Exploring the USA and Europe

We've been eagerly planning our first trip of the year to see the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. We've known where to go to see it best for a while, but we've been worried about the weather. We needed clear skies to see the total eclipse properly. We were well-prepared for this second eclipse event. We had planned where to go, how to get ready for the trip, what to look out for, and how to avoid heavy traffic afterward. The first eclipse we experienced was just a few years ago, on August 21, 2017, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The total eclipse lasted only 1 minute and 24 seconds, but it left us deeply impressed. Right then and there, we knew we wanted to experience another one. NASA published the path of the eclipse which continued from Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan would also e

Rediscovering (East) Germany - 2023 by Naimul Karim (originally posted on   naimul.net ) Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Thuringia, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), 2023 Most journeys are a journey in space – where you go places. But sometimes it is also a journey in time. This is one of them. You cannot travel to East Germany (GDR) because it doesn’t exist anymore. But it lives in my memory. That’s where my German experience began. Even though I had lived many more years in (the former) West Germany and some more in unified Germany, East Germany remains special. Now I had to revisit and catch up with something I had failed to do during my 6 years there. And that is to appreciate the richness of its heritage in classical German culture and history. Christine too, wanted to catch up with her (childhood) friends. So, we went and did both. Along the way, we discovered something unexpected.  The best time to visit Germany is April-May - when flowers are in bloom, days are long, and temp

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK by Naimul Karim (originally posted on  naimul.net )      Two years and 10 days. That many days since our last road trip to a national park ( Yellowstone National Park ). It might as well have been eons. In between lies a chasm, or a dividing line, between BC and AC (Before Covid and After Covid) separating two different worlds. As if that were not enough, Ukraine happened shortly before our trip. It missed the Ides of March by just three weeks. But it will be no less a pivotal moment in world history than the Ides of March was for Roman history. It is no exaggeration to recall comrade Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov’s quote (better known as Lenin): “ There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen ”. With these weighty thoughts off my chest, let’s go to Canyonlands National Park in Utah!       Our trip took us across Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado. It was a pleasant drive, unencumbered by heavy traffic or toll roads, stretching through wi

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK by Naimul Karim (originally posted on  naimul.net )     " It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. ...".  Charles Dickens might as well had anticipated my situation when he penned this famous incipit.  I had just retired, and the stock market was in free fall.  Besides, the global coronavirus pandemic was about to hit the USA.           The abrupt change in plan had something to do with my friend Koni.  On the day before our flight, as we were finishing our leisurely Sunday breakfast, he texted me.  Will we be wearing masks during the trip?  I wasn't planning to.  But I don't take Koni's questions lightly.  Being a one-time top 50 black gammon player in the country is one of many feathers he wears on his hat.             By that time, masks were a rare commodity.  So, down went Christine to the basement to see if any masks were still there from last summer's painting and sanding jobs.  Yes, there was a bagful. But which on