We will never think of Easter in the same way again! While in a local Atlanta store on Easter Sunday, we came across one of those truly colorful characters we've occasionally met during our travels; a Drag Queen in a bunny costume! We just HAD to say "hello." Baton Bob (aka Bob Jameson) is not only a local celebrity, but also has gained some national noteriety ( winning a number awards for his street performances). What was even more amazing was that our New Orleans landlady knew him from his stints during Madi Gras. It turns out that Baton Bob was on his way to a local Drag Queen festival down the street from where we met. This was too good to be true! It seems that each Easter, a number of Drag Queens participate in what they call "Drag Races". Apparently, the events include an Easter Bonnet contest, as well as racing back and forth through a parking lot while putting on various female attire. When we got to the festival venue, they were just beginning to set up for the day's events. There were close to 20 Drag Queens in attendance. Regardless of what your personal feelings towards these folks might be, we found them to be quite friendly and pleasant. Their lives seemed to be full of joy. Even though rain threatened to dampen this event, for us, this Easter was a totally different experience.

For more information on some of these characters, try Googling "Baton Bob" and "Calico Deville".

We know that many of our blog readers are getting ready to find an apartment on-line for their vacation. Some have texted us asking how to go about choosing a good place to stay. Here are the steps we always take. First, decide on the country and city of choice and when you want to be there. Then choose what sights you want to see.. As any real estate agent will tell you, the most important factor in choosing a place, is location. Try to find one near the attractions you want to see, or, at least on a public transportation (bus, subway) line, so you can easily get to them. No one wants to find a great place to stay that is miles away from the public transportation. However, sometimes, you can find an apartment right in the middle of the action. Our apartment in Dubrovnik, Croatia was within the walled city itself.

The size of the apartment is also important. How many people are in your group? How much privacy is needed? Each will need a place to sleep. If like us, your answer is two, then a studio is fine, or maybe you'll want to spread out with a bedroom, living room, and a dining room.

Price is very important. How much do you want to spend? If being in the city proper is too pricey, sometimes a lower priced apartment will be on the outskirts. When we were visiting London, we stayed in Fulham, a twenty minute subway ride to downtown London. Many times, the landlord/landlady will give you a lower price than what is advertised, depending on your length of stay. Always ask.

Does the place you're considering have the amenities you need? We MUST have wifi and a clothes washer in each location. Now it is time to read the reviews. We look at these quite carefully. Previous tenants taking the time to write about their experiences are usually honest. They'll tell what they liked about the apartment and landlord, but also what they didn't appreciate about their experiences during their stay. Was the landlord responsive to their questions and/or problems in the apartment? Was the apartment represented truthfully in the VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) ad? Did everything work and was it in good condition?

Cleanliness is another important item. Is the neighborhood quiet and safe? If there is a nearby bar that lets out at 2:00am with rowdy customers, waking you up every night, the reviews will mention that. We never rent a place that has less than five reviews, so as to get a good feel for it. We look quite carefully at only positive reviews as they can be bought on-line. We want to see a few negatives mentioned also, to ensure truthfulness.

Look at the ad pictures very carefully. Landlords naturally want to show their best. Sometimes they might leave a room out because it's not up to par. Make sure every room is photographed, especially the bathroom. This eliminates as many surprises as possible. Is there an elevator if the apartment is on the third floor or above?

Try to pay only the down payment before hand if at all possible. Remember, at this stage, these apartments exist on paper. We try to pay the balance of the rent after we have seen the place. There are many scammers out there. "Bait and Switch" tactics are common. If the landlord tells you the apartment was just booked, but he has another one just like it (but is not on VRBO) walk away. You want the reliability of VRBO to stand behind your choice. You give that VRBO peace of mind away if you rent a different apartment from the same landlord. You are doing this without guarantees, photos, and PayPal. Using PayPal is a secure method of payment.

So there you have it! We've never been dissatisfied with any of our apartments in the past 18 months of travel. All of our stays have been enjoyable and comfortable. We feel confident that yours will be also if you follow these steps. Remember, you can contact us if you have questions, by email, text, Facebook, or on the Weebly blog itself.

Good traveling!

  Everyone knows of Martin Luther King, but how many of our followers know "Michael Luther King"? The senior MLK was originally named "Michael Luther King" by his mother, over the objections of his father, who favored the name "Martin". As the grandfather lay dying, he urged the senior MLK to change his name to "Martin". The younger MLK was six years old when his name changed also, in order to stay a "Junior".

