turn into utter chaos, and the silver wsa put away as his buried treasure.   My second theory is that these were all wedding gifts that he hated, but couldn’t throw out because the person who gave them to him might show up and say, “Where is the lovely sugar bowl that I gave you for your wedding?”  Well, the world did not turn into chaos --  as a matter of fact, things around here are more buttoned-down then ever, especially in the details. 

Directly in front of the building’s main entrance is a marina with about seventy slips.  Boats tie up and connect to the Vinoy.  Electricity and water lines are run aboard. The boat is treated as if it was one of the rooms in the resort... which includes deliveries from Room Service.

BURT WOLF:   Wow -- what a lovely tray!  Fruit... champagne... it’s my kind of afternoon!

WAITER:  Have a nice day, now.

BURT WOLF:   Thank you.

The resort has six award-winning restaurants:  Alfresco is a casual spot with indoor and outdoor tables...  Fred’s is an elegant private dining room reserved for resort guests.  It was named after Fred Guest, who played a major role in getting the property restored... The Promenade Lounge for a drink or something light to eat in the lobby area... The Clubhouse Restaurant, which offers casual Florida dining and overlooks the resort’s championship golf course... The Terrace Room, which is the main dining room... and Marchand’s Grill, the Vinoy’s signature restaurant specializing in Mediterranean dishes. 

An example is this Bucatini Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes.  Executive Chef Tom Chin sautées some olive oil, garlic, shallots, fresh spinach and prosciutto ham for about fifteen seconds... a little white wine is added and cooks down.  Chopped Florida tomatoes go in and simmer for a few minutes.  And while the tomatoes are simmering, a word about tomatoes and good health.

Tomatoes contain lycopene, a powerful antioxidant.  It’s thought to help prevent a number of common forms of cancer.  They’re also finding out that if the tomato is cooked,  your body will absorb more of the Lycopene. Tomatoes are also a good source of vitamins A and C, and fiber.  And they go perfectly with pasta!

Back into the pan:  Pre-cooked bucatini pasta is mixed into the tomatoes.  Bucatini is a hollow spaghetti.  A tube runs right down the center. The salt and pepper seasoning is adjusted. Then onto a serving plate... and finally some Reggiano Parmesiano cheese.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And while we’re dealing with tomatoes, a couple of tips. Don’t store your tomatoes in the refrigerator. The cold air will have a negative effect on the taste and texture. Remember, these tomatoes were born in Florida. They like everything to be at room temperature.  And store your tomatoes with the stem and shoulder side up. The shoulders are the most delicate part of the tomato.

And for dessert... Pastry Chef Bill Hallion’s white chocolate cheesecake. Oreo crumbs, sugar, cake flour and butter are mixed together, then packed into a cake pan and baked for a few minutes. After the crust has been baked and cooled... cream cheese, butter, sugar, cream and white chocolate are mixed together and used to line the Oreo crust.  The cake is coated with whipped cream, and shredded white chocolate is used to coat the finished cake.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  With a dessert like that, it’s important to remember what the ancient Greeks said:  “The objective is not to conquer desire but to manage it.” And speaking of managing desire... 

Welcome to Tampa Bay’s Gasparilla Invasion!  Every February since 1904,  Tampa has celebrated the arrival of spring with the Gasparilla Invasion. In theory, Jose Gaspar was a pirate who roamed the coast near Tampa during the late 1700s. His memory is honored, if that’s the right word, by having dozens of the city’s leading citizens dress up as pirates, climb onto a facsimile of a pirate ship, fire cannons, yell orders, and sail up the mouth of the Hillsborough River into downtown Tampa.  At which point, the tribute to Gaspar continues with an extraordinary parade.

BURT WOLF:   (under competing marching band)  These days a parade has come to mean a public procession on a ceremonial day, and the --

Besides being lots of fun, the Gasparilla Invasion is an interesting cultural event and one of its goals is to help control desire. It is a form of carnival designed to allow everyone to let off steam... to break away and create an atmosphere of chaos... to be free... to give ordinary people a chance to show their creativity and imagination.

BURT WOLF:   (under another marching band)  These days...

A parade is essential for this type of event. The word “parade” comes from an old Spanish word which meant “the stopping.” It was a military term that was used to describe the period of time that a foreign army stayed in an occupied town. The soldiers marched through the street, which gave them the chance to show their strength. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  These days the word “parade” has come to mean -- fun!!!  These days the word “parade” has come to mean a public march on a ceremonial occasion, and the major thrust of the event is having a good time.  I hope you’ve had a good time during our visit to Tampa Bay, and that you will join us next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

WOMAN ON FLOAT:  Ohhh, Burt!  Oh, God, we watch you all the time!  Oh, wait, I gotta get a picture...

Travels & Traditions: Trondheim, Norway - #106

Norway is a modern, progressive and highly industrialized nation.  But many of the forces that drive today’s Norway go back to the ancient Vikings who lived here a thousand years ago.  The Vikings controlled much of Europe for centuries.  At one time Dublin, Paris and Kiev were Viking cities.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And I believe that the same forces that shaped the Viking period, the long winters, the short summers, the love of technology, and the desire to explore, are the same forces that are shaping Norwegian culture today.

So I’ve come to the city of Trondheim, on the west coast of Norway, to see what’s going on.  The city sits just below the Arctic Circle and was founded in the year 997, at the height of the Viking period.

I’ll show you how the ancient Viking need to go exploring in search of food has led the Norwegians into outer space to grow strawberries!  It’s no accident that the NASA spacecraft that explored Mars was named Viking... We’ll visit the site of a miracle that turned a Viking warrior into the patron saint of Norway.  At the Trondheim Folkmuseum we’ll tour an 800-year-old Christian church that evolved from a Viking house of worship... and take a look at the technique for making flatbread.  We’ll also find out what’s good to eat here.  So join me, Burt Wolf, with TRAVELS AND TRADITIONS in Trondheim, Norway.

The earliest Vikings lived here in Norway peacefully for thousands of years.  But by the late 700s there were more Vikings than the land could support.  Only three percent of Norway can be used for farming.  The winters are long.  The summers are short.  The Vikings needed food and they decided to get it by raiding.  Their attacks were devastating.  Their intention was to gain a reputation for brutality.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And the bad press was a good thing.  When a village heard that the Vikings were coming for a visit, they would pay them off to go away.  When a Viking warrior got ready for battle, he would put on a bearskin shirt and work himself up into a frenzy.  The bearskin shirt was known as a berserkir, and working himself up into a frenzy was known as going berserk.  From the late 700s until about 1050 the Vikings and their berserk behavior dominated much of European history.

They controlled large parts of England and Ireland.  They were all over Scandinavia, Russia, and the Mediterranean.  In the middle of the 800s they took Paris.  The part of France that is called Normandy gets its name because it belonged to the Vikings, the North men.

Historians officially mark the end of the Viking period as the year 1030.  That was the year of the Battle of Stiklestad, which took place on these fields.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Olaf Haraldson was one of the more powerful kings of the time but he wanted to be the most powerful king.  He also had a second agenda.  He had converted from paganism to Christianity and he was spreading the faith.  Unfortunately, he was spreading it with his sword, which made him extremely unpopular with the local chieftains.  When he marched into this valley with his army of 3,000 men, he was greeted by the locals who had 7,000 men.  Olaf never had a chance.

Olaf lost the battle and his life, but in the end, he won the war.  His son Magnus was able to unite the tribes and become the ruler of all of Norway.

After the battle, King Olaf’s body was taken away from the fields of Stiklestad and buried near Trondheim.  Soon stories of miracles began to circulate.  They centered around the area where Olaf was buried.  So one year after Olaf’s death his body was dug up in the presence of Norway’s most prominent people.  The legend says that he was as handsome as the day he was buried and his beard and hair had continued to grow... a miracle!  Olaf was canonized and became St. Olaf, “The Eternal King of Norway.”

Today the seat of his followers is Trondheim Cathedral.  Olaf had been buried right here, at the exact spot where the high altar now stands.  And the legend says that a holy spring came up from the earth at that very point.  Pilgrims came from all over to venerate Olaf and to drink the holy water of the spring.

TOVE SOREIDE:  And they started to build the church about forty years after Olaf’s death, and it took about 250 years to complete it.  The best kept part of the cathedral today is the octagon -- the place where the high altar is standing.  And the octagon has eight walls and was built around the shrine, standing in the middle with Olaf in it.  And the number eight symbolizes eternity because Olaf was Norway’s eternal king, and he was Norway’s most important martyr.

This is the famous baroque organ which was built in Germany by an organ builder called Johann Joaquin Wagner in Brandenburg in 1740, and it has recently been restored and now organists from all over the world come to Trondheim and they make records and they give concerts, and the sound is exactly as in Bach’s own time.

Today, this is the national shrine of Norway.  This is also the coronation church of our country, and all Norwegians feel that this is the most sacred place in our country.

The cathedral of Trondheim is at the center of Norway’s religious history, but it is also part of Norway’s gastronomic saga.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  In 1531, a Danish officer sent a bottle of flavored liquor here.  He sent it to the Archbishop with a note saying it would cure any internal illness.  Herbs were the medicine of the time and alcohol was used to extract their medicinal properties.  The Archbishop was so pleased with the results that he became the founder of the distillery business in Norway.

The church recommended that farmers start growing potatoes which were very nutritious.  The farmers soon realized that they could distill alcohol from those potatoes.  The potato became known as the “Nordic grape” and the liquor became known as Aquavit -- “the water of life.”

Today Aquavit is the national spirit of Norway and it is produced by a government-owned monopoly.  It’s made with a potato mash and flavored with ten different herbs, with caraway seeds delivering the dominant flavor.  Then, Norwegian Aquavits are aged in old sherry casks.  But what makes the most famous Norwegian Aquavit brand famous is what happens to those casks.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  In 1805, a woman by the name of Lysholm invested her money in a trading ship which she sent off to the East Indies.  Included in the cargo were a couple of casks of Aquavit.  Nobody’s quite sure why, but the Aquavit remained unsold and, in fact, came back here to Trondheim.  When they tasted it, it tasted better than when they sent it off.  Maybe it was the rolling of the deck.  Maybe it was the fact that it went through a number of different climates.  They don’t know.  But they know the flavor had improved.  And today, the company takes its Aquavit and ships it in sherry casks as deck cargo on ships that go from Norway to Australia and then back to Norway.  The brand is called Linie; it means “the line,” and it’s a reference to the fact that the Aquavit crossed the equator, the line of the equator, twice before it was ready for sale.

And every bottle carries the details of its voyage on the back side of its label.  This particular bottle went on a ship called the Tampa.  It left Norway on May 15, 1997 and returned on September 29, later that year.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Traditionally, Aquavit is served with beer and food.  Eat the food, drink the beer, and take the Aquavit as a chaser.  For medicinal reasons, of course.

Now that I am suitably fortified for the Norwegian winter I can further explore the city of Trondheim, which is easily done on foot.  As major cities go it has a small population, only 140,000, but it is an amazing center of history and culture.

This bridge was built in 1681 and is still in constant use.  The city is set deep inside the Trondheim fjord that runs out to the Atlantic Ocean.  A fjord is a body of water that cuts into the land from the sea.  The wooden warehouses along the waterfront are reminders of what this city looked like in the 1700s when it was in the business of exporting fish and lumber.

In the center of the city there are three wooden mansions that were built in the late 1700s.  Each was constructed by a widow as part of an unofficial competition to see who could build the most magnificent house with the money that they had inherited from their late husbands.  And it was not a friendly competition, either.  Sounds like the competition between the Viking goddesses.  This one is called Stiftsgarden and it turned out to be the largest wooden mansion in Scandinavia.  At present it is the official summer residence of Norway’s Royal Family.

On the western edge of the city is the open-air Folkmuseum.  It has a collection of over sixty buildings that are representative of different periods in the history of Norway.  Tours are given by guides like Gyda Hoffman.  She’s going to show us what’s called a stave church.  This one was built in the year 1170.

GYDA HOFFMAN:  And as you can see it’s only wood, except from the foundation here; it’s only rocks with no mortar in between to let the air flow freely, and that prevents the wood from rotting.  And thus, these churches have kept well and we can still find them around many places in Norway.  No metal was used.  Only wooden pegs.  The only metal that we find is on the door -- the hinges and the lock, made of iron.  In the inside there is only two rooms: the nave and the chancel.  And it’s a very dark room, there are no windows and no benches to sit on.  It was common that people would stand or kneel when they came to church.  We’re now in the holy chancel in this church.  This is where the priests would perform the communion and the mass in Latin.  You see the narrow passage or the narrow opening here from the nave into the chancel, symbolizing the narrow path into the kingdom of God.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The Folkmuseum is also a good place to take a look at an ancient Norwegian tradition called rosemaling.  The Vikings were great wood carvers and that was the basis for most of the furniture made in the rural areas.  But by the 16 and 1700s, more sophisticated churchmen and nobles were coming north with furniture that had been painted.

Peasants began to copy the paintings on their simple carved furniture.  The result was rosemaling, which means “rose painting,” though the designs include much more than roses.  Chests, beds, chairs, tables, kitchen equipment -- everything got painted.  It brightened up the simple surroundings and it gave the artistic talents of an isolated valley a way to express themselves.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  There was very little mobility in these societies.  A peasant’s gifted child was still a peasant’s child and there was virtually no chance for him or her to join the European art world.  Rosemaling gave them an opportunity to express their creativity within the village.  And within the village they were greatly appreciated.  Today, their work still is.  A good example of antique rosemaling will command some of the highest prices in the Norwegian art market.

