wish i were there

Heidi's Big Sur Recommendations

Heidi of 101 Cookbooks has a yummy-looking recipe for homemade power bars, accompanied by a bit of how-to video and some footage of her trip to Big Sur where she ate them.  She also recommends a few variations on the recipe, as well as where to stay (Treebones, a coastal "yurt hotel" I've mentioned before - she recommends #8 or #15) and where to hike (Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP, on the Ewoldsen Loop).

The Ewoldsen Loop is indeed a beautiful hike, and is just nearby of the best spots to get a look at McWay falls, a beautiful little waterfall that ends in the bright blue-green cove - the water is so clear, it feels like Hawaii or something.  There's a quick but crowded spot to check it out, starting at the east end of the Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP parking lot.

I also recommend taking Partington Cove trail, which is also in the JPB state park but has a trailhead about 2 miles north, just off of Highway 1.  It really looks like nothing - you park on a turnout just off of Partington Creek Bridge, and head through a cattle gate down a steep fire road.  It gets brushy after a bit, and the terrain keeps changing - next it's redwoods - until you pass through a  little tunnel and suddenly, you're on a rocky little landing.  When we were there, the only other poeple we saw during the entire beautiful hike were a group of local teenagers picnicing - fishing, playing the guitar, and completely ignoring our existence, even when (especially when?) we started freaking out because we saw a whale.  There's also another fork along the trail that leads to a spectacularly private cove - tons of rocks to scuttle and scramble over to get to the rocky beach with huge crashing waves.  Stunning.

check out this useful and well-photographed site, hikinginbigsur.com, for more ideas, and these previous posts from yours truly for more Big Sur planning.

dreaming of india...

i love this song, and it's been getting a lot of play around our house.  to me, it sounds like a selection from any of wes anderson's well-curated soundtracks...

the india song - big star

I'd like to go to india
Live in a big white house in the forest
Drink gin and tonic and play a grand piano
Read a few books
Far from what saddens my heart
Try to live away from it

Find a new girl
Who says she feels the same
Get to know her after the trip
Bathe in a forest pool
Her life a part of mine
And let no one know until i'm gone

Lo-fi Portland guide.

Notes by Naive posted another fantastic guide, this time to Portland, OR - really lovely pictures, great recommendations.  Will possibly be up there in the spring/summer 2008 - if not Portland, then at least Seattle, to visit family - so I'm hanging on to this.

She mentions staying at the ACE in Portland, which seems to be a bit of an upgrade from the ACE Seattle.  I've stayed at ACE Seattle twice now - the first time was okay, the second not so hot.  Or rather, very hot, as the city was experiencing a summertime heat wave and the rooms aren't air conditioned.  Whatever, not a huge deal since it's so cheap, right?   Except that they don't have screens on their windows - which I can appreciate aesthetically, I suppose - but we were literally swarmed by huge flies the entire time.   I can handle flies in the tropics, or in rural settings, but big ol' city flies in a supposedly hip and modern atmosphere?  Big ol' city flies at $189 a night?  No.  And the sheets on the bed were a gross 50/50 blend - pilled and scratchy.  Boo... It's not that cheap!  Maybe now that the Portland location is up and running, they will revisit the Seattle for a refresh.  It's high time...

heading to stockholm?

if you're heading to stockholm, be sure to check out design blogger emma's well assembled guide.  it's a good way to see the city like a local!  a quickie compilation of her recommendations includes:

• skansen museum
• kid's clothing stores under, uni, and birka baby
• shopping for grownups - head to the SoFo area of Sodermalm, to check out grandpa, tjallamalla, nudie jeans, kunigunda, lisa larsson secondhand, under, coctail, acne jeans, uni, and nakkna.
• lasse i parken, vurma, cafe string, and cafe tubby for small bites
• the restaurants berlin, pet sounds bar, matkultur,
• street, stockholm's only street market
• cajsa warg, an organic grocery store (i always like checking out grocery stores in another country, even if it's just to look at the packaging)
• modern design shops asplund, granit, designtorget, ahlens, and stockhome.
• to stay?  hotel rival, hotel birger jarl, and clarion hotel

not exactly travel related, but somehow sprinkled with wanderlust...

