Unexpected events can sometimes make or break a vacation. On my visit to Paris last summer, eager to visit the 12th-century Gothic church known as Basilique Saint-Denis, I set out on an hour-long Metro journey to the north of Paris. Knowing that many museums and other tourist sites are closed on Mondays, I had dutifully…
Category Archives: Off Island
Finding My Way in Paris
The great thing about travel abroad is that you’re always seeing something new and different. In the U. S., it seems to me, wherever you go there are the same old Walmarts, Starbucks and McDonald’s. Travel afar, and everyday life is filled with new and educational experiences, especially if you get out of the…
Fiji: A Trip Back in Polynesian Time
I just spent 10 days in Fiji and didn’t go snorkeling once. It was, as vacations go, I bit of a disappointment—it rained, hard, almost the entire time. The trip was saved by the good humor and camaraderie of my traveling companions and by glimpses into Fijian life and culture. I, of course, saw them…
Zoo history tells Honolulu stories
“The animals are coming!” proclaimed the headline in Honolulu’s Pacific Commercial Advertiser on August 16, 1916. It was the beginning of what would become the Honolulu Zoo, and included among the creatures on a steamship from Canada was Daisy the elephant. Readers of this blog might recall that, soon after her arrival, Daisy was a…
Railroads Once Big in Hawaiian Islands
Long gone now, railroads once provided much of the transportation needed by Islanders and the crops that supported them. Beginning with the first recorded locomotive run on Maui in July 1879 (between Kahului and Wailuku), trains chugged along tracks that crossed deep gulches on tall trestles, hauling their sweet cargo from field to harbor. Within…