One of the areas at Trondheim’s Folkmuseum is made up of a farm complex the way a farm looked during the 16 and 1700s.  The small building in the center was the cookhouse.  It was built away from the main building as a precaution against setting the main house on fire.  It was the building where bread was baked, using an ancient technique that came from the Vikings.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  As the Vikings traveled around they kept an eye out for any new technology they could bring home.  One of the things they saw was the water-powered mill.  Clearly an improvement over the little hand mills they had been using.  The large mill allowed them to grind large amounts of flour and to do it quickly.  And that changed the way they made bread.  Instead of making little moist breads that only stayed fresh for a couple of hours, they would grind huge amounts of flour and make enough bread to last them through the year.  It was a bread that would last through the winter and stay fresh, and that allowed them to bring it on their boats.  It became extremely popular, and today it is the national bread of Norway.

The dough is made from rye flour and water.  It’s rolled out as thinly as possible... transferred to a griddle in the fireplace... and cooked on both sides.  You would be hard-pressed to find many homes in Norway that still make their own crisp bread, but in its store-bought form it is found in almost every home and restaurant.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The company that makes the bread is called Kavli.  And the man who developed the original company also developed the original commercial machine for baking crisp bread.  His name was Nils Halvorsen.  His mother was a widow who supported her family by moving from farm to farm and baking crisp bread for the farmers.  It was a back-breaking job.  Nils was working in a paper mill and as he looked at the rollers that turned out paper, he figured that they could be modified to turn out flatbread.  In 1919, he developed the first machine that would do the job and won a prize.  It’s a perfect example of the ancient Viking love of good food and technology.

They’re made without artificial additives.  They’re high in protein, high in complex carbohydrates, high in fiber, and low in fat.  They make the classic Crispy Thin, plus one that’s flavored with garlic and another with onion -- two foods that were part of the Viking diet.  They’re used with dips, they’re the base for snacks, usually covered with cheese or smoked salmon, and alongside soups and stews.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the early years of this century the crisp bread began being distributed in the United States and Canada -- and for a good reason.  There are 4 million Norwegians in Norway.  There are 5 million Norwegians in North America.

But man does not live by bread alone.  So what’s good to eat in Trondheim?  The Vikings who settled here were great fish eaters, and Trondheim is still a good town for a fish lover.  As a matter of fact, all of Norway is into fish.  The nation has a very large fishing industry and exports some of the finest fish in the world.

Norway does its traditional fishing in the rich grounds of the Arctic Ocean.  The waters are cold and clean.  But Norway also pioneered Atlantic salmon farming.  They offer salmon fresh, frozen, smoked, and cut up into convenient shapes.  Norwegian fishermen are always trying to make life easier for the cooks.  They also have a big catch of cod which feeds primarily on krill that gives them a sweet mild flavor and a firm white flesh.  And Norwegians are very serious about their haddock.

 Harold Osa is an acquaintance of mine from Oslo and the Executive Chef at the Continental Hotel.  He came up to Trondheim to have dinner with me and decided to prepare one dish with each of those fishes.

He made a baked Norwegian Salmon with a basil crust and ratatouille... a Norwegian Cod baked in a pesto crust with a smoked tomato relish... and finally, roasted Norwegian Haddock on a Caesar salad.

If you visit Trondheim, I’m not sure that Harold will come up to cook for you, but I can tell you that I had a number of excellent meals at a Trondheim fish restaurant on the waterfront.  It’s in a two-hundred-year-old wharf building and it’s called the Havfruen.  The interior is nautical but nice.  They have a seasonal menu but they also prepare a menu of the day, which gives the chefs a regular opportunity to demonstrate their creativity.

Today they made an appetizer of shrimp that were lightly breaded and sautéed and served with three mayonnaise-based sauces -- a garlic, a mango and a chili.  The main course was monkfish with two sauces, one sauce made from beets and the other from snap peas.  Dessert was a simple but very tasty apple tart with sherbet and one sauce with a licorice flavor.

Just down the road is the restaurant Bryggen.  Bryggen is considered the finest classical restaurant in Trondheim.  The room is decorated in colors that are associated with Norwegian farm communities.  Bryggen wants to give their guests the feeling that are eating in a romantic country house.  The chef, Trond Kolstad, takes the traditional foods of Norway and prepares them with a French accent.  Dinner started with an appetizer of marinated Norwegian salmon called Gravlox.  The main course was grilled scallops on a bed of pasta.  Dessert was a chocolate surprise.

The Bryggen Restaurant is just at the edge of Trondheim’s Bekklander district.  It’s the old part of town and it is charming.  Old buildings.  Small shops.  And lots of good places to eat.  One of the most enjoyable is called the Kafe Gåsa, which means “the goose.”  I asked the manager, Calle Fegth and his cook Ingabricked to make lunch for our crew.  They work in a kitchen that is small and much more like a home kitchen than a restaurant.  And they cook the traditional foods that you would find in a Norwegian home.  They came up with a few recipes that use the national cheese, which is called Jarlsberg.  It’s a semi-soft, part-skim milk cheese with holes like Swiss cheese, but it is milder and it has a nuttier flavor.  Jarlsberg makes their classic, but you can also get a hickory-smoked version and a Lite from which they have removed more than half the fat.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): It’s named after Count Gustave Wilhelm Jarlsberg on whose estate this cheese was first made.  A cheese like this is very much in keeping with the gastronomic objectives of the Vikings.  It is a simple and easy way to preserve the important nutrients in fresh milk.  Preserved foods were very important to the Vikings.  They kept them alive during the winter and they fed them during the long voyages that brought them throughout Europe and eventually to North America.

One of the other foods that brought the Vikings to North America was the codfish, which they followed to Nova Scotia.  Fitting that Ingabricked combine Jarlsberg and cod in one dish.  He also made a lasagna using the hickory-smoked Jarlsberg.  The third dish could be any Norwegian fish.  The cheese comes as triangles of baked Jarlsberg that are used as a garnish.  Ingabricked is truly devoted to his national foods.

It is the high quality of the farm products in Norway that make foods like these taste so good.  But farm life here is difficult.

The farmers of Norway work farther north than any other farmers in the world and their climate is harsh.  The growing season lasts only ninety days.  For thousands of years Norway has been short of food and concerned with feeding its own population.  But things are changing.  The Norwegians are working on new sources of international agricultural income.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The final result, however, may turn out to be not just international but inter-planetary.  Following their ancient Viking tradition of exploring foreign lands for food, researchers here at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology are trying to figure out how to grow food in outer space.

Professor Tor-Henning Iversen has been working with the European space industry and NASA in the hope of getting a farm onto the International Space Station, which is planned for the year 2003.

PROFESSOR TOR-HENNING IVERSEN:  We are dealing with a lot of problems which we don’t normally observe on the Earth, on the ground.  We have a lack of space in space, and at the same time they may experience a lack of water as well.  So therefore we have to close the water and the plants in a very hermetically-sealed system where we have control over the water and the plants get the water.  Because the problem will be the same for the plant on the ground and in space:  they need water.

We are trying to solve some of the problems in space by cultivating strawberries, as you can see here.  This is the room where we’re stressing the plants before we bring them out into space, so that they can experience what they can expect in space.  When we get small strawberries like this, the plants do not behave normally.  And we also have problems with the pollination, as you can see over here.  If the pollination is not perfect, then they behave like this.  And we expect, when we come out with plants on the station, space station, that we will observe similar effects as we do here.  But we can also obtain perfect plants and perfect strawberries in here.  So perhaps you should try this one.

BURT WOLF:  What makes you think this is a good one?

PROFESSOR IVERSEN:  It’s not a good one.

BURT WOLF:  Oh.  Okay...

PROFESSOR IVERSEN:  But you can try that one first.  It’s fresh.

BURT WOLF:  That’s not bad, you know.

PROFESSOR IVERSEN:  “Not bad.”  Well, we want more than “not bad.”

BURT WOLF:  Okay.

When this system is in place on the space station, it will produce fifty times the amount of strawberries as an equal-sized patch on Earth... and that’s a lot of shortcake.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  So it looks pretty much like the forces that shaped the Viking tradition, the need for exploration, the love of advanced technology, the long winters, the short summers, and a general appreciation for good things to eat and drink are still very much part of the Norwegian tradition.  And speaking of tradition, I hope you will join us next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Asheville, North Carolina - #105

This is Asheville, North Carolina.  It’s considered to be one of the best places to live in the United States.  The city itself is surrounded by the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains... mountains that are filled with local craftsmen who are producing some of the finest handmade objects in the world.  At the edge of town is the largest private home in North America, over four acres on the inside.  The traditional forms of dance and music have been preserved and are easily available to visitors.  And there’s an inn that stands as one of the highest-rated family resorts in the nation.  So join me, Burt Wolf, for Travels & Traditions in Asheville, North Carolina.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  During the 1800s, magazines being published in the northeastern part of the United States began to carry stories about “unusual” behavior in people in distant places.  They were called “local color” stories and tended to focus on “bizarre” behavior.  One of the areas targeted for this type of story was the Appalachian region in North Carolina.

The War Between The States devastated Appalachia.  Many people ended up poor, isolated and uneducated, and they became the subject of these magazine stories.  They were presented as “backward mountaineers living in a region within, but not part of modern American life.”

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Of course, there were thousands of people in the northeast who were also poor, isolated and uneducated, but readers preferred reading imported stories of poverty rather than dealing with their own domestic problems.  The stories about Appalachia were distorted.  They focused on the peculiar, and the outrageous.

They ignored the natural beauty of the area, and the skilled, intelligent and responsible people who lived, and still live here.  During the next half-hour, I’d like to take you through Asheville, North Carolina and show you what this part of the world is really like.

Native Americans came to North Carolina over ten thousand years ago.  They were ancestors of the Cherokee.  The first European was the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto, whose expedition marched through in the 1540s.  The early settlers were Scottish, Irish, English and African.

Asheville was incorporated in 1797 and remained a quiet little town until the railroad arrived in the 1880s.  Within a decade the population quadrupled and Asheville entered a period of growth that lasted fifty years.  The Visitors Center offers a brochure that outlines a walking tour of the downtown area.

At the center of Asheville is the County Court House and the City Hall, both built in 1928.  The plan was to have them designed by the same architect... Douglas Ellington.  As Ellington’s Art Deco City Hall went up, the county officials decided that it was too flashy and they hired a more conventional architect to design the County Court House.  That story is a perfect metaphor for Asheville:  a respect for the past, living side-by-side with a commitment to the future.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  But downtown Asheville is just the beginning.  During the late 1700s, wealthy plantation owners began coming up here to get away from the low country summer heat.  And during the 1800s wealthy people from all over America stopped in.

George Vanderbilt was one of those visitors.  George had inherited a sizable fortune from his grandfather, the shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, and George decided to build himself a house in Asheville.  He ended up building Biltmore – the largest private home in America.  Today it’s an historic house open to the public, and my guide is Elizabeth Sims.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  This is Mr. Vanderbilt’s library.

BURT WOLF:  The books gave it away.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Mr. Vanderbilt was a book collector as a young boy and all his life.  So we have actually 20,000 volumes in total in the house; there are about 10,000 in this room.  We believe that this was probably Mr. Vanderbilt’s favorite room.  He actually read in eight languages, so he was quite a learned man, quite a renaissance man.  This room -- actually, there’s a spiral staircase up to the second level and a stairway that goes back to the guest rooms, so that Mr. Vanderbilt and his guests could come down to the library, not have to come through the main part of the house, take a book back up to their rooms or enjoy it here.

BURT WOLF:  I like that -- a very private little staircase, come down, pick out what you want to read and head back.  That’s quite a painting on the ceiling too.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Isn’t that beautiful?  That’s called The Chariot of Aurora, and it’s by Pelligrini, an Italian artist.  Mr. Vanderbilt purchased it at the Pissani Palace in Venice and had it brought here.

BURT WOLF:  I saw him in Venice standing there and saying, “You know, that’s gonna fit perfectly on my ceiling.  Perfectly!”

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Actually we think that he purchased the canvas and probably had Mr. Hunt, the architect of the house, design the room around it.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  This is the banquet hall.  It’s the largest room in Biltmore House -- seventy-two feet high, with a table that seats sixty-four people.

BURT WOLF:  Did they have dinner here regularly?

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Yes, they did.  And this was where they would have all their formal meals.  We actually also know that they had some informal meals here too.

BURT WOLF:  Just like in the corner.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Just the two of them.

BURT WOLF:  Yes, right in that little corner there.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Right!

BURT WOLF:  And these...?

ELIZABETH SIMS:  The tapestries in this room are some of the most valuable things in the collection.  They’re sixteenth-century Flemish tapestries, and they’re really quite wonderful.  It’s unusual to have five of the same set in one place.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  This is the main kitchen.  Biltmore House actually had three kitchens -- a pastry kitchen, a rotisserie (where the meat was cooked), and then this is the main area.

BURT WOLF:  About how many people would come for a dinner?

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Well, between the servants who lived in the house and the guests of the Vanderbilts -- when the house was full, maybe as many as a hundred folks a day.

BURT WOLF:  And that cooking was done in here.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  Interesting, it hasn’t changed a great deal.  There’s a big range -- South Bend, they’re still making ranges... and that’s an indoor grill; they’d store the wood underneath and then they’d get a fire right underneath the gridiron.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Right.

BURT WOLF:  Coffee-grinder, old-style...

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Right...

BURT WOLF:  ...hundred-year-old Mixmaster, that’s very nice...

ELIZABETH SIMS:  That’s exactly right, yes...

BURT WOLF:  Right, and an early icebox, before real refrigeration.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  And of course, you have to remember this was all very state-of-the-art for the time.

BURT WOLF:  For the time, I’m sure it was, absolutely.

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  So we’ve been through this and probably have seen about ten percent of the house?