  Martin Luther King, Jr. was born here in the Sweet Auburn section of Atlanta and later preached at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Both are on the same block and make up part of the 35 acre "Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site." It did take some navigation to get there from our apartment (the #27 bus to Midtown Terminal, the subway three stops to downtown, followed by a 3/4 mile walk to Centennial Olympic Park, where we caught a streetcar to the site). That was the easy part. In order to see the inside of MLK 's birth home, you have to sign up at the National Park Service's Visitor Center down the street, for one of their guided tours. Tours start at 10 am and are limited to 15 people each time. They fill up quickly, so even if you get there early, the timed tour to which you are assigned may be later in the day. And the Park Service doesn't take pre-registrations. You can only sign up on the day you are there. Still there is a lot to see in the complex while you wait. The original Ebenezer Baptist church, where MLK's father and he both preached, is opposite the Visitor's Center (the newer, more modern church next door is not open to the public tours). Just a few doors away from MLK's home is the historic Fire Station No. 6, where King and his brother, A.D., used to shoot basketballs with the firefighters. Since we love history, this was a great day for us.

  Atlanta offers a City Pass that provides entrance to five major city attractions at a reduced rate, and the ability to skip over long lines at ticket booths (we've taken advantage of similar offers in other cities). As part of this City Pass, we visited the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the largest in the Western Hemisphere (it was the world's largest until surpassed in 2012 by the Marine Life Park in Singapore). This beautiful building is located at the north end of Centennial Olympic Park, in a complex that includes the World of Coca-Cola and the Center for Civil and Human Rights. The structure itself looks like a giant boat or ark moving through the water. One of its highlights is the collection of whale sharks (the largest fish species). The only aquarium outside of Asia that has such an exhibit. These sharks are huge, but graceful and elegant. We spent hours exploring the five different galleries of the aquarium that correspond to specific environments. Perhaps the most interesting part was being able to walk through a glass tunnel with the fish swimming all around us, as if we were in the water with them. Even though we've been to other such venues in other parts of the world, this was still a delightful experience.

  Some of you know that, through my Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) activities, especially with the National Weather Service sponsored Skywarn Spotter program, I became very familiar with much of the television media market in Boston. So, when Lori and I learned that a tour of CNN's World Headquarters here in Atlanta was available, we had to take it. Located within the Omni Atlanta Hotel building, next to Centennial Olympic Park, this place is huge! The "...little network that could..." (Tom Brokaw in "Live from Baghdad"), founded by Ted Turner, certainly has grown into an empire. Tours of the facility run every twenty minutes and usually contain 35-40 visitors at a time. And, it begins in a spectacular way; riding up the world's longest, free-standing escalator (196 feet) for eight floors. For close to an hour, we saw many behind-the-scenes locations within this complex. It was fun to experience this, as it brought back lots of memories for me. As an added treat, while traveling to the CNN Center, we had to negotiate around the Atlanta Marathon ( the fourth marathon we've experienced on our adventure). I have a special fondness for marathons, as I had volunteered for the Boston Marathon for many years.

  Our travels around the world have included stops at a number of superb botanical gardens; some larger than others, but all equally beautiful. During our current visit to Atlanta, we are fortunate to be only a half-mile from this city's 40 year old gardens (we pass it everyday on our way downtown). While compared to some of the others we've visited, Atlanta's Botanical Gardens are relatively small (encompassing only 30 acres), it is big in its design, exhibits, and beauty. Just looking at the pictures included here, will only provide a taste of the elegance. One of the unique aspects of these gardens is the 600 foot long canopy walk that carries visitors forty feet above the city's last remaining forests. Another highlight is the magnificent orchid center. This place is amazing!

  Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind" is considered, by Americans, to be the second most read book (next to the Bible). Mitchell wrote this Pulitzer Prize winning novel while living in an old mansion that had been converted into 10 apartments, as she was recovering from a stubborn ankle injury. That house still stands today ( on the corner of Crecent Ave. and Peachtree St. N.E.) across from the Federal Reserve Bank building. We found this three-story Tudor building quite by accident (our favorite way of discovering things) while searching for the Atlanta Visitors Bureau. The house has been converted into a museum dedicated to Mitchell and her grand novel. Our timing for visiting this museum was perfect, as we were able to catch a guided tour just as it was beginning. There was so much information presented about Mitchell's life and her novel, it was hard to absorb it all. Among the interesting facts we did learn was that Margaret was a bit of flirt, dating several men at the same time. In addition, Mitchell often referred to her apartment building as "The Dump" because of poor maintenance during the depression years she lived there. While it was interesting to tour her apartment and get a feel for what life might have been like for her here, it was a bit disappointing to learn that none of the furniture actually belonged to Mitchell, but rather are period pieces gathered over the years by the museum staff in an effort to recreate her living quarters as closely as possible. Still, it was an interesting and fun time.