 

i love love love maira kalman.  she is indescribably amazing, and i just discovered that she's created a blog for ye olde new york times which is unfortunately on hiatus, but fortunately archived.  (check out november - it's all about paris.)  if you don't know about her or her late husband tibor, then you need to start clicking and reading. 

please watch this!  it's just so nice.

happy english shop

shelf looks like a fabulous place to pop into while in london... i heard about it on the blog of the fabulous laura normandin, who makes lovely illustrations and delicious hand-crafted goods.  there are more pictures on her site... 
(secret confession - when i was working in a tiny shop in soho a few years ago, i think i accosted her when she came in and made a purchase.  i was just so excited to meet the person who had drawn the cover art for sufjan steven's michigan album, of which i was obsessed at the time, that i just couldn't help myself.  awkward!  anyway, nice to see she's continuing to make more good things.  oh yeah, and speaking of good things, she's also one of the amazing crafters that makes martha fabulous.)

for the design fiend: denmark shops

brooklyn-based alexa runs the online home goods store and blog called lille hus, which focus on her love of all things danish.  occasionaly she posts about some shops she loves in copenhagen - go to her blog under copenhagen for pictures!  i'll have to make sure i check these out someday:

• mayol - blågårdsgade 5, st. tv., 200 københavn n, tel:+35360139  (housewares)
   
• det mondaene skur - gammel kongevej 82, 1850 frederiksberg C, tel:+33261012  (housewares)       

• grønlykke - læderstræde 3 og 5, 1201 københavn k, tel:+4533130081 (housewares)

• créme de la créme a la edgar - kompagnistræde 8, kld., 1208 københavn k, tel:+33361817;  at the corner of kompagnistræde and læderstræde (mostly kids clothing, with some adult thrown in for good measure)
• stilleben - læderstræde 14, dk-1203 københavn k, tel:+33911131 (ceramics and housewares)
• R.O.O.M. - nørregade 12, tel.+4533414400  (housewares)
• cykelmageren -store kongensgade 57B,  1264 københavn k, tel: 33111211 (very cool bikes, evidently they ship to the US, too!)

check out www.krak.dk for directions and maps - it's in danish, but if you just put the name of the place you want to find in the first search box, "hvad", on the home page, krak will give you the address.  then you can click "se resultater på kort", on the right side, and it will give you a map.  a map is a map in any language!

in the meantime, i'll have to settle for the online inspiration - lille hus is great (check out alexa's story here), but i also love alex beauchamp's hygge house - she offers a great explanation of the intangible appeal of hygge (more info here), and a lovely blog that explores a personal view of applying that danish concept to an american life.  so stop and smell the flowers already, okay?

(above photo - http://d-nice.com)

feeling french?

when i lived in manhattan, i managed to make a few weekend trips up to the hudson river valley.  during one detour, i discovered a gem of a shop called basic french in a tiny town called red hook.  it's full of great french imports, mostly everyday items like elegant housewares, comfy pj's, lovely children's toys, frenchy books and paper goods, and great smelling soaps and toiletries.  now that i'm in california, though, i really love their well-edited website - i go there whenever i'm pining for a little paris or provence.  the owner also created a blog (which hasn't been updated in a couple of years - oh well) about some of her adventures while summering in a house in the french countryside... it's good for a little vicarious vacationing!