ELIZABETH SIMS:  Yeah, I wish you had more time; we actually have seen very little -- and you haven’t seen the grounds at all, which are really quite lovely.

BURT WOLF:  I’m going out to see the grounds... and when you get here, you’ll see them.

Part of the magnificent Biltmore estate is a winery that produces a selection of reds, whites and champagne... and there are a number of excellent restaurants.  Biltmore chef Steven Adams prepared three dishes.  The first was Breast of Chicken with Rigatoni Pasta in a Gorgonzola sauce.

Pounded chicken breasts are sautéed in olive oil.  When the chicken is fully cooked, it’s taken out and the pan is deglazed with white wine.  Gorgonzola cheese and cream are used to make a sauce.  Cooked rigatoni pasta is added to the sauce and heated through... and the dish is ready to serve.

Next, a Loin of Lamb on a Bed of Spinach with Warm Peach Vinaigrette.  Loin of lamb is flavored with the zest of oranges, lemons, and limes, and a little dill... then seared in olive oil to give it a crust... and baked until done.  Leaves of spinach are tossed with a hot peach-flavored vinaigrette dressing.  The lamb is sliced, placed on the spinach, and garnished with spiced pecans.

And finally, a Sweet Potato Pie.  A mixture of cream cheese, eggs and sugar is spread into a pre-baked piecrust.  A second mixture of eggs, sweet potato puree, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and half & half is poured on top of the cream cheese layer.  The pie is baked and finished with a streusel topping that’s based on oats, sugar, and pecans.

Biltmore was the most impressive, but not the only evidence that Appalachia had been discovered.  The railroads opened up the western part of North Carolina, and travelers came in during the summer trying to escape the unhealthy conditions in the cities.  Tuberculosis was the plague of the time and people felt that clean mountain air and recreation would help protect them.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The visitors to the area were aware of the poverty in the mountains, and some of them wanted to try and help out.  Because the people in the mountains were so poor, they made all of the objects for their home themselves.  But the quality of the workmanship in those objects made them virtually works of art.  Eventually a group of people came together and figured out how to make those works of art into a business.

One result was an organization called the Southern Highland Craft Guild.  Its home is the Blue Ridge Parkways Folk Art Center.

KATHERINE CALDWELL:  We have about seven hundred members; they’re from the mountains of nine Southern states, and about three hundred or so are represented here in the Allanstand Crafts Shop.

BURT WOLF:  How do they become members?

KATHERINE CALDWELL:  Well, the members of our guild are juried in by a rigorous jurying process.  They show their slides and then they bring their actual pieces if they get past the slide jury.  They need to be from the Southern mountains -- certain counties within the nine Southern states that we represent.  When you buy something here you can be assured that it was made right here in the mountains.

BURT WOLF:  How many people visit each year?

KATHERINE CALDWELL:  About 300,000 people come through the doors each year.

BURT WOLF:  You have any idea of how much they spend?  I mean, I know that I’ve increased your volume enormously by my own spending in the last hour, but me aside, how much do they spend?

KATHERINE CALDWELL:  Well, you can go home with something for seven dollars -- you can spend seven thousand dollars in a heartbeat also.

BURT WOLF:  Oh, so I’m right in the midrange, I’m gonna be okay.

KATHERINE CALDWELL:  You’re about midrange, yep.

Another organization for local craftsmen is called Handmade in America.  It’s run by Becky Anderson.

BECKY ANDERSON:  Handmade in America is a non-profit organization, and it’s dedicated to making western North Carolina the center of the handmade object.  We took our culture, we took our history, we took the beauty of our mountains and the environment that we want to protect, and we said, we think we can make an economic venture out of this that will afford a very good living for our people and yet protect the garden paradise we live in. . . .  Well, an interesting project, and one that has created a great deal of interest for us in the state of North Carolina and across the nation has been our Cultural Heritage Trails that we’ve put together for visitors, that would take you into private studios, would take you into shops and galleries selling only American craft and featuring the craft of the region -- a great way, a great way to meet the people of our region.  Robert Steffan is a glassblower; he’s on our Trails system, has a great studio up in North Asheville.  His work is very contemporary, very unusual.  He’s a member of the guild; he’s very well-respected in the glass community here.  Don Davis is a potter, very well-known and respected.  Don teaches a lot; he has done great work for churches -- a very historic church in our region, and he’s done great huge vases for them, for their external use.  . . . We know that the handmade object, in all of its resources, and -- this is including retailing, this is including the natural materials that go into it -- it is $122,000,000 a year.  That’s the total of eleven of our counties’ manufacturing wages.  So we have, I think aptly named it “The Invisible Factory.”

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Handmade in America also publishes a guide book that will show you how to get to the workshops of the craftsmen.

I used it to find Weaverville, the home of Diane Mostrom and Fred Chase who are... weavers.

DIANE MOSTROM:  I’m weaving a cotton rainbow baby blanket.  It’s called a rainbow baby blanket because I’m incorporating several different colors in bands as I move along.  So I have to keep stopping and changing and shifting to another color.

BURT WOLF:  In an average year, how many items do you think you make together?

FRED CHASE:  Well, we print over 5,000 cleaning cards which are the cards we attach to each piece of weaving, and they go on every other piece of weaving as it turns out so we’re producing maybe...

DIANE MOSTROM:  And we run out.

FRED CHASE:  We produce a good many.  A good eight or nine thousand individual pieces.  Many of them quite small.  But over the years we’ve produced hundreds of thousands of individual pieces.

DIANE MOSTROM:  The looms we are working on Fred has built.  I do a lot of the finishing.  He does a lot of the loom preparation and the warping, and I do a lot of the business management.  So that we leave each other to our own particular areas of specialty.

FRED CHASE:  One and one often adds up more than two.  It does.  And it’s helpful to have someone to work with for as long as we work together.

A few miles down the road is Black Mountain... the home of Eddie Hollifield and his father Marshall.  The Hollifields are wood turners.

EDDIE HOLLIFIELD:  This is our wood turning shop.  We create artistic decorative pieces as well as functional pieces.

BURT WOLF:  What do the customers like?  What’s popular?

EDDIE HOLLIFIELD:  Well, the popular pieces really are the natural edge, free-form decorative pieces that show the different layers of the tree.  I search for a particular type of tree, mainly trees with burls, which is a growth on a tree.  And it can be detrimental to the tree as well, but usually there are other funguses and insect problems going on.  And I only take trees that are going to the landfill, or maybe firewood at best.

BURT WOLF:  And you’re planning a major project for the Guinness Book of Records.

EDDIE HOLLIFIELD:  Yes, we are.  We found a dead maple tree over in Asheville that’s probably close to nine feet in diameter and we’re going to try to make the world’s largest wooden bowl out of it.  It’s going to be about nine feet in diameter and about four and a half feet tall.

BURT WOLF:  What’s going to go in that bowl?

EDDIE HOLLIFIELD:  A lot of tips, I hope.

And those are just a few of the craftsmen who will welcome you to their studios.

One of the people who came to Asheville to get away from summer in the city was Edwin Wiley Grove. Grove was a pharmaceutical manufacturer from St. Louis, who made a fortune selling Grove’s Patented Tasteless Chill Tonic, the first successful use of powdered quinine in a liquid form.  

Grove arrived in 1898 and immediately saw an opportunity for a real estate project.  Asheville was far enough south to avoid the worst parts of a northern winter, but high enough in the mountains to avoid the worst parts of a southern summer.  Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House made Asheville into a fashionable location.  Grove felt that the area was an ideal spot for a resort community.  So he went over to the other side of the valley, across from Biltmore, and purchased a side of mountain.

Grove had visited the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park and believed that a similar resort would increase the value of his property.  The result was the Grove Park Inn, which was constructed and furnished in a style known as American Arts and Crafts.

The Arts and Crafts movement believed that the work of the craftsman was the most important thing.  And they produced every form of functional object from jewelry to architecture, but the movement always had a special interest in household furnishings.  The ornate style of the Victorian was rejected in favor of uncluttered lines.  The Grove Park Inn was built by people working in the Arts and Crafts movement, and today the Inn has one of the most important and well-preserved collections of their work.

DAVID TOMSKY:  What people really love about the Grove Park Inn, at least initially, is its magnificent setting.  We’re not in a parking lot in an urban environment.  We’re in a residential area with magnificent views of Asheville and the surrounding mountains.  Then once they get inside, into the Great Hall, they see our Arts and Crafts legacy.  We have the Roycroft grandfather clock, made specifically for the Grove Park Inn.  It’s eight feet tall, and its scale would overwhelm a room any smaller than the Great Hall.  The copper hand-hammered chandeliers, designed to reflect light off our concave ceilings for a feeling of warmth.  And finally, at either end of the Great Hall, these two huge fireplaces – twelve feet wide, six feet high, six feet deep, burning ten-foot logs... just magnificent.  It’s our real photo spot.

The Arts and Crafts period honored the work of the craftsman... a fact which is also reflected in the activity of Chef Jeff Piccirillo in the Grove Park kitchen.  His first dish was for a Pecan-Crusted Trout.  Trout filets, which have been dredged in flour, are dipped in an egg wash and given a coating of chopped pecans... then sautéed on both sides until golden brown.  They’re served with a lemon sauce, smashed sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, and baby carrots.

Next, Pork Chops with Cornbread Stuffing.  Butter, onions, celery, sage and thyme are cooked together with bread crumbs and chicken stock to make the stuffing... which gets packed into pockets that have been cut into two-inch-thick pork chops.  The chops are baked in a pan for twenty-five minutes...  and then they are served with a selection of vegetables and a peach compote.

For dessert, Baked Apple in a Pastry Crust with a Caramel Sauce.  Apples that have been peeled and cored are poached in water that has been sweetened with sugar and flavored with cinnamon sticks.  A mixture made from butter, almond paste, cinnamon, bread crumbs, plus a little of the sweet poaching liquid is spread on a square of puff pastry.  The apples, which have been drained and cooled, are placed in the center of the pastry squares and stuffed with sugar and cinnamon.  The pastry is folded up around the apple and sealed.  Then they’re baked for twenty minutes, and served with a caramel sauce.

From the very beginning, lovers of nature were attracted to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Over the years the region has become a center for mountain sports.  Some of the activities are what you’d expect – canoeing along mountain rivers... whitewater rafting through the rapids... mountain biking...  But as I encountered the local outdoor sports I came to one mountain adventure that took me by surprise.

LANCE HARDCASTLE:  We have a llama-trekking business, and what I mean by that is we offer treks or trips into the woods on 60 private acres in Madison County in North Carolina.  And we pack these guys up with specially designed pack systems and panniers, and fill those things with gourmet food and allow people to have a pleasant dining experience way back in the woods.

L. ALVIN BEAN:  If it’s a cold lunch, then we might be able to cut up to a pretty spot and not have to worry about packing stoves and stuff like that.  If it’s a hot lunch, and if it’s something real complicated for dinner we might need a table, so then we might go to a different place on the property.  Some people really want a view, so we go to an overlook that has a nice view, and some people like to rock climb, so then we head up to the climbing rock.

One of the reasons we’re excited about doing this is because it makes the hiking- camping-wilderness experience more accessible to everybody.  There are people that are older, or maybe they’re not in good shape, or maybe they have some sort of special needs or some sort of physical disability that would keep them from being able to carry a pack to get out into the woods, so that’s where these guys can help out.

The Llamas are some of the more recent immigrants to arrive in Appalachia, but the most influential group were known as “Ulster Scots.”  During the 1700s over 250,000 of them immigrated to North America.  Many of them felt that North Carolina reminded them of their original homes in Scotland and they settled down here.  Among the things they brought with them were their ancient traditions in music and dance.

Laura Boosinger is one of North Carolina’s most talented singers and instrumentalists.  Her husband, Timmy Abell, is a national concert performer, recording artist and songwriter.  They’ve been teaching me what mountain music is all about... and today they’ve brought along Arvil Freeman, who’s one of the great mountain fiddlers.

LAURA BOOSINGER:  Well, I call this a traditional Southern Appalachian Mountain music.  Bluegrass is something that really came along later.  It’s considered more commercial.  It came along in the 1930s, and this kind of music has been around since the roots of it actually coming to this area from Scotland, Ireland and England with the settlers who came to these mountains from those areas.

You know, you have to think about what could you bring on a ship to come over here.  It had to be something pretty small.  And the violin was of course the most social instrument; it was used for dancing, it was used for parlor music, and it was easily transportable.

BURT WOLF:  What about the banjo?

LAURA BOOSINGER:  Banjos – really it’s an interesting correlation here between violins and banjos, because banjos came here from Africa.  So if you sort of picture, for example, on Thomas Jefferson’s plantation the idea of the African slaves playing banjos, and Thomas Jefferson himself was known to be a fiddler.

BURT WOLF:  And the guitar?

TIMMY ABELL:  The guitar of course is a Spanish instrument, but it wasn’t until I think sometime around the late 1800s that it came in and became part of the music of the mountains.

LAURA BOOSINGER: And so the idea of these people coming together with these instruments, creating a whole new music that was really traditional American dance music. American music.

I really liked my visit to Asheville... discovering the Scottish and Irish origins of the music... shopping at the workrooms of the craftsmen... visiting one of the most magnificent homes in America... passing a few days at one of the nation’s outstanding hotels... enjoying the good food... and a beautiful countryside.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): That’s what Asheville, North Carolina really looks like.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it.  I hope you will get to come here soon, and I hope that you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS; I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Brussels, Belgium - #104

Brussels is the capital of Belgium. It is also the capital of what is trying to become a United Europe. And it is an ideal city for the honor. The population of Belgium is made up of three different cultural groups that speak three different languages -- French, Dutch, and German.  The people of Belgium are polite, tactful and neighborly... perfect for the capital of a new Europe, and ideal for a visiting tourist. 

