Bloggo Inquisitivo/Introspectivo: Perché viaggio? Why travel?

Yesterday your favorite doctor, Dottore Gianni (Ciao tutti!), read an article in Condé Nast Traveler (January 2014) entitled "The Paper Chase" by Maria Schollenbarger, which caused him think about the article in particular, about his own travel philosophy, and about travel in general.

Dottore Gianni in Cornwall, at Land's End - whither next?

Almost immediate Sidebar: You might well ask, "What is a man of the people, and an impoverished one at that, doing reading one of the most pretentious travel periodicals one can get one's hands on?" And it is indeed, as Sir John Falstaff once uttered, "a question to be asked." As he does whenever possible, Dottore Gianni will offer an answer. While he cannot afford nor does he desire a single hotel or restaurant offered by that rag as suggested places to stay or eat, truth to tell, he received in the mail a ridiculously inexpensive offer for a year's subscription to the magazine ($10) so he thought, "Why the hell not?!" He subscribes already to a much more interesting travel magazine, National Geographic Traveler, but when la vita è troppo breve, which certainly seems true to the good doctor as he comes perilously close to his 67th birthday (and how on earth did that ever happen???), Dottore Gianni decided that one cannot subscribe to too many travel journals, as long as they're dirt cheap!

As usual, the doctor's/my sidebars are more detailed than the body of his essay. But then you're used to that. Back to the article that roused him to action, or at least to writing. And here the good doctor morphs into his doppelgänger Jack, so that he can continue in the first person. The article begins with the sentence: "Travel is supposed to be about a departure from the familiar." I'm not sure everyone would agree that this is the primary reason to travel. Some just want/need a dose of R&R and head to a beach. Some travel to see their families (which of course takes them towards rather than away from the familiar). Some travel to a ridiculously overpriced place, Disney World for example, simply to appease their whining children. 

But that first sentence caught my eye because I have always believed that "a departure from the familiar" is one of the primary and among the finest reasons to travel. A bit later in the first paragraph the author continues: "But then there's another kind of journey: one in which furthering self-knowledge is the very goal, with the route and even the destination secondary to that pursuit." 

The article goes on to describe two artists who went off to several locations where fellow artists worked, so they could examine and perhaps learn from different techniques. They spent their time exclusively with their colleagues, ignoring sights/sites near each place Good for them, I guess.

It struck me (AND the good doctor) that the two sentences quoted above are not mutually exclusive, because departures from the familiar can and often do lead to furthering self-knowledge. The route is important because it brings a person to that unfamiliar land (and can be interesting in itself), the destination is where that person can dive into of self-knowledge. Right? of course I'm right, as is the good doctor, as is Dottore Gianni!

The essay could end here, as I destroy the clumsy premise on which is based the otherwise rather well written article (for Condé Nast Traveler at any rate). But of course there is an ulterior motive.

For years my primary purpose as a traveler was to literally gain self-knowledge, in the sense that nearly every trip I took was directly connected to my primary subject as an educator, theatre history. I firmly believe that increasing the understanding of that subject leads not only towards more facts stored in my brain and photos stored in my computer's hard drive as well as in USB devices just in case, but also, as theatre holds up a mirror to nature, can lead to learning more about myself. And for years it has worked wonders for my classes and for my inner well-being.

Then I retired. 

My last theatre history class was packed, with past students as well as present - a lovely send-off

And, having been retired for the better part of two years (May marks the two-year spot) I’ve come to a few realizations concerning myself in general and concerning my travel (rhymes with Why Travel?") in particular. In the former

Dottore Gianni as old Curmudgeon

category there is nothing much new, just reiterations/ reincarnations of who I was before: a former social butterfly turned almost radically anti-social, enjoying alone time much more than time with others (at least more than from 2 to 5 hours with those others, the exact number depending on which others), taking on an increasingly curmudgeonly attitude, devoted more to order and ritual in my own life than with anything to do with other people - "so here I am, a confirmed old bachelor, and rather likely to remain one...after all Pickering..." and so on. I also find myself increasingly curious but also very nervous about the end of life, that it preoccupies not nearly all of my time, but more time than I would like it to.