high desert test sites

the annual andrea zittel-sponsored high desert test sites is coming up out in joshua tree on may 12-13...  i highly recommend it.  it's a great opportunity to be able to be a part of something sponsored by one of contemporary art's most notable artists - not just by or about the artist, but her collective vision and community.  um, can you tell that she's one of my favorites?  she makes me want to only eat out of bowls and live in one tiny room to maximize my efficency.  (ps - be sure to check out her show at moca right now, too.)  anyway, we went last spring and weren't able to see everything because we just drove out, spur of the moment, from los angeles.  some of the work we saw was quirky, some was unimpressive, some was definitely stimulating.... overall, it was a great experience.  it's supposed to be a smaller presentation this year, but we recently invested in a bunch of camping equipment for our trip to big sur so we are going to try out some desert camping and spend the night at the indian cove campsite just inside the park from 29 palms.  i have heard really good things about other campgrounds in the park, specifically ryan campground, white tank campground, and belle campground, but  indian cove is a bit closer to HDTS, and accepts reservations, so there it is.  i bought this guide to the park by james kaiser and it has been really helpful - he's very frank about his opinions.  the author also maintains a helpful website with some links to lodging; you can find it at jameskaiser.com. 

as far as hotels go, i remember hearing about a cool little place to stay in town where many of the rock climbers and joshua tree adventurers stay after a long day of adventure.  i can't remember the name, but here are some decent-seeming options i found from a google search and from the afore-mentioned site:

• 29 palms inn - unambitious (but doable) cabins and bungalows.  rates anywhere from $85 to $280.
  
• joshua tree inn - where gram parsons spent his last days, and other music legends (rolling stones, donovan, emmylou harris, the eagles) have stayed "over the years"... i'm sure it wasn't recently, but it looks like an interesting place with a good amount of history, nonetheless.  rates are $75 - $95 per night, with deals for a weekly rate
• spin and margie's desert hideaway - 4 suite hacienda-style bungalows, each with a kitchenette.  colorful, semi-crazy decor with mexican blankets and brightly painted walls.  could be better in person than it looks online...  rates are $115 - 150 per night.  i'm generally not into the b&b scene, though.
• rosebud ruby star - a small inn with 4 private bungalows.  2 night minimum.  of the four, i think i like the biltmore bunkhouse the best - $370 for 2 nights.  but again, not usually in love with b&b's...
• harmony motel - where U2 (one of my least favorite bands of all time) stayed as they worked on their joshua tree album.  recently renovated, but with not much charm - very boring cheap-looking decor, and by boring i don't mean minimalist. anyway, not at the top of the list, but very inexpensive - $70 a night.  also has one private cabin, the "jack kerouac cabin" for $80 per night.

considering the burgeoning art connection in joshua tree,  i wish there were a motel that rocks it like the thunderbird motel does in marfa, texas... there's enough style in palm springs, i guess, but it would be nice if someone did it in a more remote area.  if you don't mind not staying in the thick of joshua tree, i highly recommend hope springs out in desert hot springs, just next to palm springs.  what an gem - we stayed here last november, and i cannot recommend it highly enough.  serene, lovely, well maintained, out-of-the-way but not too disconnected, with friendly but non-intrusive hosts.

oh, and here's the wikipedia travel guide to j-tree. 

my architect...

continuing with architecture.... some serious destination inspiration came to me from the 2003 documentary my architect.  since seeing that film, i have been slightly obsessed with the idea of visiting louis i. kahn's national assembly building in dhaka, bangladesh. The building began construction in 1962 and was not completed until 1983, and was truly the pinnacle of kahn's career.  whether you enjoy the movie or not, hopefully you can see past his flaws as a human and just respect his life's work (see the imdb message boards for a little bit of comical shortsightedness).  there is an utter serentity to kahn's works - they seem strong and confident, but very much at peace, which definitely seems at odds with his personal affairs.  check out this site for some intriguing photographs of various kahn works, including the national assembly, by an architect/photo-hobbyist, as well as this book  - an incredible, in-depth exploration of the national assembly. 

the only kahn i've seen was when the husband and i were in la jolla a few months ago, and on our way to visit a friend... we passed the salk institute and couldn't help ourselves - we pulled in and walked around the exterior, peeking up into the building from the front of the fountain (it was a saturday, and the building is not open to the public except for special tours at noon every monday, wednesday, thursday, and friday, with reservations required).  we'll have to go for one of those tours next time, it definitely seems worth it.