During the next half-hour we’ll take a look at Brussels, and make two short excursions nearby.  We’ll sample some of the unusual beers of Belgium, including one flavored with cherries... we’ll discover why the hand of a giant became the symbol of the city of Antwerp... we’ll stop in to one of the most colorful festivals in Europe... and check out some traditional Belgian foods.  So join me, Burt Wolf, in Brussels -- on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.

The revolution of 1830 that produced a free and independent Belgium started here at the Brussels Opera House. The opera being performed had an aria in which a singer cried, ”Far better to die than to live in slavery. Away with the foreigners!” The audience took the words to heart, got up, walked into the streets, and started the revolution that got rid of the Dutch. Opera is still very important in Brussels.

To have an opera start a revolution is surprising, but so are many things in Brussels. Brussels is the headquarters for NATO and home to more than one thousand international corporations. It is sophisticated and cosmopolitan, and at the same time, filled with historic sites, cultural attractions and helpful people, most of whom speak English and enjoy speaking it with Americans.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Belgium is easy to get to. It’s right in the center of western Europe and flights come in from major cities all around the world. If you’re coming from England you can come on the Eurostar train that runs through the tunnel underneath the English Channel. When you get to Belgium you will be sitting on an imaginary line.  It’s a line that divides the speakers of Romance languages in the southern part of Europe, like French, from speakers of Germanic languages in the northern part of Europe, like Dutch.  The line runs right through the center of Belgium.

The fact that most Belgians speak two languages is constantly brought to mind... all street signs are symbolically in both French and Flemish. 

The most famous symbol of Brussels, however, is the Manneken Pis... a bronze fountain in the form of a naked boy. It was constructed in the early 1600s and there are a number of stories about its meaning. But all the stories make the same point:  the people of Brussels are courageous, they have stood up to oppression, and the statue expresses their attitude towards the oppressors.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): In 1746 a bunch of French soldiers stole the statue. The King of France was in town at the time, and he was so annoyed and  embarrassed that he had the soldiers arrested and put in prison, he had the statue returned, and then he made the statue a “Knight of St. Louis” -- which meant all the French soldiers had to salute it.

The King also gave the statue a uniform of gold brocade. The idea of having different uniforms for the statue caught on and today there is a museum with over six hundred costumes.  He dresses for special occasions. Carnival... flight training class... Dracula’s Birthday... Mozart’s Birthday... and Elvis’s Birthday.  He was always close to the king.

The museum faces out on the Grand Place, which is one of the great squares of the world. It was once the main marketplace for the city, a fact which is echoed in the names of the streets that lead into the square:  Butter Street. Meat and Bread Street. Herring Street.  During the 1400s the Hotel de Ville was built on the square as the center for the local government, and the food market became less significant.

On the first Thursday in July, the square is the site of the “OMEGANG” pageant. Over two thousand costumed participants parade past the King of Belgium. The event dates back to 1549, when it was first presented to King Charles V. 

The streets surrounding the Grand Place contain dozens of shops offering Belgian Lace. By the middle of the 1500s Belgium had become the lacemaking capital of Europe. Brussels was the center of the business and over ten thousand people in the city, mostly young women, were employed in production. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Lacemaking used up so much of the available labor pool that it soon created a shortage of serving maids -- a situation that was unacceptable to the wealthy families of Belgium. And so a law was passed that said that lace could only be made by girls under twelve.

The lacemakers of Brussels created handiwork that was considered to be the best; the threads were the finest and the designs the most beautiful. During the past hundred years the fashion for lace has declined, and today it is an item of special interest. Fortunately, there’s still quite a bit of interesting lace in Brussels.

Brussels has some of the most elegant shopping areas in Europe. One of the most charming is just off the Grand Place. It dates back to 1847 and is known as the Royal Arcades. It consists of three shopping galleries covered with glass roofs and lined with fashionable shops.

If, however, you are just looking, then try the museums. Brussels has dozens of interesting collections and exhibitions and three of the most interesting are right next to each other.

The Museum of Art and History is one of the most significant in Europe. It covers the entire history of art, with outstanding examples from almost every period.  The museum has a fascinating collection of church altars that were made in Brussels and Antwerp during the 15 and 1600s. At the time, a painter got paid three times more than a sculptor.  As a result, sculptors working on a church needed to supplement their earnings. One way was to make the carvings for an altar.

The Royal Army Museum and Museum of Military History has weapons and equipment covering centuries of European conflict... including over 300 vintage aircraft.

And even though it’s just next door, Autoworld is a trip. You can trace the history of the motor car from 1886 to 1975... four hundred and fifty cars from twelve different countries. 

The Royal Museum of Central Africa is also fascinating. During the 1880s Belgium’s King Leopold II took control of the entire Congo basin in Africa, an area half the size of western Europe, and he ran it as his private property. He commissioned this museum to house his Congo collection. If you’d like to do some of your own collecting, there are at least a dozen excellent African art galleries in the city.

At the end of the 19th century, regal architecture was very fashionable in Brussels. Brouckere Square, named after a mayor of Brussels, was at the center of the city’s social life. And the buildings on the surrounding streets reflected the community’s interest in the majestic.

A good example is the Hotel Metropole. It opened in 1895 and was designed to express the great luxury that was available in Brussels at the end of the 19th century. The entrance hall is a French renaissance foyer in marble. Vaulted ceilings... crystal chandeliers... Oriental rugs. The reception area looks as it did over a hundred years ago... polished wood... brass trimming.  Beneath the Corinthian columns of the bar are palm trees, a reminder of Belgium’s expansion into Africa. 

The hotel was also designed to express the coming attractions of the 20th century... the age of high technology. There’s an outside terrace and a cafe that were already famous in the 1800s. Contemporary designers often feel that less is more, but the Belle Époque boys who built this room clearly believed that more is more. 

The hotel also has a Michelin-rated restaurant, and I asked the chef to prepare some of the traditional foods of Brussels.

Food lovers agree that some of the finest food in Europe is served in the homes and restaurants of this city. The major influences on Brussels’ food came from the French, but you can also taste elements that came along during the years when Belgium was ruled by the Spanish and the Austrians. 

Waterzooi is one of the most famous dishes. It’s somewhere between a soup and a stew. Chicken is poached in a broth of aromatic vegetables and saffron and finished off with a touch of cream. Saffron came to Belgium with the Spanish.

Another Flemish classic is beef stewed in beer. Cubes of beef are browned with onions, stewed in rich Belgian beer, and then flavored with a touch of red currant jelly and red wine vinegar. The jelly and the vinegar give the dish a sweet and sour edge. It’s served with boiled potatoes, and more of the beer that it was made with.

A specialty of the town of Liege is a warm green bean and potato salad with a bacon vinaigrette. Potatoes and green beans, still hot from cooking, are mixed together with freshly sautéed bacon, then dressed with a warm vinaigrette. 

The Belgians’ love of cooking with beer shows up again in chicken braised in beer with Belgian endives. This is a popular family meal, often served as soon as the first endives come to market in September. The Belgians also make some of the world’s finest chocolate, and the chefs of Brussels use it to make a classic Chocolate Mousse.

These days the chefs of Belgium travel around the world and constantly modify their approach to cooking. As a result, many traditional distinctions are disappearing. But some constants remain.

Belgian seafood is always important, especially mussels. The most famous dish in Brussels is Steamed Mussels with Fried Potatoes.  Brussels is famous for its Belgian Fried Potatoes.  Until the Seventies, there were Belgian Fry stands all over town.  There aren’t many these days, but this classic -- near the site of the 1958 World’s Fair -- is still open.

The seasonal arrival of the herring run each year is announced in every menu. Belgian waffles, freshly made in storefront shops, are the most common street food. 

Brussels has also had a long-standing relationship with the cookie. And the best place to see it is the Dandoy shop in the old city. It has been run by the Dandoy family since 1829. Their most famous cookie is called a speculoos. They are a type of gingerbread and traditionally given to good children on St. Nicholas Day, the 6th of December. The word speculoos is Latin and it means “mirror.” The cookies come out of a hand-carved wooden form that mirrors the image of St. Nicholas.

When it comes to drinking in Belgium, beer is the national choice. A Benedictine monk who was canonized as St. Andrew is credited with spreading the brewers’ skill throughout Belgium.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): St. Andrew wanted to know why wealthy people had a longer life expectancy than the poor.  He eventually decided it was because the wealthy drank beer, in moderation, rather than water.  And he was right.  At the time, water had so much bacteria it could kill you.

The heat in the beer-brewing process killed much of the bacteria and made it safer to drink than water. Today Belgium produces over six hundred different beers and beer experts have chosen some of them as best of class, worldwide. Two of the most unusual are Kriek and Framboise. Kriek has a cherry flavor; Framboise tastes like raspberries. The brewers say that organisms in the air around Brussels give these beers their special flavors and they can’t be produced anywhere else.

A traditional place to taste the beers of Belgium is a cafe called Mort Subite, which means “sudden death.”  Years ago the Kriek at Mort Subite had a high alcohol content but it tasted just like cherry juice. A thirsty guy could easily drink two or three glasses... then try to stand up and fall to the floor, dead drunk. That’s where they got the name “sudden death.” This is not an elegant cafe. It is old, noisy, smoky and totally authentic. Life before things became “politically correct.”

For a look at life at the top of the gastronomic scale, you can pay a visit to Comme Chez Soi, which means “Like our place.” It is one of the top restaurants in the world, with almost as many chefs as patrons. The table to get, and you must ask well in advance, is the one in the kitchen. It gives you the feeling that the entire staff is devoted just to you.

Most visitors to Belgium, either for business or holiday, end up passing all of their time in Brussels, which is okay. But the distances between Belgian cities are extremely short and a train ride of less than an hour will bring you an additional perspective on the country. Take Antwerp,  for example... it’s only forty-five minutes from Brussels. Antwerp was built on the Skelde River, which runs out to the Atlantic Ocean. For more than two thousand years Antwerp has been a major port.

In the middle of Antwerp’s central marketplace is the statue of Silvius Brabo, and it comes with a legend.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): There was a giant who lived near Antwerp, right on the river.  And he would charge an excessive toll to any ship that passed by his castle. As an added inducement to make the payment he would chop off the hand of anyone who tried to avoid the toll. He had an economic stranglehold on the city. Silvius was a Roman soldier who had the courage to kill the giant and as a final act of victory he chopped off the giant’s hand and threw it in the river.

There’s the defeated giant. And there’s Silvias.  Free from the giant’s control, the city prospered. The textile industry made many people rich. They built one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Antwerp became a center for book publishing and diamond cutting. Great artists worked here. And everybody who could afford it became interested in good food.

Antwerp was the hometown of Peter Paul Rubens, the great 17th century painter, and his home and studios are open to visitors.  If you enjoy the art of the 15, 16, and 1700s, stop into the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. It houses over a thousand works by the old masters.

In the center of town is the Cathedral of Our Lady. It is the largest and most beautiful Gothic church in Belgium. A number of Rubens masterpieces hang along the walls.  And when you come out of the cathedral you can pop across the street to a pub filled with religious statues. It’s called “The Eleventh Commandment,” which they claim is... “Thou shalt enjoy thyself.”

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  It’s easy to fall in love with the city of Antwerp, but if you fall in love on a more personal level, then Antwerp is the town to commemorate that love in a most traditional way.

Antwerp is the world center for diamonds.  The business came here in the 1200s. Today the city has two thousand diamond companies, with over thirty thousand employees. More than seventy percent of the world’s annual diamond business passes through Antwerp, at a value of more than thirteen billion dollars. They even have a diamond museum that will teach you everything you want to know about about these glittering stones.

Diamonds appear to have been mined first in India and until the 1700s that was the only source. The criteria for evaluation has been the same for thousands of years.

The quality of a diamond is measured by the “four Cs”: Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The carat is a measurement of weight with a food reference, but probably not the reference that comes to mind.  The word “carat” comes from an ancient Greek word and refers to the bean of the carob plant. Carob beans have a tendency to uniform weight at two-tenths of a gram, and in ancient times they were used to measure the weight of pearls, precious stones, and diamonds.

In terms of gastronomy, there were three shops in Antwerp that attracted my attention.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  This is Goossen’s Bakery, and it’s very famous for their wonderful breakfast breads, and I’m gonna go and get one, but there’s always a line.  So rather than waiting here with me, why don’t you go down the block with my cameraman?  He’s gonna show you a great biscuit shop.

In addition to its other baked goods, Phillips Biscuits produces a sweet cookie in the shape of the hand that Silvius took from the giant.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  I’m getting closer -- only about four people ahead of me -- but you don’t have to wait around for this.  This time the producer will take you to a great chocolate shop.

Burie Chocolates has a monthly theme which it celebrates in various edible forms. My visit coincided with the World Cup. Burie also has come up with a technique for putting a picture on a chocolate bar. Give them a photo and they will print it in white chocolate on a dark chocolate bar.

[BURT ASKS THE WOMAN AT GOOSSEN’S BAKERY, IN FRENCH, FOR A RAISIN BREAD AND A SUGAR BREAD.  SHE ASKS IF HE’D LIKE THEM SLICED, AND HE SAYS YES]

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  What I was after was this very traditional breakfast bread; little bit of whole grain in it and lots of raisins... and this other bread, which is yeast-based also, and it has some egg yolk in it, raisins, and then it’s coated with powdered sugar.  They slice ‘em up and toast ‘em and they’re fabulous for breakfast.

And finally, as you walk around town you may notice that above the street lights there are statues of the Virgin Mary. But the reason behind this is less pious than you might expect. The owners of the building on which the street lights hung were taxed. But if a statue of the Virgin Mary was placed above the light, the tax was suspended. I could not find a single lamp without a statue.

