Category: Travel

San Diego by Foot

August 31, 2015

Since I was 15 years old, I have wanted to see California. A couple of decades later, I am flying back east after my first vacation to the Golden State.

My husband and I spent about three days in the San Diego area. For the most part, it’s fantastic. Of course, there are reminders of the drought. And the city’s homeless residents are quite visible which is understandable because of the city’s very mild weather year round.

Things we wish we had more time for:

Torrey Pines State Park

1- Torrey State Park. Beautiful hiking and beaches. A FREE beach – you know what I’m talking about Jersey. It’s about an hour bus ride from Broadway in downtown San Diego (take the 150 bus and transfer at Gilman Drive and Eucalyptus Grove Lane  and transfer to Bus 101. Get off at North Torrey Pines & Science Park Road bus). The trail we walked was an easy to moderate walk; the views were spectacular and the trail led us to the Pacific Ocean.

2- La Jolla. If you like to walk, I mean REALLY like to walk, it was a beautiful walk south along the shoreline to La Jolla. We passed through an unofficial nude beach and focused on the parasailing above. At low tide, we were able to climb over large rocks to cross over to a beach in La Jolla. We stopped at the first restaurant we saw, Caroline’s Cafe. The cafe is a causal place with outside seating overlooking the ocean.

And then we continued to hike into downtown -another hour or so- and saw sea lions that came up onto one of the beaches. The retail area extends for blocks with restaurants, art galleries and boutiques.

3- Balboa Park. We walked through the park to have dinner in the Hillcrest neighborhood. It was a nice walk, but I know we missed out on a lot in the park. Hillcrest is a lively neighborhood with a significant LGBT presence.

4. Little Italy. This neighborhood seems as different as it is far from Manhattan’s own. We spent our last night at the Urban Boutique Hotel on Columbia Street. The room was small, but clean so it was just fine. We had an amazing, fresh dinner on the front lawn of Queenstown. It’s a quaint house and the hostess described the menu as American food with New Zealand influences. Inside, the decor was off-beat but tasteful-even with the lambs on the ceiling of a side room and a American flag made of lace trimmings.

Inside Queenstown Restaurant

The neighborhood has a lot of newer construction and it is filled with niche and swanky bars and restaurants. It also reflects the craft beer craze in San Diego. There is also a small art scene; we picked up two prints from Mee Shim’s gallery – much better than a souvenir.

5. Sports. We took a ferry from the Broadway dock to the Coronado peninsula. It’s a nice trip across the bay and Coronado is similar to La Jolla – beautiful and clean, choices of restaurants as you get more inland but it’s expensive to live in.

Kayaker on San Diego Bay

We kayaked on the bay. Once I was secure that our little boat was not like to capsize in the wake of larger vehicles, I loved it.

6. Gas Lamp. Although it definitely is a tourist area, it doesn’t feel like too much of a trap. And, according to a local, San Diegans will go out there, too. It’s particularly lively on game nights because the Padres’ stadium sits at the edge of the district. A lot of restaurants and bars, a few galleries and souvenir shops. Broken Yolk on 6th Avenue was packed for Saturday breakfast.

Tijuana, Mexico. Walking back to La Frontera

7. Baja California. We took the Blue Line Trolley from downtown to the San Ysidro district. From there, it was a short walk to La Frontera. It was novel an international border on foot, but the parts of Tijuana that are accessible were not necessarily worth the two hour line to reach the United States customs when we were ready to return to San Diego. The area of Tijuana that we saw is set up to guide travelers into an area of tourist shops and restaurants. The immediate commercial district around it was mostly composed of basic retailers and lots of dentists.

We did not plan our morning in Mexico well, but it was interesting to be on line at the border. If we had more time in the region, it is likely worth a more in depth exploration further into Baja California.

Iraq: The Sum of War & Peace

April 28, 2015

Text by K. Cecchini

It’s been 12 years since the US invasion. “For Iraqis,” Vivian Salama reported last month for the Associated Press, “the various conflicts feel like one long war…”. And, for Americans? Iraq looks like the sum of ISIS, Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction that the United Nations never found.

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Profile of Vivian Salama in Rutgers Magazine (Winter 2015) by Angela Delli Santi

But, Salama believes she is “privileged” with a different point-of-view; “Iraq is such an incredible place, rich with history and culture,” the Baghdad correspondent told our Rutgers alum magazine, “The people are among the kindest and most misunderstood in the world because of a handful of extremists who have cast a negative light on the society”. 