Many of the above realizations I’ve written about before in this blog, so I’m not going to comment much about them. I WILL say that I have recently started reading journals that I kept years ago (Jack’s Last Read, with apologies to Krapp’s Last Tape). I have personal journals dating all the way back to the time that I was first out on my own, from eighteen years of age, and I find them fairly depressing, definitely filled with self-pitying pap for the most part. The journals were also erratic; I began earnestly with daily accounts that gradually became weekly, then monthly, ending in stumbling on the journal a half year later, asking myself why I’d been away from it for so long. Then I would start again and the same erratic pattern would manifest itself. I used to keep a more disciplined and detailed account of my travels, handwritten in a notebook. Now I still write, but in blog posts here about my trips instead. As many of you know, it was to share information about my trips with others, primarily former students, that I was pushed gently into creating the blog.

One of the earliest journals that Jack/Krapp read recently was from 1986, just before I finally found enough money to get back across the pond for the first time since the late 1960s

Airman Hrkach in his barracks room in Germany, 1968

 when I was in the USAF stationed in Germany (and had promised myself I would return as soon as possible). I started writing a few days before the trip itself, when I was visiting friends in New York ahead of my transatlantic flight to London for Christmas and the New Year. What I found in reading the first days of that journal surprised me in many ways. How could I have forgotten events, even people, that were so important to me back then? More to the point for this post, how could I have already been thinking of myself as old, and worrying about the end of life, nearly 30 years ago, around the time of my fortieth birthday! Oi!

So yes, many revelations of what I already knew about myself but had forgotten or had kept hidden in some deep recess of my mind/psyche.

The revelations that concern travel are new, and they did surprise me, as I would say that 99% of my travel up until the end of May 2012 combined the combination I noted above – a departure from the familiar primarily for the purpose of self-knowledge.

For the record, I put together a list of my travel abroad prior to retirement, and have copied it here, just below, embellished for your pleasure (as well as for the reading-challenged among you) with photos!

A view from my room in my barracks of winter in Hof, 1968

1967-68 Hof, Germany on assignment with USAF, approximately 15 months. I

visited Kulmbach, Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirschen, took a car trip along the Rhine.

Young airman Jack at the Kulmbach brewery in northern Bavaria, 1968

December-January1986-67 London, UK, Stratford-Upon-Avon for approximately two weeks – fortieth birthday trip, most of the time spent in London, New Years Eve and New Year’s Day in Stratford

The Adelphi, my hotel in London, just off the Cromwell Rd, 1986-87

March 1996 Rome, Italy with my mother – saw many of the major sights/sites, bumped into alum David Agranov, fell in love with Bella Italia

My mother, looking excited and me looking...not at my best
at a restaurant in Rome, March 1996

January 1997 Florence (and Rome) Italy – fiftieth birthday trip but it turned into “Fiasco in Firenze” as they put me in a hotel 6 km out of the city – I complained and they flew me to Rome the next day, and I spent most of my holiday there – I may blog about that fiasco someday, who knows?

Piazza della Signoria, Florence, one of the few photos I have
from the fiasco, January 1997

May 1998 Prague with my mother and my sister – great week in a beautiful city

My sister Judy and my mother with me at the
pivnice (beer hall) at Obesni Dum, Prague May 1998

The theatre museum in Vienna, formerly the Lobkowitz Palace,
during my sabbatical in spring 1999

March-April 1999 my first sabbatical took me to several “theatrical” cities, including Rome, Florence, Venice, Munich (with a day trip to Salzburg) Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Koln, Paris, Avignon and Genoa – wow!

The philosophe Jean-Paul Hrkach on a boat/cafe on the
Seine (you can just see Notre Dame in the background)
during his sabbatical, Paris, April 1999

November 1999 – London and Edinburgh – I spent Thanksgiving break in London and Edinburgh, the latter primarily to “rehearse” the planned annual trip there with students in advance of their fall semester in London.

The glass facade of the Festival Theatre,
Edinburgh November 1999

My Aunt Roseann, my mother & my sister Judy
Guess where? The Rialto, Venice, May 2000

May 2000 – Italy again, with my mother, my sister and my aunt – we spent a few nights each in Rome and Venice, with a dash through Florence on the way from one to the other – by this time I was getting fairly experienced in all of these cities.