About twelve miles to the south of Brussels is the town of Waterloo, which is thought of as the battlefield where the army of Napoleon was defeated by the British army led by the Duke of Wellington.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Actually, Waterloo wasn’t the battlefield; it was just the town from which Wellington sent the dispatch announcing his victory. Nevertheless, if you are a history buff you will enjoy a visit to the area.  And if you’ve been working out on your Stairmaster and you feel you’re in really great shape you can try the 226 steps to the top of the Butte du Lion and survey what was once the field of conflict.

I should mention, however, that from a gastronomic viewpoint the outcome of the battle was completely different. The Duke’s dish, Beef Wellington, which is basically a loin of beef wrapped in pastry and baked, has virtually disappeared from contemporary cooking, while the Emperor’s fluffy-light Napoleon is still found in pastry shops throughout the world.

The end of the Napoleonic era returned power to the old royal families of Europe. The 1700s were trying to make a comeback. Just a short drive from Waterloo is a chateau that symbolizes that lifestyle. It is called the Chateau De Seneffe, and it was built by an Austrian count in 1763. These days it’s owned by the Belgian government and it is a museum open to the public. It has a number of interesting elements. The inlaid parquet floors are some of the finest in Europe. There are ceilings decorated with gilded stucco. The entire structure is an extraordinary example of period craftsmanship.

The chateau also contains an amazing collection of silver objects, over eight hundred pieces -- one of the great silver collections of the world. 

And around the chateau is a splendid park and a series of picturesque outbuildings. A close look at a time when being a count, really counted.

Because of the diversity of the Belgian population, there is a constant desire to maintain ancient traditions that are specific to each village. One result is an almost endless round of annual festivals.  And one of the most picturesque is the carnival in Binche.

The participants are called the Gilles, which means “joker” or “clown.” Only honored members of the community are allowed to wear these costumes. On the day of the parade the Gilles get up early in the morning and spend a few hours drinking champagne. About mid-day a drummer and a trumpeter come by the house, pick up the Gilles and bring them to the center of town. The Gilles gather together and form a circle. The rhythms become more intense. The Gilles begin throwing oranges to the crowd, and everyone dances into the night. An acquired skill, both for the participants and the audience. 

So what’s really going on here? Well, I’ve heard two stories about this event. Some authorities say it dates back to 1549 when it was presented to Charles V. He was the ruler of Spain and was deeply involved in the conquest of South America. The costumes of the Gilles were designed to look like Incas in honor of Charlie’s success. Other authorities have told me that the story of the Inca influence on the Gilles is totally undocumented. Personally, I like the story. Presenting history can be like horse racing. You pay your money and you take your choice. 

Well... that’s a brief look at Brussels and two short excursions nearby. I hope you enjoyed the trip and that you will join us next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS . I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Baja: The Sea of Cortez - #103

During the 21st century, tourism will be the biggest industry in the world.  But in addition to the great cities and traditional tourist attractions, unusual and unspoiled destinations will become more and more important.  The increase in the number of visitors to these unspoiled places could easily spoil them.  One response to the problem has been the development of companies that are as responsive to the needs of the environment as they are to the expectations of the travelers.

One of the pioneers in this form of travel was Lars-Eric Lindblad.  In 1958, he began taking travelers to places like Antarctica, the Galapagos Islands, Mongolia and Tibet.

We wanted to see what responsible expedition travel was like, so we headed off to the Baja Peninsula, off the west coast of Mexico, to board a ship called the Sea Lion.  The Sea Lion belongs to Lindblad’s Special Expeditions, a company that is run by Sven-Olof Lindblad, the son of the early pioneer.

In the next half hour, we’ll explore a group of remote islands that are only accessible by small craft.  We’ll look at their unique plant and animal life and reach new heights in our search to understand their amazing adaptations.  We’ll learn the secrets of some of the smallest creatures on our planet... and the very largest.  So join me, Burt Wolf, as we explore the Sea of Cortez on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.

We boarded the Sea Lion at the port city of La Paz, on the southern tip of the Baja.  During the night the ship headed north through the Sea of Cortez.

I started the first day by watching the sunrise.  A simple way to pass a few moments, but more than one passenger told me that watching the day begin filled them with a sense of connection to the natural rhythms of our planet.  Only a few hours into the voyage and I understood what they meant.

NEIL FOLSOM:  Good morning... we’re getting a little closer now to Punto Colorado...

Shortly after the sun cleared the horizon our expedition leader, Neil Folsom, described the day’s coming attractions on the island of San Jose.

BURT WOLF:  What do we expect to see here?

NEIL FOLSOM:  This is a really nice flavor of the desert that most people really don’t realize the diversity that you have.  Most people have the conception that a desert is very, very barren.  And even though this is by definition a desert because of a lack of rainfall, I think you’ll find that it’s a bit more lush than you may expect.

Neil gave us a list of activities, and each person on board decided what they wanted to do and when.  There was quite an age range among the passengers.  One day we celebrated the 18th birthday of a young woman who was visiting from Finland.  The next day I had breakfast with a woman who informed me that she was well past her eightieth birthday.

At this point the Zodiacs were lowered into the sea.  A Zodiac is like a giant inner-tube, shaped in the form of an arrow.  They will allow us to move about quickly on the surface of the sea and to reach many otherwise inaccessible points on the islands.  A Zodiac can be operated in a way that causes a minimum amount of disturbance as it moves along.  They are the essential tool for our explorations.

About four and a half million years ago, forces inside the earth took a strip of land on the west coast of Mexico and pushed it off into the Pacific Ocean.  That strip of land became the Baja Peninsula, and the water that came in and filled the 700-mile-long space between Mexico and the Baja is known as the Gulf of California, or the Sea of Cortez.

The Sea of Cortez has over fifty islands; most of them are uninhabited, and some are so remote that no one has bothered to give them names.  There are upwellings of water behind many of the islands, and these surges bring nutrients up from the bottom.  The nutrients attract fish, birds and sea mammals.  The fish, birds and sea mammals attract tourists interested in nature.

CHRISTA SADLER:  The stuff that you’re looking at on this beach represents some of the oldest rocks in Baja California.  These are... this is granite.  It’s about 150 million years old.  What we’re going to discover is that’s actually really young -- geologically.

One of the things that makes Lindblad’s Special Expeditions special is the knowledge and helpfulness of the people who lead the daily explorations.  They are naturalists, historians and experts in the local culture with considerable experience in the locations we are about to visit.  Christa Sadler is a naturalist who explained the geology of this island.

CHRISTA SADLER:  Granite starts out its life as something completely different.  This stuff starts out as molten magma.  And it starts out way down deep under the earth, I mean like miles down.  So when you see granite, whether you’re in New Hampshire or Maine or Yosemite or Baja California, you know that this had to have been uplifted.  It had to have been pushed up from way down deep because this stuff forms, literally can form miles down.  And so that’s kind of a fun thing to imagine.  The other thing is that by looking at this granite and comparing it to other granites in Mexico -- in the mainland Mexico area -- we find out that this piece of land has actually moved north a couple of hundred miles because we can match this granite up with granite in mainland Mexico that’s a couple of hundred miles south --  just by looking at the type of rock it is and sort of the fingerprints in this rock.

KAREN COPELAND-WILLIAMS:  ...and the whole idea of a plant is to pass its genes on, and it can only pass its genes on if it can cross-pollinate with another plant.  And so they’ve developed very intricate ways of doing that.

Karen Copeland-Williams has an M.D. degree, but decided she was happier with plants than prescriptions.

KAREN COPELAND-WILLIAMS:  Here’s the flower on it -- a tiny, non-descript white flower -- but what draws your attention to the plant are these inflated seed pods.  They’re soft and cushiony and full of air.  And if we take one off, we can see that it’s got three carpels -- three parts to it.  And each carpel -- we separate it -- each carpel contains within it one seed positioned on the placenta in the center.  If you put your finger in there you can actually feel the humidity inside.

BURT WOLF:  Oh yeah!

KAREN COPELAND-WILLIAMS:  It was much, much higher than the...

BURT WOLF:  This is like a tent!

KAREN COPELAND-WILLIAMS:  It is!

BURT WOLF:  To protect it.

KAREN COPELAND-WILLIAMS:  Yeah, exactly.  And a very well-sealed tent because it can keep that moisture in there, it can prevent it from getting too hot.  I think they make great earrings.

    We’d better go and rescue these ladies from not touching the pink flower.  It’s got hairs on the leaves that are an irritant, and if you get that on the skin of your fingers and then get it in your eyes it’s very, very painful.  They call it mala rosa -- “bad rose”.  And the parents would keep their daughters from touching it because if you touched that, you would become promiscuous.  Bad rose!

CHRISTA SADLER:  ...but I want you to leave here with a sense of the story that Baja California has undergone.  Because every place in the world has its own story, and this is one frame in a movie that’s been going on for a long, long time.  And this movie is going to continue to go -- it’s going to continue to happen.

As we headed back to the ship we passed a group of pelicans who were totally unfazed by our presence.  This was typical of our contact with the wildlife.  In most cases, they were as curious about us as we were about them, and we became the observed as well as the observers.

Next morning the sun came up... the flag went up... and the joggers came out.  And so did the whales.

CHRISTA SADLER:  There it is!  Right over here... Ten o’clock.

LEE MOLL:  We have the whale back on the surface now at about ten o’clock, over in that direction... 

CHRISTA SADLER:  It’s much closer to us.

LEE MOLL:  Quite close now.  Watch for the spout.  Sometimes some whales will bring their flukes up out of the water as they sound...

Lee Moll got her degree in Environmental Conservation; on board the Sea Lion she specializes in marine mammals.

LEE MOLL:  And, again, we’re gonna see if it comes back to the surface.  They typically have fairly erratic type of behavior, and so it could come up just about anywhere.  But keep scanning in all directions, and again, look for that blowspout.

(PASSENGERS REACT)

Sometimes we’ll time the whales, especially when they go down and they dive down, which we can tell by an arched back or a fluke coming up above the surface, and they may have a certain pattern as to what their behavior is.  And so we can time how long they’re gonna be down, approximately, so we can get ready to look for them to come back to the surface.

And what they do when they feed is they’ll gulp in large amounts of water along with whatever they’re feeding on.  And then they will use their tongue to expel the water through the baleen plates and catch the little goodies in that -- well, you can think of it as a mustache!  Some of you gentlemen may understand this feeding method.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The variety of conditions that exist in the Sea of Cortez has set up an eco-system that supports a greater variety of sea life than any other similar sized area in the world.  Over 800 species of fish have been catalogued in the Sea of Cortez and new ones are added each year.

All life on our planet began in water -- and so do we.  It is our most essential nutrient.  Without water our lives would end within days.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  It’s possible to think of plants and animals that live on land as canteens, trying to preserve water inside themselves.  If you accept that, then it follows that the most difficult place for these plants and animals to survive is a desert.  And only those plants and animals that are capable of very sophisticated adaptation are going to survive.

A stretch of terrain is described as a desert if it has less than ten inches of rain during a year.  That means less water and more sun than any other area in the world.  The primary job for the plants and animals of the desert is to hold onto the available water.  Each develops its own strategy.  Some of the results are quite strange; many are very beautiful.

One of the most common techniques for conserving water in the plant world is to become a succulent.  Succulents develop root systems that suck moisture out of the earth.  They also develop tissue that stores the water they collect.  Cacti, yucca plants and elephant trees are succulents.  There are over 120 different forms of cacti in the Baja, and seventy of them are found here and nowhere else in the world.

During the afternoon I got my first chance at learning to kayak.

LEE MOLL:  And then sit down, and your legs go forward... And then you have pedals in there...

BURT WOLF:  You think so?

LEE MOLL:  ...that are used to steer.  The rudder goes to the right and to the left.  And they have to be adjusted by a little strap that’s in there.

BURT WOLF:  That strap?

LEE MOLL:  Loosen.  See the buckle?  Just pull on the buckle...

BURT WOLF:  We should have gotten a cab.  I told everybody,  “Just get a cab.”

LEE MOLL:  All right, now do you know how to use the paddle?

BURT WOLF:  Well, I go like that when I go like that and I go like that when I go like that.

LEE MOLL:  Yeah, you have to turn it.  And that’s the way it goes like that.  And then when you come out you turn it so that then this one is going to catch the water.

BURT WOLF:  What’s the point of that?

LEE MOLL:  Well, you don’t have to do it that way, but that’s the way most kayak paddles are made.

BURT WOLF:  Do you have a telephone number for the Coast Guard? Launch!

JAMES WOLF:  You have to launch.

BURT WOLF:  Me?

JAMES WOLF:  Use your paddle...

BURT WOLF:  We’re never going to get out of here.  Bye!

The word kayak means “hunter’s boat,” and they were used on lakes, rivers and seas by the northern tribes that drew their primary food sources from the water.  Archaeologists have evidence indicating that kayaks have been used by people living around the top of the world for at least four thousand years.

As we paddled back to the Sea Lion, I was struck by the fact that each day the Baja presented new opportunities to rediscover the curious child within us.

The next morning we headed off to the island of San Marcos.  There are two ways to make an island.  When there is a volcanic eruption beneath the sea and a mountain pushes up through the surface of the water, you get what is called a volcanic island.  When a volcanic island is born, it comes up from the bottom of the sea in pristine condition.  It has no animal or plant life.  Eventually, seeds and insects arrive with birds or on the wind.  Other life forms float in with beach debris.