I reached out to Salama for her unique insight on Iraq and its people. For one, she paints a charming picture of the capital’s old quarters; Mutannabbi and Rasheed Streets are “lined with gorgeous old Ottoman-era buildings that truly give visitors a window into another time”.  In the “relatively” safe district, men discuss politics and culture in long-established coffee shops, parents bring children to play on the banks of the Tigris River, and, on Fridays, vendors sell books and freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice at the fair. “It’s truly wonderful.”

However, Iraq’s “one long war” is still ever-present in the “true concrete jungle” that is Baghdad.  To shield its  structures from combat, the streets are lined with expansive concrete walls. Residents “always have to be vigilant”; they factor the ongoing conflicts into every decision and action. Most recently, of course, ISIS’s actions have ricocheted throughout society and citizens are often “horrified at how vulnerable their country was to this threat,” Salama affirms, “and yet not surprised after a decade of war”.

Nonetheless, there are many ways in which Americans can identify with Iraqis, particularly in their vision for life. Most Iraqis desire peace, freedom to move about and worship as they please, and, in the middle of an economic slump, they wish for “the right to earn a living and support their families”.

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Photo of Vivian Salama in Rutgers Magazine (Winter 2015)  by Karim Kadim

Although Iraqis convey nuanced views on the United States, Salama feels they are “extremely warm to foreigners” and like to inquire about people’s lives in their home countries and their perspectives on Iraq.  Still, many Iraqis are “understandably angry with Americans and,” Salama stresses, “verbalize that in a peaceful way.”

So, by Salama’s calculations, what is the sum of lots of hope, 12 years of war and a history that extends back to the first civilizations? An “incredible” people.

365 Dawns

February 28, 2015

Tonight at Dawn just reached its 1st year anniversary and 200th article on Sunday (2.22: “Tonight at Noon“). To celebrate, we are presenting our largest (& favorite) milestones from the last 365 days. Thanks for taking the ride and stay with us as we evolve!

Tonight at Dawn: Favorite Posts by the Month

2014
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February: TaD’s 1st live coverage “The Man Behind the Curtain: Covering the VH1 Superbowl Blitz”

 

Balloons released at start of Rainbow Fest

Shinjuku

March: Japanese rainbows  “Shinjuku, Block no. 2 (新宿二丁目)” 

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April: Live wire  Lews Black Rants On: 7 Pieces of Advice

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May: Get educated The Nigerian School Project

Julie Taymor & Stephen Colbert In Conversation, MFF14

Julie Taymor & Stephen Colbert In Conversation, MFF14

May (Indecision!) Montclair Film Festival Series

Orange is the New Black Promo Shot

Orange is the New Black Promo Shot

June: What’s threatening our democracy?  Justice Reform Series

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July: International collaboration Economy Decoded: Kesariya Baalam, Padharo Mhare des!

 

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August: Give me the RED Light…District

 

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September: Eco-tacular Meeting the 1st female prime minister of Ireland at NYC’s Climate March

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September: (Indecisions, again!): Meeting Senator Cory Booker

 

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October: Music reviews from @kraltunes make our stats POP!  Pearl Jam (& my favorite @kraltunes piece)

 

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November: The doctor is in! One of Dr. Nina’s “What you to need to know…”

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 December: ART! Margeaux Walter Has Got Heart (or a FAMNIG HJÄRTA)

2015

One Less Flush by Nitesh Nagrath and Lizzie Reid http://dothegreenthing.com/posters/one-less-flush-by-nitesh-nagrath-and-lizzie-reid/

One Less Flush by Nitesh Nagrath and Lizzie Reid

January: “One small step for (wo)man” Peeing in the Shower (& Other Eco-Friendly Moves I’m Not Ready For)

#jeffwecan Last Week Tonight's Media Campaign for Anti-Smoking

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 February: Armchair activism via John Oliver: #Jeff We Can! #Jeff We Can! #Jeff We Can! 

 

What’s next for TaD? More of everything! More @kraltunes, travel, Dr. Nina, live event coverage and real, current social and environmental issues. The next interview piece will be a sobering but hopeful conversation with a TED Talks speaker.

 

 

 

 

 

New Years, New York

January 1, 2015

Text by K. Cecchini

Ringing in the new year naturally is bogged down with great expectations for the eve -and, not to mention, the 365 days to follow.

New Years Around New York

If you haven’t completely tired or given up on the grand spectacle of New Years in New York, then wherever you are in the area, you are likely to countdown with Ryan Seacrest (if you are older than 30, you will do this while lamenting Dick Clark’s heyday) and mark the Times Square ball drop with a champagne toast and a kiss.