speaking of modernists...

johnson in 1949 at glass house

budget travel online has a nice article about the recent opening to the public of philip johnson's glass house, and a great accompanying slideshow that mentions other modernist residential masterpieces that one can visit.  here's the rundown, in case the slideshow disappears:

• the glass house by philip johnson - new canaan, connecticut; tours from $25. 
• fallingwater by frank lloyd wright - mill run, western pennsylvania; tours from $16.
• villa savoye by le corbusier - poissy, france (40 min from paris); tickets €5
• maison la roche by le corbusier - paris, france; tickets around $4
  • also operated in paris by the fondation le corbusier: immeuble molitor - appartement de le corbusier.  refer to same site for information.
• schindler house by rudolph m. schindler - west hollywood, california (around the corner from me!);  admission $7.
• gropius house by walter gropius - lincoln, massachusets (about 30-45 minutes from boston); tickets $10.
• paul rudolph house by paul rudolph - new york city; only open the first friday of every month for a $20 tour - reservations required.
• rietveld schröder house by gerrit rietveld - utrecht, netherlands; tickets €16 and reservation practically required.
• farnsworth house by mies van der rohe - plano, illinois (about an hour from chicago); tickets $20.

and might i add a few recommendations of my own? 

• check out this old post about the sonneveld house in rotterdam, the netherlands; russel wright's dragon rock in upstate new york; and mies van der rohe's krefeld villas in krefeld, germany.
• for some reason (maybe it's the oppressive government, maybe it's the pollution, who can really say...) china is one of the least appealing places in the world to me.  really, i am dying to go everywhere, except there.  well, okay, i'd go, but it's maybe the very last location on my list.  my husband is all up in china's grill, though, and is dying to visit.  we'd both be happy, though, if it meant going to the great (bamboo) wall house, by kengo kuma, which is located outside beijing near the great wall.  bamboo house is part of a development which may deserve more of a post later, but for now go here to whet your appetite or check out this beautiful book about all of his work.  okay, so he's not a modernist, but whatever.

one more reason for india....

hey, did you know that le corbusier designed a city called chandigarh in india? according to this lonely planet article, "when pakistan was created in 1947, chandigarh was established to replace lahore as the punjabi capital."  Since the borders of those regions have changed so much, this area is now in india - it's located halfway from new delhi to the pakistan border.  anyway, more info to come, but i'm there.  architectural gems abound in that region, but i wasn't aware of this.  pictured above: the chandigarh assembly building.

stepwells

i love this blog, pruned, which covers mostly landscape architecture and some other cultural odds and ends.  this not-so-recent post (which i have been saving for a while now) gives a lesson on stepwells, which makes me want to go to india to see one in person - even in the face of what's going on in mumbai right now.  here's the original inspiration for pruned's post (see photo above), and here are some places to go to while you're there:

• chand baori, near the temple of harshshat mata
• panna mia stepped pond
• vasantgadh stepped pond, rajasthan
• hadi rani well, toda raisingh, rajasthan
• queen's stepwell at patan - gujarat state of western india
• nimrana stepwell, rajasthan
• cistern beside nahagarh fort, above jaipur
• manjushri stepwell, dhank, saurashtra
• the vav (aka well) in the small village of adalaj outside ahmedebad

link here to a great slideshow of stepwell photos, and check out the beautiful book steps to water: ancient stepwells of india - all about stepwells for further inspiration.

bibliophiles, please!

 
my book-obsessed husband sent me a link to this hotel in new york - the library hotel in new york city.  it's just around the corner from the grand old new york public library in midtown, so you can conveniently pop by and say hi to patience and fortitude during your trip.  here's the drill:  each of the 10 floors is organized by the dewey decimal system, and each room is filled with a collection of books on a selected topic - e.g. the classics, astronomy, erotic literature, new media, and so on.  so you can request a room that pertains to your interests and read away.  they also have a media library from which you can borrow any of the AFI's top 100 films, albeit on video.  i love that!   the decor is - books aside - that of a typical conservatively-dressed boutique hotel - tasteful and modern.  the writer's den serves drinks, the reading room serves coffee and pastries 24 hours, and the poetry garden is a lovely rooftop conservatory.  rates in the $400/night range... to be expected in NYC, i suppose.  anyhoo, much better execution than this place... sheesh.

i love the card catalog detail behind the reception desk in the lobby.  i wonder what their printed matter looks like... i hope there is some stamping of dates involved in the check-in process!