When land sinks around some high ground or the sea rises but doesn’t cover an area of high ground, the isolated area is called a continental island.  All the life that was on the high ground before it became a continental island is cut off from the life on the mainland.  The island life begins to develop in response to its new isolation.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Every island is a classroom for the study of evolution.  When the island is separated from the mainland, all of the life forms on that island begin to modify in order to find techniques for survival.  When you come to a deserted island, you never know what you are going to find.

Here we have a group of mammals foraging.  They are one of the varieties found in North America and they are feeding upon some of their traditional foods.

LEE MOLL:  This potato salad is the best!  The best delicious potato salad.

Fortified and rested in preparation for an afternoon hike, we headed out into the interior of San Marcos.  We learned about the rock formations on the island, and some of us learned how to climb them.

CHRISTA SADLER:  When you’re climbing on things like this, it’s really important -- there’s a couple of things you need to keep in mind.  Don’t lean into the wall like this because if you do, your feet slide out from under you.  Stay up and keep your center of gravity over your feet.  It’s a little scarier; you think you want to hang onto the wall, but it’s not way to do it.  Stay over your feet.  Also, don’t use your arms to pull you up -- use your legs.  You can brace yourself, but use your legs to get up to things.  If you start pulling, you can pull the rock right off.  And go slowly, and don’t let anyone behind you tell you to go faster or you have my permission to slap them silly if they do.

BURT WOLF:  Okay, yeah.  Thank you.

VOICE (OFF CAMERA):  Uh, Burt, we missed that.  Could you do it again, please?

Christa also introduced us to some of the life forms that inhabit the tide pools.

CHRISTA SADLER:  This is a sea urchin and it’s a member of the family of invertebrates we call -- or, actually the phyla of invertebrates we call echinoderms, which means “spiny skin.”  But you can see how he’s moving in my hand -- he’s using his little tube feet, these little suction feet, on the bottom of the test, to move around.  And right there in the center is this little guy’s mouth.  It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?  You don’t think these guys can move, you know?  You see them and you just think they probably sit in one place, but they’re pretty active.  Pretty active for something that doesn’t have a backbone.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Life on the islands of the Sea of Cortez is still evolving.  Each generation makes new choices.  Some changes are for the better and make survival easier.  Some changes are for the worse and may eventually lead to extinction.  Life on a desert island is a tough game, but it’s fun to watch.

That evening we took on supplies in the town of Santa Rosalia.  Santa Rosalia was established by a French mining company in 1866.  They came for the copper and they brought along an entire church, which they assembled in the town square.  The church was designed and pre-fabricated in France by Gustave Eiffel, the same guy who put up the Eiffel Tower.  Another surprise in the Baja.

Next day at about 5 AM we arrived at the most northerly point in our journey.  The waves had been running at a height of four or five feet.  The rise and fall of the ship under the sea seemed comforting to me, but the captain felt that the motion would be a little too bouncy during breakfast.  So he shifted our location.  There is a constant balancing between the reality of a ship at sea and the vacation atmosphere being created inside the vessel.  So we turned south and headed into the Canal De Ballenas.

At the northern end of the channel we were discovered by a pod of dolphins.  They swam along with us for about an hour.

Some of them rode the bow wave, which is set up by the forward edge of our ship.  They settled onto the wave, which is constantly pushed forward.  For the dolphins it’s a free and effortless ride.

A school of small fish passing through the narrow channel attracted a mixed crowd for lunch.  Pelicans, terns and brown boobies joined the dolphins.  Each of these species has a slightly different feeding pattern so they can all come to the table at one time and no one bothers their neighbor.  The most spectacular were the brown boobies.

LEE MOLL:  “Booby” comes from the Spanish word bobo, which means “stupid” or “dunce.”  And when the Spaniards first came to this area they noticed these birds and it was easy for them to just walk up to them and catch them and so they thought that was pretty stupid and called them “Boobies.”

Many scientists believe that birds are the descendants of the dinosaurs, and that they gave up their front legs in exchange for wings.  Flight allowed them to nest in trees and cliffs, and helped protect their young  -- and that gave them a chance to survive at a time when the dinosaurs were becoming extinct.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the trip.  We have seen whales from the deck of the ship, but so far we’ve not come to a spot where we can lower the Zodiacs and get in close.  Tomorrow will be our last chance.

Next morning found us off the Island of San Pedro Martir.  It stands like a huge bundt cake covered with a frosting of guano.  Not my most appetizing image but nevertheless descriptive.  Guano is the naturalists’ term for bird droppings, and a hundred years ago it was a very valuable commodity.  Guano contains powerful nitrates that are essential in the making of gunpowder.  The company that had the exclusive license to collect the guano on San Pedro Martir made a fortune.

NEIL FOLSOM:  This is also a nesting area, or rather a rookery area for the California sea lion.  All along the shoreline are groups of California sea lions, I would say probably at least 800, if not more California sea lions on this island.

BURT WOLF:  They swim all the way down the Pacific Coast, and they know to make a turn and head back up into here?

NEIL FOLSOM:  That’s the game there.  And actually, the females and the juveniles will stay in this area.  It’s only the adult males that will go as far north as the city of Seattle.

BURT WOLF:  What are they saying?

NEIL FOLSOM:  They’re saying “Let’s play!”

BURT WOLF:  All right!

 At this point we were supposed to head back to the ship -- the biggest Sea Lion in the area -- but Lee had finally found what we were looking for.

LEE MOLL:  Well, we’ve spotted some big blows of whales from the shore and we thought we’d come out and check them out.  We’re out here in the Zodiac looking for whales!  We’re seeing some fin whales which is the world’s second largest whale.  It’s going to be very exciting to get up close to these animals.  And they pretty much just ignore us.  We don’t bother them at all, they keep doing whatever it is they’re doing and we don’t disturb them or disrupt their activity.

BURT WOLF:  I certainly wouldn’t want to disrupt their activity.

LEE MOLL:  No, no.  Whoa!  Right there ahead of us!  Did you hear that?  Twelve o’clock.  There’s two whales right together.  These are two fin whales.  And one right over here.  That one’s going the other way.  Look how close they are now!  Right here.  Wow!  These are baleen whales, remember, they have two blow holes on top of the head.  Look at that!  Really close.  Try and notice also the white on the lower right jaw as it comes up -- it’s coming up right here.  Follow them right along.  Here’s one... actually, here comes the other one!  Wow!  There’s the fin, it’s got barnacles hanging off the back of it, and his fluke, you can see his fluke underneath the water.

BURT WOLF:  It’s quite amazing!  Hi, kids!

VOICE ON RADIO:  Uhhh, yeah, you might want to come over here, they’re hanging out -- a real good “tea party.”  

As our journey through the Sea of Cortez came to an end, I was reminded of the words of the American novelist John Steinbeck, who traveled here in 1940.  He looked from the shimmering water of the Sea of Cortez to the shining stars and he wrote:  ”...all things are one thing and that one thing is all things -- all bound together by the elastic string of time.”

Thank you for joining me in the Baja, and please join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Greater Miami and the Beaches - #102

Miami, Florida.  It has been described as the American city of the future... the land of opportunity... the new Ellis Island... the capital of Latin America... America’s sun porch.  It is hot.  It is colorful.  It is uninhibited.  It’s a trip... a trip worth taking.  So join me, Burt Wolf, for TRAVELS & TRADITIONS in Miami.

Greater Miami and the beaches are situated along the east coast of the Florida peninsula – a sophisticated, subtropical city on the same latitude as the Sahara Desert.  It is usually bathed in bright sunlight and has an average temperature of  75 degrees Fahrenheit.  Miami has been shaped by ocean waves, waves that formed barrier islands – waves that came in with hurricanes and rearranged the geography.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  But the most significant waves to arrive on these shores were waves of settlers.  Like the waves from the ocean they sank into the soil and changed the shape and the texture of this place.  The first settlers were probably groups of native tribes that came over from Siberia about 10,000 years ago and headed south.  Even then people were looking for a warm place and a better life.  In the early 1500s the Spanish popped in, followed by the English, then the Spanish had a second shot.  And finally in 1821, the U.S. government took over.

After an ocean wave arrives and sinks into the Miami sand, it will often leave marks indicating its passage.  And that is also true for the waves of settlers who came here.

The first major modern day immigration was made up of wealthy northerners searching for a place to get away from the winter cold.  The first of the big spenders came to Miami during the early years of the 20th Century and settled in an area known as Coconut Grove.  In 1916, James Deering who made his fortune selling farming equipment through International Harvester, built one of the most magnificent winter homes in the area.  These days it’s open to the public.  Deering wanted to create an estate that looked like it was the home of an Italian family... a family that had lived in the house for 400 years, with each generation adding things from their own time.  The property is called Vizcaya, which means “the high place.”

The old guard is still here but Coconut Grove also has a reputation for a slightly Bohemian lifestyle... an invitation to artists and craftsmen.  These days Coconut Grove’s attractions are outdoor cafes, good restaurants, local shops and just down the road from the Grove, the ever-popular Parrot Jungle.

(PARROT LAUGHING)

PARROT TRAINER:  Are you a funny bird?  Do you remember that little dog we saw?  Remember that little Chihuahua?

(PARROT RESPONDS)

PARROT TRAINER:  That little Chihuahua?  A noisy Chihuahua.

The Parrot Jungle is a well-known bird sanctuary, wildlife habitat and botanical garden.  Over a thousand birds live here, but my favorites are the birds that appear at the trained parrot show.

The Parrot Jungle is at the edge of the city of Miami, a reminder that even though this is a modern metropolis, it is surrounded by the natural wonders of the tropics.  Drive south from downtown Miami for just thirty minutes and you are in the Everglades.  The Everglades is one of the world’s most unusual environments.  When the summer rains soak the grasses, hundreds of rare plants and animals fill the park.  During the dry winter season the animals come together around the limited water supply.  Pools and ponds become ideal spots for visitors who want to take a look at the amazing environment.  Vast saw-grass prairies, subtropical jungle, mangrove swamps.

Greater Miami is a compromise.  A compromise between getting away from it all in a place like the Everglades or being part of it all... in a place like South Beach.

During the Twenties Miami Beach was a major resort.  People came to live it up... to do a little gambling, which was illegal but tolerated by the local government... to drink a little alcohol, which was also illegal and tolerated by the local government.  During Prohibition, so much whisky came into Miami from the Bahamas that the Beach was known as “the leakiest spot in America.”

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The largest immigrations to the United States took place during the 1800s and 1900s.  Europeans coming to Ellis Island in New York City, who for the most part were uneducated and poor and trying to improve the quality of their lives.  On the other hand, the Cubans who came to Miami during the 1960s were for the most part talented professionals and successful businessmen and businesswomen who feared Castro’s Communism and were interested in maintaining the quality of their lives.

They hit Miami and immediately started setting up the businesses they had back home... everything from local shops to international banks.  They also reproduced Cuban Cuisine.  One of the most famous Cuban restaurants in town is La Esquina de Tejas.  It’s run by Lian and Alex Chamizo.  It is – and has always been – a labor of love.

LIAN CHAMIZO:  The first time I saw the man that would eventually become my husband I was ten years old.  We were vacationing here with my parents from New York and we stopped in for lunch, and I remember my mother making a comment as to the young boy behind the counter helping out his parents, and how noble.  And little did I know I’d end up meeting him fifteen years later, and we’d marry, have two kids, and now we run the business together.

ALEX CHAMIZO:  Yeah.  See, Dad opened up the business thirty-five years ago, and he used to also be in the restaurant business in Cuba.  And basically what we serve is authentic Cuban cuisine.

It’s common knowledge that the Cuban sandwich served at La Esquina is one of the best in Miami... but some of the other authentic specialties include a traditional paella... a dish of shredded beef (actually, they call it “shredded cow”)... chicken and vegetables in a wine sauce... marinated roast pork... and for dessert, a creamy flan... and a poundcake soaked in three different milks.

Miami has had its ups and downs but it has always found a way to come out on top.  After years of being a gastronomic desert, Miami and the beaches had a restaurant renaissance during the 90s.  Today it has dozens of interesting restaurants, and almost all of the food reflects the history of Miami’s ethnic migrations and unique character.

For example, there’s a restaurant called Tap Tap.  It’s one of the few restaurants in town that specializes in Haitian cuisine.  It’s a dramatic and colorful place, but the question remains – why is it called “Tap Tap?”

GARY SANON-JULES:  Tap Tap is a colorful bus with all sorts of things painted on it that transports livestock, people, and produce from one end of Haiti to the next.  And what Tap Tap Haitian Restaurant is about is bringing Haitian cuisine, bringing great food to people who’ve never had the chance to try it.

Haitian cuisine is traditionally a blend of African, French, and mid-eastern influences.  The emphasis is on spiciness, but not heat.  Some of the specialties here at Tap Tap are a pan-seared Kingfish with Herb Sauce... Goat Chayotee, which is a stew made with a Caribbean root vegetable... a Shrimp Creole with the signature Haitian flavorings of  cloves and Scotch bonnet peppers... and Grilled Chicken with Watercress Sauce.

Because so many different immigrant groups arrived in Miami, it was only natural that there’d be a blending of cuisines... which leads us to a restaurant called La Fusta.

DOMENICO FIGLIA:  La Fusta Restaurant which means “the whip,” “horsewhip,” is a combination of restaurants – Argentinean and Italian.  We have a mixed grill which is very unusual, you don’t find no place.  This is a combination of experience of my own cooking Italian chef and Argentinean.  Plus we have homemade pasta with fresh tomato sauce which is the Italian side.  It’s a great combination.  People love it.

Now, let’s face it – Miami is a sexy town.  Five minutes on the beach will convince you of that.  So it stands to reason that there’d be a restaurant like Tantra -- which specializes in foods considered to be aphrodisiacs.