As other New Years around the world are beamed into our TV sets while the globe turns, I am sure many of you have seen the Times Square extravaganza on your televisions as well. If you haven’t, here’s a quick synopsis; the freezing square is filled with thousands of revelers looking out the newest redesign of the glasses to fit the year – the ‘2015’ design was lame- while packed into gated areas like sardines and cheering when prompted. On the stages are underdressed and overproduced performers that fit two categories; the newest musical flavors or past stars whose flames are flickering.

If you are in the crowd, you have to hold your spot for hours (ignoring the call of nature) around folks that are probably swiftly becoming intoxicated -and intolerable. As the crowd disperses, leaving tons of litter for the city’s sanitation crews, you reconvene with your fellow, drunker revelers to pack in on subways and trains.

Last night, those fortunate folks donned pink top hats with lipstick kisses courtesy of CoverGirl and Cosmo.

Yet, the rest of us are not jealous.

While local college students use it as an excuse for yet another party, folks in their early twenties will often opt to buy an overpriced ticket to a bar or club that delivers a lukewarm buffet, hours of sweaty dancing and a plastic flute of champagne at midnight.

Us older New Yorkers opt for either a nice dinner out -some pre fixed and costly to mark the occasion- or get together with friends and families in someone’s living room. While, as John Oliver noted, you watch the hummus dip slowly brown on a coffee table, you are glad to have let some of the hype out of the night to hang with the people you love.

To be sure, at some point, someone will tune into a countdown (as it is 2015 and my friends are sans cable, we watched a live stream from the web) while one person hesitantly pops the sparkling wine cork. And many folks, from Rutgers University to the bars in New York to the living rooms all around the Tri-state- clank their glasses to herald in the new calendar and pucker up their lips for a kiss. After our own toast, we were treated to fireworks over Central Park from our window.

No matter where you are, here’s to a brilliant 2015 and “may she be a damn sight better than the last…”

2nd Class to Paradise

October 23, 2014

Text & Photos by K. Cecchini  @tonightatdawn

From the foreign perspective, Switzerland is synonymous with the Alps. If in Zürich and can’t make the trek all way out to touch its great peaks, you need to seek out bucket list-worthy local views. Nearby Uteilberg Mountain and the city of Lucerne seem to be the next best thing and, although tourist destinations, they are not inundated with traps.

Towering Over the Alps

View of Zurich from Uteilberg

View of Zürich from Uteilberg Tower

We took the bright red local train out to Uteilberg on our second day in country. The train runs regularly throughout the day which allowed us to explore the area without the stress of catching a trip back to town. At the trains stop, there’s a small restaurant and a beautiful view of the Alps- but there was no need to linger there as the view is more pristine as you delve move up the paths.
It’s a ‘choose your own adventure’; the trails are marked with approximations of trek lengths ranging from an hour to most of a day.

Uteilberg Tower

Uteilberg Tower

A quick climb up past lights embedded in the antlers of mosaic reindeer and we had reached the main tourist summit with a hotel and restaurant. We ascended the steep stairs on the metal tower lookout to capture a breathtaking panoramic view of Zürich to the left and the Alps in the other direction.

We then continued to hike through well maintained trails and glimpsing at the Alps through the trees as the morning clouds dissipated.

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Luzern/Lucerne

Less than hour by train from Zürich, we were surprised to find that 2- 2nd class train tickets to Lucerne would cost us around a hundred American dollars. Yet, the information clerk declared it to be a “special place” so …all aboard!

My husband and I settled into a seat on the train and the conductor came to check our tickets. Oops, we had settled into a 1st class car; “up the stairs, then down, and to the back,” he insisted in his thick German accent.

We reclined back in our new seats; 2nd class wasn’t too shabby. But, alas, he compelled us forward again; “up the stairs, then down, to the back!”.

We went up, down, and to the back until we came upon what was unmistakably the lower class car; we are not first class travelers by any means but after the reclining chairs and peace of the other cars, the difference between classes was stark. The smells of cheap food assaulted us as soon as the car door open and people were spilled out over the floors.

Fortunately, if the train ride was not quite worth 50 bucks, Lucerne was every bit the special place that we were promised.

Lucern

Lucern

We spent the day wandering the winding streets of Lucerne and the banks of its river. 35 francs for an hour on paddle boat allowed us to float ever so slightly closer to the commanding Alps where they appeared to rise above the pristine blue lake. We enjoyed lunch in one of the many European squares and dined near the river bank.

Before heading back to the station and our 2nd class world, we sat and watched the moon rise above the peaks in the distance.