NYT frugal traveler

i love this - the NYtimes' frugal traveler is making a round-the-world trip this summer, and writing a column about his adventures every wednesday.  it's practically a blog.... um, except that it's affiliated with the most famous newspaper in the world.  anyway, you can see what he is up to this week (venice!) and post comments and suggestions on his travels here.  bon voyage!

the best pie in arizona

if you know me, you know i like pie.  i am not quite as crazy about it as these folks (barbara and bill windsor), but bless them for taking a trip all around america - no, not in an rv, but in a porsche convertible - to just eat pie and write about it!  those are my people!  yes!  i can't wait to be retired...  anyhoo, for someone like me, their site is a great resource - yup, i like road food as much as i like fancy food.  click for lists of the best pie in america, the worst pie in america, unusual pies (no thanks to that cheddar cheese fudge!), and the complete list of pies - all ranked.  love it.

...but somehow they missed my favorite pie in arizona, at the rock springs cafe and general store (tel. +623.374.5794) in black canyon city.  it's a 30 - 45 minute drive from downtown scottsdale, at exit 242 off the I-17.  it began as one of arizona's first 100 general stores, and they built some of the still standing brick buildings in the early 1920's.  it's definitely a roadside stop - there's a gas station, and a saloon (um, for your non-designated drivers, i guess), and a bit of a general store selling arizona kitsch and tourist trinkets. the real draw, though, is the pie... the coconut cream pie, my favorite kind, is amazing, but they have plenty of other varieties to satisfy your pie lust - crumb fruit pies, cream pies, and their famous jack daniels pecan pie.  it's a popular spot, though, so if you're worried about them being out of your pie, you can always call ahead and reserve one.  if you are on your way to flagstaff, or up for a bit of a drive, this is a required stop.  no, i mean it.  you will thank me.

bill and barbara also missed the pie 'n burger (913 e. california blvd., pasadena, tel. +626.795.1123 ; picture via potatotomato) and apple pan (10801 w. pico, los angeles, tel.+310.475.3585; picture via sundown), two of los angeles' pie institutions.  i'll let it slide for them, since california is such a big state and they had a lot of ground to cover.  but that's no excuse for you!  you're not on a round-the-country road trip!  these are landmarks, people!  so go!

and if you are planning a pie trip of your own, and bill and barbara's lead is not enough, consult american pie: slices of life (and pie) from america's back roads by pascale le draoulec for some extra insight.  i haven't read the book yet, but i did hear this chat with her on the now-defunct npr show savvy traveler.  she describes her own journey across america in search of great pie, and all of the characters she meets along the way.

looking for other good road food books?  amazon also has the bible of diner dining, roadfood by jane and michael stern, as well as their new title, two for the road.

two for the road!

just watched two for the road again this weekend - from 1967, starring audrey hepburn and albert finney, directed by stanley donen, soundtrack by henry mancini.  a crew doesn't get much better than that.  it's an old favorite of mine... if you haven't seen it, it is made up of flashbacks to happier times in their now-deteriorating marriage.  albert finney plays a beast of a husband but still manages plenty of raffish charm, and audrey's mary quant and paco rabanne clothing is spectacular, as always - check out those sunglasses above!  the two are constantly roadtripping around europe, hitting san tropez and the french countryside, with lively banter and plenty of fights in between.  they also drive some spectacular old cars when they aren't hitchhiking - an MG-TD, a triumph herald, and a fabulous mercedes 230 SL.  wouldn't it be great to rent an old european car, and recreate this (minus the fights)?  if this movie isn't destination inspiration, i don't know what is!