MICHELLE BERNSTEIN:  Aphrodisiacs are foods that cause erotic stimulation.  They’re said to come from the Greek goddess Aphrodite who is the goddess of love and beauty.  My foods are aphrodisiacs because I use all aphrodisiac ingredients and I believe that my feminine touches in the food cause eroticism and sensuality.

Salmon is thought to be an aphrodisiac because the fish has a reputation for great sexual activity.  This dish is served with caviar and truffles because they are rare... like true love.  The Romans thought that arugula would do the trick, so Tantra serves prawns on arugula.  By the 1500s the Spanish added chocolate to the list because... originally it was very expensive.

Much of the food on Miami Beach is designed to look good and make the dinners feel good... and so is much of the architecture.  Miami Beach is home to the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the world.  Art Deco got started in Paris at the beginning of the 1900s.  The objective was to take design elements used in industry and translate them into the decorative arts.  The streamlined forms in a railroad train or an ocean liner find their way into the architecture of the buildings... strong vertical lines, rounded corners, portholes, etched glass and the first widespread use of neon lighting.  During the 1920s and 30s over five hundred Art Deco structures were put up on Miami Beach.  They were Art Deco but with a Miami Beach spin.  The Art Deco here came to be known as Tropical Deco.  The colors became bright pastels.  Concrete awnings called “eyebrows” were placed above the windows to shade the rooms from the hot afternoon sun.  The objective of Tropical Deco was to make people feel that they were having fun in the sun, even though the Great Depression was going on back home.  By 1960, however, these wonderful buildings were running down.  In response, the Miami Design Preservation League, and forward-looking investors took on the task of redeveloping the area.  Tony Goldman was one of the first people to understand the value of preserving what was left in this area, and restoring the rest.

TONY GOLDMAN:  I saw a rhythm of two and three and four story buildings along an ocean street with a public park and a great beach.  A fascination of colors and shapes that had a rhythm and a connection as a family member would to another member.  When you have similar architecture in critical mass it becomes powerful, as opposed to having a piece here and a piece there from different times different places.  But the Art Deco district of South Beach is in critical mass 800 buildings all built within eight to ten years of each other.  So it’s a massive statement of architecture and a slice of time that is captured in a... for real, not in a Disneyesque approach.  But it’s captured for real.

The conflict between preservationists and real estate developers is a standard part of city life throughout the world.  And Miami Beach is no exception.  But there appears to be a major project here that has found an exceptional compromise.  This is the Hotel St. Moritz.  When it was first built it was spectacular.  By the early 1990s, however, it was closed and in sad condition.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  Big developers wanted to knock it down and put up a new hotel that would cater to the convention visitor.  Preservationists wanted it returned to its original shape.  They both got what they wanted when The Loews Hotels proposal included the restoration of  the St. Moritz to its original Art Deco splendor and at the same time the construction of a brand-new grand style tower right behind it.

Today the 100-room St. Moritz is ritzier than ever.  The original front desk is back in place, and so are the terrazzo floors -- just the kind of stuff that preservationists want preserved.  The city’s need for a full-scale conference hotel near the expanded convention center was met with the adjacent 700-room Loews Tower.  It is the first major hotel to be built on Miami Beach in thirty years.  It has a free-form oceanfront swimming pool and heated Jacuzzis, which are ideal for making large quantities of Chinese dumplings.  There’s butler service to the cabanas... a 900-foot wide beach, a selection of water sports, and some interesting food.  Chef Dwayne Adams is making a Pan-Seared Snapper with a Honey Mango Sauce.

Diced mango, diced onion, Scotch bonnet peppers and orange juice are sautéed together... then blended with honey to make a sauce.  Fillets of red snapper are coated with a mixture of barbecue seasoning and vegetable oil.  Then the snapper is cooked in a hot skillet.  The fish is stacked on top of the honey mango sauce and a corn relish is placed on top.  Some cooked asparagus gets added and you’re set.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The honey in that recipe was a light honey in a liquid form which added a natural sweetness and a pleasant flavor to the dish.  It also added small amounts of a wide number of vitamins, minerals, trace elements and amino acids, all of which contribute to your overall good health.

There are over three hundred different honeys.  The differences come from the different kinds of flowers that the bees feed on.  In general, the darker the honey the more intense the flavor.  Bees must visit about two million blossoms to make one pound of honey, which is where we get the expression “busy as a bee.”  Honey comes in four different forms:  liquid honey, which is free of visible crystals – it’s ideal for cooking; spun honey, which has been finely crystallized, which makes it easier to spread on toast or muffins; comb honey is the honey in the cells of the wax comb --the actual form in which the bees produced the honey.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  The fourth form is called cut comb honey and it’s honey that’s been packaged with little chunks of the honey comb inside it.  And because honey is a mixture of fructose and glucose it is rapidly absorbed by your body as a source of energy.  And this is a picture of my grandson Max who is four months old and quite a honey of a kid.  But he shouldn’t eat honey.  No child under one year old should eat honey.  Their bodies are not ready to absorb it.  Though as soon as he’s a year old he can sweeten up with the rest of us, though... I think he’s pretty sweet already.

And speaking of sweet things, pastry chef Alan Sowry is making a Sunset Key Lime Cheesecake.  Graham cracker crumbs and butter are mixed together and used to make a crust in the bottom of a baking pan.  Cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and half and half are blended together and poured into the graham cracker crust.  The topping, which has been mixed with a little key lime juice, is piped on top and some lime zest is added and swirled together with a long wooden toothpick.  The cheesecake is baked, and when it comes out of the oven it’s cooled and cut into individual round servings.  You can do the cutting with a well-washed tuna can if you like... and that’s it.

It appears that the same things that attract tourists... good food... good weather... lots of sunlight... interesting locations... also attract fashion photographers and their models.  Miami Beach has become one of the world’s most important centers for outdoor fashion photography and film.  They’ve become  multi-million dollar businesses.  As you walk along the beach you can see the art form in action.

And now for an art form that’s completely different.  These are works of the Scull Sisters.  They are famous throughout Miami.  Three dimensional murals that celebrate the street life of South Florida.  And here they are now – the twins, Sahara and Haydee, and Haydee’s son Michael.  In 1969, a freedom flight from Cuba brought them to the U.S.  They were on their way to New York, but when they saw Miami, they knew this was the right place for them.  And boy, are they right for Miami.  Like Salvador Dali, they are as much an art form as the work they create.

BURT WOLF:  Now, every day you’re dressed in something new.  Every day!  How come?

HAYDEE SCULL:  Every day is a new day for us.  And we, like everybody, enjoy...

MICHAEL SCULL:  They want to make everyone happy around them and around us.

BURT WOLF:  How do you decide what’s going to go into your mural?

HAYDEE SCULL:  We think about that and talk.

SAHARA SCULL:  Like the football.

MICHAEL SCULL:  Like a football team we talk about it and then we say how we’re going to do it and all that.

SAHARA SCULL:  Yes.

BURT WOLF:  How do you decide who does what part?

MICHAEL SCULL:  Well, my mom...

HAYDEE SCULL:  Number one.  I am number one.

MICHAEL SCULL:  She is number one.  She starts in the background.  My aunt does the different accessories, you know, to make the 3-D effect.  And then I work on some of the figures, and my mom also, and we exchange that like that.

BURT WOLF:  How long does it take you to make a piece?

HAYDEE SCULL:  Minimum two weeks, a small painting.

MICHAEL SCULL:  Two weeks, small painting.

HAYDEE SCULL:  And one year, large painting.  Like the bar in Mango’s.

BURT WOLF:  Was there any one work that you did that was very exciting for you when you think back?

HAYDEE SCULL:  The Queen Elizabeth the painting.

MICHAEL SCULL:  When the Queen of England visited Miami, the City of Miami commissioned a painting to greet the Queen with this painting.  And this painting was... we did something with the Queen’s portrait at the Vizcaya Palace –  that’s in Miami.  They thought that it would be an appropriate place to place the Queen.  And she’s a Queen she should be in a palace.  In the background you see the Vizcaya Palace, and she’s standing on one of those stone boats that they have and she’s kind of feeding manatees in the water with gloves – she’s wearing gloves and feeding the manatees.  And they’re kind of smiling to the Queen.

SAHARA SCULL:  Con guantes.

HAYDEE SCULL:  And the beautiful eyes manatee, look at the beautiful Queen... More lettuce, Mama.

MICHAEL SCULL:  More lettuce, Mama.

The murals are owned by important collectors.  They have a unique vision and if you look carefully at their images, your own view of the subject matter may change... and that’s one of the criteria for a serious work of art.

And if your art form is shopping, you can head up the beach a few miles and visit the Bal Harbour Shops.  It’s one of a number of exclusive malls with a collection of equally upscale restaurants.  Just one example of the material benefits of a relatively free and very industrious society.

Greater Miami and the Beaches are famous for sunshine – after all, Florida is the “Sunshine State” – but that doesn’t mean everything stops when the sun goes down... quite the contrary -- there’s a moon over Miami!

Miami is also the world epicenter for street parties.  The tradition goes back to 1915, but like everything else in Miami it is constantly reinventing itself.  One of the biggest is Carnaval Miami, which celebrates the Latin flavor of the community with a nine-day festival of music, parades and food.  It finishes off in a day-long block party on the legendary Calle Ocho in Little Havana.

Miami and the Bahamas have teamed up to produce the Goombay Festival.  With everything from the Royal Bahamian Police Marching Band… to Junkanoo parades… it looks like Bay Street in Nassau was picked up and transported to Coconut Grove.

Miami is the home of the annual Orange Bowl football game… and the Orange Bowl parade, which has become one of the world’s largest and most colorful nighttime parades.

But festivals in Miami don’t all feature marching bands and floats… Miami has developed into one of the most sophisticated arts and cultural centers in the U.S.  There are dozens of arts festivals, including Art Deco Weekend, a celebration of the Jazz Age right in the middle of the Tropical Deco district.

Almost every week some group in Miami is having a party to celebrate something… the town has an ongoing dedication to having a great time.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  One of the earliest developers of Miami described it as a place “where the old could grow young and the young never grew old.”  Interesting idea.  And I hope you have found this brief visit to Greater Miami and the beaches equally interesting and that you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS.  I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Munich, Germany - #101

This is the city of Munich, in a part of Germany known as Bavaria.  At the end of the Second World War, it became one of the most important cultural centers in the nation. It also became a city of great corporate wealth. The wealth combined with the culture and the natural beauty of the area to make Munich a major tourist attraction.

Beneath Munich’s commitment to its culture and its corporations is an even greater devotion to its local customs and its everyday pleasures.  Munich has a big-city intellect with a small-town heart.

During the next half-hour we’ll visit the most popular beer garden in Europe... discover why Bavarian maypoles must be guarded 24 hours a day... visit a palace that didn’t quite turn out the way the king expected... and take a driving tour through some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe.  So join me, Burt Wolf, with TRAVELS & TRADITIONS in Munich, Germany.

Most of the important sites in Munich can be reached on foot, and as you move around the city you can’t help noticing the fountains. There are over one thousand of them. Donating a public fountain has become a local fashion. Public fountains and public gardens have been placed throughout Munich. They bring in light, and quiet space, and give the city an open feeling.

One of Munich’s most beautiful open spaces is the 900-acre English Garden, which sits in the center of town. It was constructed during the late 1700s as a park open to all, where people of different classes could come together in a relaxed and natural setting. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The English Garden was the idea of a man named Benjamin Thompson, who was born in Woburn, Massachusetts in the middle of the 1700s.  But when the American Revolutionary War came along, he sided with the English and moved to Europe. He became friendly with the Prince of Bavaria who gave him the title of Count Rumford. Everybody in Munich thinks of him in connection with the English Garden. But I think of Rumford as the man who invented the original prototype for the modern kitchen stove -- and that was an extraordinary achievement.

The rulers of Bavaria were into parks, but they were also into music and they made Munich a great city for music lovers. The National Theater is one of the finest opera houses in the world, with a special interest in the works of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss.

Down the block from the theater is a statue of one of the rulers of Bavaria, Maximilian I. He was hoping to be shown on a horse, but the sculptor felt that for the long haul he’d be more comfortable in a nice chair. The word around town is that his hand is directed to the cafe across the street and that he is gesturing for a waiter. Along with everyone else.

A few blocks down the pedestrian street from Maximilian is Marienplatz, which is in many ways the center of Munich. The area is named after the statue of the Virgin Mary that stands in the middle of the square. The Town Hall contains a mechanical clock which goes into action every day at 11am, noon, and 5pm. The figures are performing the “Coopers’ Dance.”  During the early 1500s there was a great plague in Munich. The first group of people to realize that the plague was coming to an end were the barrelmakers, who were known as coopers. In 1517 the coopers came out into Marienplatz square to perform a dance of thanks to the Virgin Mary, marking the ending of the plague and cheering up the city. And they are still cheering up the city.

Behind the square you can see the twin towers of the 500-year-old Church of Our Lady. The onion-shaped domes were put on originally as a temporary measure, and they don’t match the rest of the church’s Gothic architecture.  But with one thing and another, they never got replaced. Today they are the symbol of the city’s skyline.

Just down the road is another church worth visiting. It’s called the Asam church and it is a magnificent example of the architectural style known as German Baroque. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The Catholic church was always interested in monumental architecture.  But the Protestant Reformation was against ornate buildings. They wanted a  plainer style.

To reaffirm the greatness of the Catholic church, Baroque architecture was introduced. The Catholic church was saying... “you want to see the majestic, take a look at this.”

And speaking of majestic, if you’d like to see how the rulers of Bavaria lived during the good old days, you have two locations. Their in-town winter place is known as the Residenz. It belonged to the Wittelsbach family, who controlled Bavaria from the middle of the 12th century to the beginning of the 20th. An 800-year reign, the kind you could have in the old days before term limits. You can see the royal apartments, the crown jewels, and an extraordinary collection of objects from the royal court of Bavaria.