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Lucern

Lucern

Other Swiss Adventures:

WOOOW ZURI

Art & DADA in Zürich & YADA Yada Yada

Langstrasse – Has Zurich’s Red Light Been Replaced?

Art & DADA in Zürich & YADA Yada Yada

October 9, 2014

Text and Photos by Kimberly Cecchini  @tonightatdawn

“HOW DOES ONE ACHIEVE ETERNAL BLISS?
BY SAYING DADA.

HOW DOES ONE BECOME FAMOUS?
BY SAYING DADA.

WITH NOBLE GESTURE AND DELICATE DECENCY. TILL ONE GOES CRAZY. TILL ONE LOSES CONSCIOUSNESS.”

-Hugo Ball, founder of the Cabaret Voltaire in the original Dada manifesto

DADA
DA-DA
dada

Right now, insanity is more likely than CONCIOUSNESS with 7 hours to go til Newark in this pressurized tube. (See the reverse: “No Sleep Til Zurich“).

Alas, customs will be easier if I just shut up and write rather than shout DADA over the Atlantic.

I’ll admit, I never had much appreciation for this nonsensical self-declared non-art. I suppose I never appreciated that Duchamp’s upside down urinal precluded me from having to do a handstand in a men’s room to garner that perspective.

So, even though we were staying a few blocks over from it in Zürich’s medieval section, I almost didn’t even care to throw down 5 francs at its birthplace, the Cabaret Voltaire.

5 francs. 4 blocks (maybe). 3 X 10 minutes of film. 2 of us. 1st trip to Dada’s heartland…perhaps it made too much sense to go.

But I relented. And it was well worth every damn CH franc.

If there is no performance on the schedule, the main attraction at Voltaire is the self-start film on Dada’s history. If you’ve studied art history, you already know the basics; Dada was a reaction to the horrors of World War I and the “scientification of life”. In this vein, it was a rejection of the organized principles of art making and was reconciled in different Western art centers such as New York where the “ready-made” was popularized (re-appropriation of every day objects as works of art(?) like the inverse urinal).

Yet, the film superseded my expectations in both form and content.

I entered the ‘crypt’ as they call it (a wine cellar in its previous life); it’s cave-like ceiling is covered with a constellation representing the evolution of Dada. (Hey, a constellation may not be typical but it’s still a form of organization-is it not? Just sayin’.) I hit the ‘English’ button and the film began projecting on a camera shaped screen and everywhere but; more successfully emphasizing the lack of structure valued in Dadaism. I was craning my head to watch the associated words and images being projected across a wall, a corner and above my head.

The film is filled with images and quotes that showcase DADA’s history from its homeland in the neutral zone as the Zürich based artists reacted to the world crumbling beyond Swiss borders, to its geographical spread and it’s influence on the development of new art movements such as surrealism.

After that, I meandered upstairs to look at the performance space with its random art (damn, I still don’t know what to call it if the idea is nonart), and the extensive bar menu.

Their advertised tasting of 15 absenthi should, I would think, effectively highlight the effects of repeating Dada, eh?

Adding to the randomness was the guy who came off the street trying to read the young employee’s fortune while I was browsing the small gift area. She was hesitant, saying she doesn’t subscribe to fortune-telling. He was insistent and told her, when she inquired, that she would only pay if her fortune came true. Asking her about her favorite flowers and to pick a number he reiterated a vague report on a love life to be blossomed and such.

Vague and random and not worth a damn CH franc.

Contemporary Art in Zürich

We happened upon a number of other contemporary galleries-although we had to window shop a few of them as many are closed on Sundays and/or Mondays (like many things in Zürich). We spent the most amount of time in Lumas which hosts a list of global artists; beyond the bright array of 2D works, it’s draw is making current art affordable by selling reproductions in a variety of commercial sizes.

There were also a Cindy Sherman exhibition at KUNSTHAUS ZÜRICH that we were not able to fit in, advertisements for gallery openings and experimental theater throughout the city.

On the river in the old district, we visited a free contemporary art space in an old school building. There were a few pieces that I took a second look at – like the video diptych commentary on the Iraq War that featured one man slowly eating roses and another hitting his solder’s helmet. Perhaps it’s dada alive. But perhaps because I am more a fan of realistic rather than conceptual work, to me the story here unwinds into yada (dada) yada, and then we listened to a street band improvise in the museum’s courtyard for a bit.

And then there’s the pineapple rocket. dada.

For more on ZÜRICH: WOOOOOOOW! ZURI! and Rapperswil: 23 km

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