   As we move on to Atlanta, it is time to wrap up our visit to Nashville. Included in our visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame, was a side trip to the famous RCA Studio B - "where a 1000 hits were recorded." Our very energetic, music enthusiast guide, George, delighted us with lots of historic information about the building, along with snipits of some of the many songs recorded here (all of which were part of Lori's and my formative years). In addition to being a great attraction, this was a wonderful walk down memory lane for us. We not only got to stand on some of the exact spots that music's most famous stars (including Chet Akins, Roy Orbitson, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Dolly Parton, and many more) recorded their songs, but also sat at the original studio piano that has been here since the beginning. What a great time!

                   studiob.org

  We are always on the look out for the unusual. When told by locals that there is a church in downtown Nashville that resembles an Egyptian temple, a visit was deemed necessary. Sure enough, located at the corner of 5th and Church streets is the Downtown Presbyterian Church (formerly known as the First Presbyterian Church). Apparently, architect William Strickland, who also designed the Tennessee State Capital building a couple of blocks away, was influenced by reports of archeological discoveries in Egypt. Gaining access through the church office, we were amazed by the Egyptian revival motif throughout the church. The extensive use of the winged globe symbol of the Egyptian God Aman-Ra (meaning eternity) really made us feel like we were inside an Egyptian temple. Sometimes, you never know what you may find just around the corner. For more information, visit the following link;

           www.dpchurch.com

  When we think about the southern United States, visions of ante bellum plantations spring to mind. Following the Civil War, many of those estates disappeared. Fortunately, for us, a few have been preserved as museums and tourist attractions. We found one such preserved plantation, i.e. Belle Meade, a short bus ride (on the number 5) from downtown Nashville. John Harding originally bought a cabin and 250 acres in 1807, but it quickly grew to over 5000 acres. What was surprising to us, when we arrived, was that it did not look like what we thought a typical cotton plantation should. There were no large open spaces with remnants of cotton plants and numerous slave cabins scattered about. That was because Belle Meade never grew cotton. Instead, it was devoted to the boarding and breeding of thoroughbred race horses. Over the years, the Harding family had become so successful at this endeavor, that bloodlines have carried into modern times (the famous race horse of the 20th century, "Sea Biscuit" could trace its ancestry back to Belle Meade's "Enquirer").Because of this, we could only imagine how different life on this plantation was from the more typical ones. While there are only 30 acres left, of the 5000 in its heyday, the grounds are beautiful. A long, winding driveway took us from the road up to the main house. Scattered around the grounds were several out buildings; the spacious carriage house and stables, a smoke house for curing meats, a grounds keepers house (with an attached greenhouse), remnants of the dairy barn, one lonely slave cabin, and the original two-room cabin that came with the property, when John Harding bought the first 250 acres. As we were exploring the carriage house and stables, we discovered a surprise out back, a croquet lawn and a bocce court ( we never would have guessed that bocce was known, let alone played, in southern America during the 1800's). There is just so much history here that we spent an entire day trying to absorb it all. See for yourself by visiting;

             bellemeadplantation.com

  No visit to the country music capital of America would be complete without taking in a show at the number one Nashville attraction - the Grand Ole Opry. We had been to the Ryman Auditorium, in which the Opry had performed until 1974, but wanted to see the larger "new" venue specifically built for the Opry. Without a car to use, it was necessary for us to take the #34 MTA bus to the Opey Mills Mall, nine miles east of downtown. The first thing we did was to take a one hour back stage tour. While the "new" Opry is technologically advanced over the Ryman Auditorium, to us, it did not provide the same friendly atmosphere. Sure, the pews came with comfortable cushions, but the place felt sterile, while the Ryman felt like an old friend. On the positive side, the back stage area was much bigger and had more dressing rooms. And there are no "bad" seats in the audience area, as there are multiple large screen t.v.'s throughout the hall. Our tour included going on stage to where the six foot diameter circle, made of wood taken from part of the Ryman stage, was placed. This symbolizes that the "...circle remains unbroken." While on stage, our tour group sang "You are my sunshine", thus making it possible for us to claim we had "performed" at the Grand Ole Opry.

  Following this, we attended a wonderful two and a half hour performance, during which we saw such country legends as Connie Smith, Bill Anderson, the Swon Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, and Tracy Lawrence, along with the Irish folk group, Altan. There were some surprises during the show, i.e. staff walking across the stage, behind the artists, in the middle of the performance (it seemed like Grand Central Station), and some adult language (interestingly, earlier artist contracts, e.g. Jerry Lee Lewis, specifically prohibited profanity). In addition, some of the performers tried to distract the announcer by playing tricks on him, while he read commercial messages. We had no preconceived notion of what it would be like to be in the audience during a live radio show. What a wonderful time we had!