the zadar sea organ

more stairs, more architectural sight-seeing, also found on pruned... a link to an academic paper about a new "sea organ" in zadar, croatia.  too in-depth for me to want to read thoroughly, but a quick scan makes me to want to visit this new site that just opened back in spring of 2005.  essentially, it is a series of steps that lead into the sea with pipes installed underneath... each pipe has a whistle attached, and as the waves rush under the steps the movement of the air creates a musical composition.  here's another account (from a funny little blog) of the zadar sea organ.

here's some other zadar info, in case of a trip...

• hotel adriana select - decent looking, with a pretty pool.  but approx. 180 euros per night, depending on when you go!  i don't know why, but i thought croatia would be a less expensive than that!  i think the price is inclusive of some meals, though, so that could make a difference. not fabulous aesthetically, though...

• hotel president.  about 130 euros a night for standard single, with a very generic business-hotel look.

since hotels in zadar proper seem rather unappealing to me, maybe the idea is to stay in the dalmatian coast region and make zadar into a side trip.... i have heard positive mentions of hvar, dubrovnik, and zagreb.

• in dubrovnik, the pucic palace looks amazing.
• in the island brac, in a town called bol, the hotel kastil looks simple and modern - can't beat the sea views, either.  rates from 60 to 95 euros. 
• the arcotel allegra, in zagreb, looks appealing... only 70 euros per night, for a boutique-style hotel.

here are a couple of fodor's conversations about croatia that may be useful...

and i guess there's some variation on the sea organ in san francisco, a "wave organ", but it doesn't sound like it actually plays true music. here's roadtrip america's review of it.

free travel guide to spain

the good people of the fodor's messageboard swear by the free but super-detailed, personal advice that maribel's guides offer.  they know what they're talking about... so if you're on your way to spain, or even just considering a trip, this is worth a look.  maribel covers madrid, barcelona, sevilla, bilbao, san-sebastian, and hondarriba, as well as regional guides to the basque country, pais vasco, pays basque, and la rioja.  it's always nice to have another voice outside the generic guidebooks. 

tangential thoughts on other people's houses

check out this post on 101 cookbooks ...  yes, we have a destination in rotterdam.  it's called the sonneveld house, and is part of the netherlands architecture institute, which i'd also like to explore.  yup, add it to the list of places to go!   i especially love 101's picture of the master bedroom, above.  i hope she doesn't mind me posting it here... it's such an elegant shot.  i have to see the house for myself, though...  will it live up to those carefully cropped images?

 

...and that makes me think of a great book about mies van der rohe's krefeld villas, which until recently were two of mies' most ignored works.  located in germany, they currently serve as a museum for modern and contemporary art projects, and have hosted installations and performances by so many amazing artists - including yves klein, sol lewitt, and richard serra.  and if you are on your way to check out haus esters and haus lange, as they are named, here's the 411 on the towns of north rhine and westphalia, neighboring cities that may also be worth a visit.

while we're at it, did you know charlotte, NC is krefeld's sister city??? well, ya gotta love the internets....

...both of these buildings vaguely remind me of a 1958 movie by the great french director, jacques tati - mon oncle - a humorous, satirical, and almost-slapstick (in a french way) take on "modern" architecture and technology.  make sure you see the criterion collection version - because criterion does re-releases like nobody else.