The same three (I called them Tre Signore) in Rome
May 2000

August 2000: Edinburgh and London – first long weekend trip to Edinburgh with students ahead of their spending their fall semester in London

The first group of students to go to the Edinburgh
Festival, here with Bill Sheasgreen at ICLC August 2000

The Bolshoi Theatre in the Snow, Moscow
November 2000

November 2000 – St Petersburg and Moscow with 5 hours in Helsinki – this trip was primarily to have a look at the NTI Moscow program, but I spent as much time in St Petersburg as I did Moscow and also dashed throught Helsinki before changing planes for the short hop to St Petersburg.

The Alexandrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg November 2000
in the foreground a statue of Katherine the Great

June 2001 – Munich, Salzburg and Vienna with Mom and Aunt Roseann – a somewhat flawed but in many ways wonderful trip

Dottore Gianni/Dr Jack at Munich's National Theatre
June 2001

August 2002 Edinburgh and London (Greg Bostwick took the students in 2001)

2002 Edinburghers at the Fringe Offices,
Edinburgh Fest

August 2003 Edinburgh and London

2003 Edinburghers at the castle

August 2004 Edinburgh and London

2004 Edinburghers at ICLC - Bill Sheasgreen got the idea
to pose with the flags of Scotland & St George, which continues
as a tradition

August 2005 – Edinburgh, again, with as always a few days in London

2005 Edinburghers prepare to climb Arthur's Seat

Fall 2005 – sabbatic leave in London the entire semester

In London fall 2005 there was a great group of students - here on the South Bank,
looking across at St Paul's Cathedral

The gardens of the Carnavalet Museum, Paris - this beautiful seventeenth c
building houses the Museum of the History of Paris & was important for my seminar
September 2005

During this time, in addition to day trips, I took two short trips to Paris in September and November (the second with students).

On the second Paris trip I led two tours, one about the French Revolution (the subject of my seminar) the other a theatre history tour - I had the fancy beret on loan from Fred, longtime caretaker at the London Center

Vernazza, one of the Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean between Genoa and Pisa, in Italy, where I spent my fall break

And I spent fall break of 2005 in Italy, Terre specifically Pisa, Florence, Cinque.

Everyone's seen the leaning tower, but this is the waterfront in Pisa, along the Arno River

Lake Como, north of Milan, taken from the beautiful gardens of the Villa Carlotta

Mid-April to mid-May 2006 – I traveled for a month in Italy including Naples, Bologna, Lucca, Milan, (day trips to Bergamo, Ravenna, Parma, Ferrara, Pompeii and Herculaneum, one of my favorite trips ever!

A view of Bologna from one of the Due Torre, two towers

What's left of St Mary's Abbey in York, one of
my favorite cities in England

June 2006 – research trip to London and York, primarily to see the York Passion plays

The Parthenon, Athens, on my sixtieth birthday trip

January 2007 – Greece for my sixtieth birthday: Athens, Arachovo, Napflio;  day visits/guided tours to the Acropolis, Epidauros, Delphi, Corinth, Mycenae

The view from my hotel window in Napflio, one gorgeous Greek town

August 2007 Edinburgh and London

2007 Edinburghers on the Royal Mile - the weather
can be a tad changeable there

The Royal National Theatre in London, June 2007

June 2007 – research trip to London, Paris

The Comédie Française at twilight, Paris June 2007

August 2008 Edinburgh and London

A group of 2008 Edinburghers at the Castle - the one in
the middle, Anna Reetz, came along with me every year
she was at Ithaca College!

August 2009 Edinburgh and London

2009 Edinburgher at the Royal Lyceum theatre, ahead of
a show we saw there

August 2010 Edinburgh and London

2010 Edinburghers at the castle

August 2011 Edinburgh and London

2011 Edinburghers, a large group, at the Sir
Walter Scott Memorial on Princes Street

July 2011-May 2012 – I took a full-year "terminal" sabbatic teaching at the London Center and living above it, in South Kensington, and went from there to:

Conwy Castle, just across the bay from Llandudno, North Wales

Late July – Llandudno and Castle Conwy, North Wales

The River Ness (yes, it leads to the Loch) - believe it or not,
this river flows through the center of the city of Inverness - but you'd
never know the city was there, would ye, lads & lassies?
Highland Fling

mid August – Highland Fling: Glasgow, day trip to Oban; Inverness, day trips to Isle of Skye and the Orkneys, Dundee, then to Edinburgh to meet the students for the long weekend in Edinburgh before the fall semester