  Wherever we are, talking with locals about attractions that they find enjoyable (and which may not be on any tourist bucket list) is great fun. In Nashville, one site which kept coming up as one we HAD to visit was the Christ Church Cathedral, because of its beautiful stained glass windows - some of which were created by the Tiffany & Company. It took us a bit of exploration to find it. Once there, we were disappointed to find it closed (apparently it is only open from 10 am to 1 pm). However, Lori's persistence paid off when we were finally able to gain entrance through an unremarkable side door. Dianne, the Director of Communications for the Cathedral, was gracious enough to show us around, providing us with some historic background about this religious site. It is indeed beautiful! While all of the cathedral's stained glass windows are exquisite, the two sets of Tiffany & Company's triplets are exceptional. We have literally visited hundreds of churches, mosques, and temples during our travels, and would easily have to rank this one near the top. If you wish to explore this cathedral further, please visit the link listed below:

    info@christcathedral.org

  Like most people, we enjoy various kinds of music; some types more than others. Admittedly, our knowledge of,and experience with, country music and the Blues hasn't been extensive. However, one thing we have learned from our adventures has been to be open to new ideas and experiences, often with surprisingly pleasant results. Our visits to both Memphis and Nashville has led us to realize that there is an interconnectivity between the various genres; i.e. Gospel and folk music evolved into the Blues, Blue Grass, and Honky Tonk; which led to Popular, Rockabilly, and, eventually, to Rock-n-Roll. Exploring the sounds of Memphis and Nashville has been eye opening. Recently, we went to "The Mother Church of Country Music" - the Ryman Auditorium. This former Union Gospel Tabernacle was home to the Grand Ole Opry for 31 years (1943 to 1974). Were we surprised to learn that Captain Thomas Ryman, who had earned his fortune as owner of a fleet of gambling riverboats and several saloons, would make a 180 degree turn and build a gospel tabernacle based upon the principles of temperance! And who would have foreseen that this church, in order to pay down substantial debt, would turn into the world mecca of country music because of the building's fantastic acoustics? During our visit, we took advantage of both the self-guided regular tour and a special backstage tour, so that we could learn as much as possible about this important Nashville attraction. We really enjoyed both. If you would like to learn more about the Ryman Auditorium and of Thomas Ryman, try this link:

      rymanauditorium.com/history

  Every month on this trip, it has been our custom to introduce to our followers some of those extraordinarily friendly people we have encountered along the way. Here is our list for Nashville;

  Legends Corner is as much a museum and mecca of country music, as it is a bar. We had heard about this honky tonk venue from many locals, so when our paths crossed, it beckoned us to enter. What a place! The walls are covered with memorabilia; five original Elvis Sun Records 78rpms, a twelve string guitar autographed by Johnny Cash, along with copies of first albums by many of country music's "legends". Our senses where assailed by what was on the walls. There are antique juke boxes, unusual guitars, and record upon record. It was amazing! ... And entrance is free! Oh, if only the walls could speak!

Believe it or not, when we woke up today, who would have thought we would be visiting a place with bodies buried in the walls, as well as on the grounds? We are not talking about a cemetery, but rather a municipal building in the center of Nashville. The state capital building is home to the governor, the state legislature, and is a National Historic Landmark. Completed in 1859 on a hilltop overlooking the city, this building looks like a Greek Ionic temple, and was constructed using commercial, convict, and slave labor. Interestingly, while Tennessee produced three U.S. Presidents, only one, James K. Polk, is buried on the grounds. Self-guided tours allowed us to leisurely explore the building...although from time-to-time, we did listen in on a couple of school tours. We've visited a number of municipal buildings during our travels and would have to rate this one within the top ten.

   state capitals/Tennessee.org

  What a day! Little did we know, as we rode the number 26 bus into downtown Nashville, that our day would include spending time with a Hall of Fame musician. For the past few weeks, we have been tracing the roots of the Blues, Rock-n-Roll, and BlueGrass in Memphis and Nashville. Just about every attraction in both cities has a music connection. Our exploration of Nashville's "Musicians Hall of Fame" began with an unexpected and pleasant meeting. During our visit to this "...only museum in the world..." dedicated to the talents of the musicians behind the stars, we ran into Jay McDowell, the multimedia curator. After learning of our adventures, Jay invited us to join him while he showed some of the behind-the-scenes venues to a 2007 Hall of Fame inductee, drummer Gene Chrisman. Gene's career encompassed the heydays of such notables as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin and many others. Chrisman was a long-time member of the American Sound Studio's house band, originally known as the 827 Thomas Street Band, and later as the Memphis Boys, and performed in over 120 hit songs. What a great guy he is! Gene regaled us with stories of some of his memorable moments in his musical career, as if we had been friends forever. He was very comfortable talking with us as we walked around the museum. This chance meeting is the type of experience that has made our whole adventure wonderful. We loved every minute!

Nature often has a way of surprising us with its exquisite beauty, either in the vibrant colors of its flowers, in the weather beaten faces of its mountain ranges, or in the stillness of a flowing creek through the woods. Throughout our adventures over these past 17 months, we have had the opportunity to experience some of these resplendent creations of nature, both here and abroad. Sharing some of those experiences would give us great joy. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.