....and someday i will make a pilgrimage to see russel wright's delicious home, dragon rock at manitoga, located in garrison, new york, in the hudson river valley.  talk about communing with nature....  i was captivated by this place when i saw pictures and pieces of it at the superb russel wright exhibition at the cooper-hewitt design museum in NYC back in 2002.  the catalog is still around if you are interested, and this is a charming title written by russel and his wife, mary, as well. 

isn't it fun to live vicariously?

why not kentucky?

well, should i ever find myself in louisville, kentucky for some reason (mint juleps at the derby, anyone?) i have two items on my itinerary: 

first, i need to check out the new boutique hotel (opening in april) called 21C, which is filled with amazing contemporary art from the $10 million collection of it's owner, steve wilson.  almost as cool may be the building itself that houses it; taking up four warehouses and a former bank, it cost $26 million to refurbish and 6 years to finish.  not much content on their site yet, but there are some details about it in this article from the NY Times T magazine... this weekend's issue was all about travel, and chock-filled with great info i want to take note of.

secondly, while i'm in good ol' louisville, i must have what may be the most amazing (and heart-attack-inducing) sandwich on this very planet:  the hot brown.  so, imagine an open-faced turkey sandwich on toast, with a sort of gravy and topped with bacon and parmesan cheese....  scandalous, right???  sign me up!  i think i first saw this described on some PBS show about road food, and i have been dreaming about it ever since.  and here's a complete review on the fabulous roadfood.com, an essential point of reference for any upcoming road trips.  i hear the sandwich is available all throughout louisville, but i think i'd like to go to the original source to have one - the brown hotel, a louisville institution since the 1920's.  until you get to kentucky, here are some recipes to try.... and while you're cooking and frying and toasting and eating, be sure to get in the kentucky mood by listening to my favorite album, the tennessee fire, by my favorite louisville boys, my morning jacket.  good stuff!

rope + rock = sacred

after flipping through this book again, i came across an illustration that got my imagination off and running.  it was a drawing of this:
 
(go here to see more of this photographer's work)

... so of course i looked into it.  called the wedded rocks, or meoto-iwa, they are in futami-ga-ura, mie prefecture, south of ise in the ise-shima national park.  in the native japanese religion, shinto, it's followers revere gods and spirits that personify all aspects of nature - like the sky, the earth, and all other sorts of natural phenomena.  rocks and trees can be sacred objects to followers of shinto, and they are often wrapped with a ceremonial white rice-straw rope called shimenawa.  that's what's going on here at meoto-iwa.  there is also some mention of the two rocks representing a husband and wife, wedded together.  i just think this is such a beautiful, lyrical, natural way of placing emphasis on an ordinary, natural phenomenon that might otherwise be taken for granted.  um, but not by practicers of shinto, i guess, since those are their deities.   well, you get what i mean... such an amazing image/idea/belief to draw inspiration from! 

i don't pretend to know anything about shinto and shimenawa, so check out these links to learn what (little) i learned:

• japanzone.com - shinto beliefs
• japanatlas.com - futami-ga-ura
• japanvisitor.com - a shortlist of japan's buddhist temples and shinto shrines
• randy's favorite getaways in rural japan (thanks randy, whomever you may be...)
• japan-guide.com - basic info on meoto-iwa, including a link to a site with tide schedules, because it seems to be perferable to see it when tides are high.
• trip to japan - travel tips on the chubu region, where these towns are located
  

i also learned that ise, which is nearby, is home to some of japan's most sacred shinto shrines.  also nearby are some pearl farms that you can check out and tour.  nagoya, japan's 4th largest city, might be a good base from which to start all of these adventures - a 2 hour train ride from tokyo and a great example of a more traditional japan of years past.

my fetish for japan...

i love this book, a year in japan, by kate t. williamson - really intimate, lovely little drawings about one person's year-long exploration of kyoto and japanese culture.  it feeds my fetish for their lifestyle!

and when i go to japan someday,  i need to...

• check out yuzawaya - it's a fabric and crafting mecca.
• explore the 100 yen stores - the japanese equivalent of a $1 store.  here's a good one, called natural kitchen.  in the meantime, i go here to get my fix: marukai (my favorite one is on hawthorne boulevard in torrance, but not on the website)
• go to a gathering of the tokyo stitch 'n' bitch
• shop for some zakka - hug o' war seems a good place to start

this month (march 2005), lucky magazine has a beautifully comprehensive guide to shopping in tokyo - i won't forget to bring that with me!