Skara Brae, a well-preserved Neolithic village
in the Orkney Isles - Highland Fling

September – weekend trip to Glastonbury, Avebury, Bath and Stonehenge

students on the trip to Bath & the West Country, in front of
the Theatre Royal, Bath

September – 4 days in Paris to rehearse French Revolution walk

Luxembourg Palace, a prison during the French Revolution
pleasant research on my September trip to Paris

September – weekend trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwick, Oxford

The ICLC trip to Stratford - here is the River Avon, and
the recently renovated Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Dottore Gianni having the time of his life in Copenhagen
Fall break 2005

Fall break – Copenhagen – wonderful, wonderful

Copenhagen - the new Royal Theatre sits right on the water

November – another weekend in Stratford-Upon-Avon

Students from my seminar in front of the RST
when we returned to Stratford in November to see
a play

Students taking my French Revolution tour
in Paris (Notre Dame) in November

November – weekend trip to Paris with students

Students again in Paris, this time in Montmartre
at Sacre Coeur

Christmas Fair in Prague on my Christmas trip

December – Christmas trip to Budapest, Bratislava, Prague – back to my roots

And another Christmas Fair in Bratislava on the same trip

And one last Christmas Fair, this one in Budapest
on the same trip

Haunting, beautiful Bruges, on my birthday trip

January – birthday trip to Bruges – beautiful

Dottore Gianni awaits his birthday dinner,
Mozarthujs, Bruges

Sunrise from my hotel balcony, Ortigia, at Siracusa, Sicily

March – spring break in Sicily (Ortigia at Siracusa, Catania) – fascinating

Sunset on Ortigia, from a bar on the water

St Ives, Cornwall, on one of my last trips of the year

April – long weekend in Cornwall, specifically Penzance, St. Ives

And in Penzance, what else? A pirate!

On the "street" where I lived for 3 days in Amsterdam

May 2012 – last trip on my year abroad: 3 days in Amsterdam

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

I must say that just looking at my travel history on the page, it’s fairly impressive. Even with the lapse of many years between my first trip to Germany and my next trip abroad, I seem to have made up for the lapse in later years. A bit of the travel was funded by the college, but for the most part I paid my own way, which weakened my wallet but strengthened my knowledge of my subject and of myself. Oh it was Sweet! Oh, those Happy Days!

The key word for the important change in travel from the time when I was working to the time that I retired is “purpose.” During the former period I had it, now, I lack it. That’s a fairly vital lack, and so far, at only the beginning of what I hope will be a long retirement I have managed to invent purposes to travel, as I feel the need for that intent, that goal.  I find however that created purpose differs from REAL purpose, as I have merely been making it up as I go. It’s artificial, manufactured, and even though I enjoy much of it I sense its artificiality and am somewhat saddened by that.

Plaza Mayor, Madrid, September 2013

I will, however, continue to travel ("keep on truckin', truckin' on down the line - keep on trucking , trucking my blues away..."). In fact I have been to New York City, Washington DC, Charleston SC, Florida and one wonderful trip abroad, to Spain, since retiring. I had intended to leave in less than a week from now for a birthday trip to Mexico to view Mayan ruins but lack of funds prevented it. I still hope to visit Ireland or Italy in the spring - we live in hope. My fixed income, which seems to keep me in a fix, so to speak, is a much more serious culprit than is lack of purpose, because whether or not it's as satisfying as it once was, I can manufacture purpose, but unless I go into counterfeiting money, or begin to rob banks, there is nothing I can do about the cash flow. 

Park Guell, Barcelona - that's the Mediterranean in the distance
October 2013

So, why travel? To steal from the article, but also to reiterate the points I've made in this blog, perchè viaggio? Well, to depart from the familiar for the sake of new places themselves, but also to further self-knowledge. When one confronts a new land, one must not just confront the strange place, one must also confront, and thus learn about oneself.

Lands End again, Cornwall, April 2011 - so much more to see!

Hmmmm...more serious than usual, and as my title promised, more inquisitive and introspective as well - not a bad thing. I do believe that Dottore Gianni approves! Cheers, any and all who read this! And for the gods' sakes, travel!