The Nymphenburg Castle was their edge-of-town summer place... though they did come here from time to time during the winter when the water would freeze over and the family could practice their ice skating. We estimated seventy-six bedrooms, fifty-three sitting rooms, thirty-three reception areas, four ballrooms... no bathrooms.

But the ballrooms in the Nymphenburg Palace were not the only ballrooms in town. In 1875 Stutzel’s Ballhaus was built for debutante balls and concerts. And since then, it has been the focal point of Munich’s social scene. 

Today it is the Hotel Rafael, and its owners have restored the rooms to their previous elegance. Hanging in the center of the lobby is a work by the famous German sculptor Josef Boyce -- a giant fedora and an oversized trenchcoat with a copy of the Herald-Tribune in the pocket.  It was given to the hotel as a gift for its opening day.  There’s also a work by the British artist Richard Long, who paints in mud.  The work is called the “Rafael Circles,” and the mud comes from the Avon River in England.

The furnishings are in a style called Biedermeier, which was popular in Germany and Austria during the first half of the 1800s. Biedermeier was a character in a play who became a symbol of the responsible middle class. Biedermeier furniture is made from woods that are usually light in color. The design elements are drawn from Greek and Roman architecture and there is always a meticulous attention to detail.

One of the things that makes the hotel unusual is that it reflects Munich’s unique balance between modern metropolis and Bavarian village. The rooms give you the feeling of a wealthy family residence. Some of the rooms have private terraces that look out over the city. I was particularly impressed with the bathrooms. High ceilings, huge mirrors, marble all over the place, spacious showers, and over-sized soaking tubs. You can even soak in the tub and look out at the skyline. And the place is so quiet, you’d never know that you were right in the middle of the Old City. There’s a swimming pool on the roof with spectacular views.  And during the summer the pool is heated.

The hotel’s restaurant is a good place to begin eating your way through Munich. The executive chef prepared a five-course meal of traditional Bavarian foods updated for a city restaurant.

He started with a plate of sliced beets and apples with a balsamic vinaigrette.  The second course was beef consommé with chanterelle mushrooms and dumplings made from pretzels.  That was followed by panfried catfish with celeriac sauce.  Then medallions of beef in a dill sauce, topped with horseradish butter... and for dessert, a strudel of mango with a lime and vanilla sauce.

A tour of what’s good to eat in Munich should also include a visit to the outdoor food market. This may be the spot where Munich began over a thousand years ago when a group of Benedictine monks founded a monastery nearby. Many of the present-day stalls have been in the same family for generations. The square feels like a village marketplace, a gathering spot for hanging out, as well as eating and shopping.

A few blocks away is St. Michael’s Church. Its construction began in 1583. When it was finished it turned out to be the largest Renaissance church built outside of Italy, and the cost of the project almost bankrupt the government.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): In order to find a source of new revenue, the chief accountant for the Duke of Bavaria suggested that instead of buying beer from an out-of-state brewery, a royal brewery be set up right in Munich. And it was a great idea --  kept all the cash in town and resulted in the introduction of the first Hofbrauhaus.

The beer is served in a liter mug called a mass. If you are the designated driver you might skip the mass and have a radler, which was designed for people going about on bicycles. It’s half beer and half lemonade.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Along with the beer you should have a sausage. The German word for sausage is wurst. And there are dozens of different kinds of wursts in German cooking. But the people of Munich think that the best of the wurst is a white sausage called weisswurst.

Locals think that the place to have it is Franziskaner, where the rules of weisswurst eating are carefully followed. First of all, weisswurst is morning food. Anyone ordering weisswurst past noon is committing a serious faux pas -- one of the wurst. The meat is removed from the casing in what could easily be considered a surgical procedure. Then, for better or wurst, it’s dipped in sweet mustard, and taken with a pretzel and a wheat beer.

When you toast with a regular beer you clink glasses with a full broadside. Wheat beer toasting, however, uses only the base of the glass.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): And there’s a bit of protocol around the pretzel, too. Munich is the center of pretzel mania. Pretzel folklore says that they were developed by German monks as a symbol of hands praying, and given to people to remind them of the importance of prayer. The word “pretzel” comes from a Latin word meaning “little arms.”

In Munich pretzels are found everywhere and at all times. Usually they are presented as a bread in a basket rather than as a snack. At the end of the meal the waitress will ask you how many you ate and you will be  charged accordingly. If you visit Munich, remember to keep track of your pretzel intake. There’s a question period at the end of the meal. 

Other Bavarian specialties include a liver cheese, which is a little strange since it doesn’t contain any liver or any cheese. It’s actually a form of meatloaf that tastes like bologna. Then there’s a plate of five or six different sausages served with sauerkraut and potatoes.  Another classic is roast pork with cabbage and dumplings... a homemade pasta with melted cheese and onion... There are also mushrooms in a cream sauce served over giant dumplings... and pork’s knuckle, a very traditional Bavarian dish.  And for dessert, Kaiserschmarrn -- kind of a scrambled pancake with almonds and raisins and applesauce served on the side. Big food for big appetites, and quite frankly, all of it’s worth the calories.

Munich is also the home of the high performance automobile, and a number of manufacturers offer a purchase option known as a European Delivery Plan, which can be quite valuable for a tourist.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): I’m gonna test drive the plan with a BMW. You order whatever car you like in the United States, pick it up in Munich, and head off on your European vacation. Depending on how you work out the plan you can save up to seven percent of the U.S. cost of the car. And there are additional savings during your holiday.  There will be no costs for planes, trains, taxis or buses.  And if you have two or more people travelling together, those costs can really add up.

The dealers in the States handle all the paperwork for the insurance and registration. They’ll also make arrangements for shipping your new car back to the U.S. after your holiday.  Just head into the Munich delivery center and get your official introduction.

You can also schedule a visit to the Munich factory and see how the cars are made.

The BMW Museum is also nearby. It illustrates the history of transportation technology through five generations. The company started as a manufacturer of airplane engines. The logo represents the propeller. The museum presents the story of the consumer automobile as well as the racing automobile. And along with the cars they have some of the oldest and some of the newest motorcycles.

Of course, what you’ve really come here for is the car.  It arrives in the delivery area, and before you take off, you get a complete briefing on every aspect... sort of a hands-on instruction manual.

BURT WOLF:   All right, what do I need to know?

BERNHARD HAUSMANINGER:  Is it your first BMW?  That’s my first question to you...

BURT WOLF:   Yes.  It isn’t even mine, I’m only borrowing it.

And now, once you are suitably informed, it’s time to take the top down, buckle up, and hit the road.

BURT WOLF:   I’m outa here.

The part of Bavaria I’m heading to is about fifty miles southeast of Munich. And part of the trip is on the Autobahn.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The Autobahn is a major German highway system that was designed with high precision automobiles in mind. There are large parts of it without any speed limit at all.  It’s a place to find a balance between your own driving skills and the technology of the car. This car was designed to do up to 150 miles an hour... and here it is perfectly legal. 

Long before the New World was added to the map, the roads of Europe were well-known highways for traders and troops. Many of the roads were built by the Romans, and many of the original routes are still in use. Driving these roads will show you Europe in a way that most tourists never see.

You set up an itinerary tailored to your specific interests and time schedule.  For example, you could base a tour on the Romantic Roads of Bavaria... stopping off at medieval castles... or you could pay a visit to a gilded palace right out of a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm... or drive through the charming villages of Bavaria -- the settings for some of the great romantic stories of European literature.

Virtually every village has a Maypole. The cutouts on the pole present the occupations and favorite pastimes of the townspeople. A century’s-old custom calls for the villagers to go out into the forest in January and find the finest spruce tree, cut it down and guard it day and night until May 1st, when it is erected in the center of the town. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The reason for the guards is to protect the Maypole from being stolen by a neighboring village. If that happens, the pole has to be ransomed, and some of the ransoms can get pretty bizarre.  A recent ransom consisted of 120 liters of beer, plus forty servings of roast pork with cabbage and dumplings. The folklore around the Maypole says that if you live within sight of the Maypole you will be protected from evil spirits and have lots of good luck.

You can also base a driving tour on the Garden Roads, which will show you the horticultural centers of Europe.  Or chart a course based on good eating that will transport you from one great restaurant to another.  Or base your trip on the Mountain Roads... serpentine strips... deep passes... beautiful scenery... and routes designed to challenge your driving skill.

The first production cars started coming off assembly lines just over a hundred years ago, and since then they have changed the world. We could easily look back at the 20th Century and describe it as “The Age of the Automobile.”

The automobile was one of the first high-priced products for the mass market. Most people didn’t have the money to buy one. So the automobile manufacturers developed installment purchasing. And for the first time, it became acceptable, even fashionable for the average person to go into debt.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The gasoline companies introduced credit cards for the purchase of their products, so you could increase your indebtedness at many points along the road. And how we used and misused our automobiles stimulated the growth of the insurance companies.

The automobile also changed the economics of real estate. Land that had been too far away from cities to be valuable soon became high-priced because the automobile made these places accessible. Welcome to the suburbs.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The automobile brought us the motel, fast food restaurants, the drive-up shopping mall and the drive-up bank.  As a matter of fact, it brought us the drive-up everything.

The world became laced with highways.  The cities changed their shape to accommodate the needs of the car and the driver.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): The automobile on the open road created a more open society. Teenagers in love, previously confined to the front porch, suddenly discovered an ideal spot for the rituals of mating.

The automobile even affected our DNA and changed the genetic pool. In the past, most marriages took place between people who lived within walking distance.  Since the introduction of the car, people have been courting over hundreds of miles.

For many people the car is an extension of their desire for power, adventure and romance. But lots of real power, adventure and romance can involve lots of real danger. We may want to experience the edge of life like our heroes, but most of us don’t want to experience the risks.

Manufacturers know that -- and they are, in their own way, trying to help. They offer us objects that represent the experience. Now we can skip the peril and just purchase the product. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Can’t make this year’s climb on Mount Everest? Well... wear the boots. Missed your opportunity to learn how to fly a jet plane? Get the watch. And if we can’t live like James Bond, well, at least we can drive his car.

The way the product is advertised stamps it with an image. And when we buy that product, we stamp the image on ourselves.

Most of the time the automobile only gets to live out its image in advertising, but the European Delivery Plan is at least one way to buy a car and get a fair shot at living out the dream of performance, adventure and romance, surrounded by some of Europe’s most beautiful scenery.

Chiemsee is a lake. It’s the largest lake in the district of Chiemgau, and known as the Bavarian Sea. There are a number of islands in the lake which can be visited with a tour boat that runs up and back throughout the day.  For me, the most interesting of the islands is Herrenchiemsee... the home of one of the most unusual palaces in Europe.

In the middle of the 1800s, Ludwig the Second became King of Bavaria. But Ludwig was not into power or politics. His thing was palaces. And while his money lasted he built some beauties. This was the last of his palaces. It’s called Herrenchiemsee.

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA): Ludwig had visited the palace of Versailles just outside of Paris and Herrenchiemsee was his version of Versailles.

Sandra Moder is one of the guides and she took me on a tour of the palace.

SANDRA MODER:  So this is the main entrance of the palace.  Herrenchiemsee Palace was built by King Ludwig the Second of Bavaria from 1878 to 1885.  Seven years is a very short time to build a palace like this, and you can probably imagine that the whole palace could not be finished in only seven years.  So only twenty out of seventy rooms are finished, fifty are unfinished.

BURT WOLF:   Seventy rooms, twenty finished, fifty unfinished.

SANDRA MODER:  Right.

BURT WOLF:   Why is that?

SANDRA MODER:  That’s because the king ran out of money; he had two other palaces built before, and so the king simply ran out of money in 1885, one year before he died, and so they had to stop building.

BURT WOLF:   I’m glad to see that somebody else is bad with budgets.

SANDRA MODER:  And you can see sixteen different kinds of marble in here.  There are more than forty different kinds in the whole palace, but only the floor, the stairs, and the fountain are made of real marble.  And everything else that you can see on the walls -- that is fake.  And you can see on the doors, that is just gold paint, because there are only about nine pounds of real gold in the whole palace.  So almost everything that you can see on the doors and the walls -- that’s only gold paint. . . .  Well, this is the “Table Which Sets Itself...”

BURT WOLF:   “The Table That Sets Itself”?

SANDRA MODER:  Yes...

BURT WOLF:   Okayyy...

SANDRA MODER:  ...because underneath this table there’s a huge construction made of iron, so you can lower the whole table down there.  The servants were supposed to set it there, and they would bring it back up here so that King Ludwig the Second, [who] was a very shy person, could have dinner here all by himself without being disturbed by anybody or having any servants around him.

BURT WOLF:   Amazing.

SANDRA MODER: So this is the king’s bathtub, totally made of marble.  It is twenty-one feet wide, almost six feet deep, and they’d fill about sixty thousand liters of water in it.  The water was supposed to be pumped in there from the lake, and then was supposed to be heated by steam from underneath. . . .  Now this is one of the fifty unfinished rooms of the palace.  It was supposed to look just like the so-called State Staircase that you saw before; the only difference is that this was supposed to be the private entrance, just for the king, while he wanted to receive all his guests in the first one.  But unfortunately he ran out of money, as you can see.

This palace was built as a memorial to Louis XIV, king of France, who was the symbol of absolute monarchy. But those days had come to an end.  Ludwig, however, built this castle dreaming of those old days, of a time when it was good to be King. 

BURT WOLF (ON CAMERA):  And I am dreaming of the open road. Freedom, adventure, romance... And I hope you will be joining me as we hit the road next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I’m Burt Wolf.