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Destinations, Landscape Architecture, New Zealand

Blueprints for Christchurch: Post-Quake Construction

July 30, 2012

Speaking of being on a landscape architecture kick…

This morning, I’m sitting in my makeshift office on site at Carmel by the Sea, working on a master plan for the 58 year old holiday and conference center on the shores of the Indian Ocean in South Africa. (No, you haven’t missed anything. The blog is country or two backlogged: I have stores from Lebanon to share before shifting hemispheres again…)

But I was too giddy to resist sharing today’s landscape architecture thrill: recently released blueprints for redevelopment of the Christchurch Central Business District in New Zealand.

CG animation of Christchurch, New Zealand produced by Animation Research Ltd. for CERA (the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority), CCDU (the Christchurch Central Development Unit), the Christchurch City Council and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.

Eight years ago, I moved to Christchurch, New Zealand for five months. The short season was long enough to forever change me. I fell head over heels for the country and its people. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Greece, Landscape Architecture, Musings

Landscape Architecture Footnotes: First Pier and the Thessaloniki Waterfront

July 29, 2012

Pardon me while I nerd out for a moment. I love being a landscape architect, and I love encountering places around the world where people are truly using and enjoying outdoor space.

And I love learning.

That would be me – loving the oh-so-comfy benches on Thessaloniki’s First Pier

Ahead of our one-day visit to Thessaloniki, Greece, I didn’t read up or investigate. I peeked at a map of the city when booking accommodations and otherwise walked in blind, so perhaps it was the absence of expectation or perhaps the atmosphere of pre-sunset light?

Whatever the case, when Ted and I walked down to the waterfront after dinner, I was absolutely enchanted by the First Pier of the Thessaloniki Port. It’s a little slice of urban paradise projecting out into the harbor, and I joyfully sat in the sunshine, people-watching and observing a successful night in the life of public open space. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Greece

An Untitled Day in Greece

July 26, 2012

Shameful it seemed, booking a single night in Thessaloniki, flying out the following day, relegating a city of history and significance to barely more than a transit stop.

How could one day do it justice?

We’d spent time in Greece before; my mom’s an educator who leads students on academic tours overseas, and Ted and I each chaperoned on occasion, visiting historically significant sites like Delphi, the Lion’s Gate at Mycenae, the amphitheater at Epidaurus, the Acropolis, and charming islands off the Peloponnese.

Too, my great-grandpa Xenophone Tringas immigrated to the United States near the turn of the 20th century, and I’d accompanied extended family members in 2006 to visit his little village of Istiaia on the Greek Island of Evia.

Memories of table wine lasting far into the night…of tangling my feet in the left-right-lefts of Greek dance…of finding my favorite silver and moonstone worry beads in a little shop on Hydra and my chunky amber necklace on a neighboring isle…of stepping foot with grandparents, parents, brothers, and cousins on the same front porch that my great-grandpa knew as a boy…these memories all nagged my spirit: “No, 24 hours will seem shallow by comparison. There’s not enough time to appreciate the place or make worthwhile memories that will live up to the past.”

Wrong again. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Macedonia

Cheap and Delicious Food on the Road: Meals in Macedonia

July 23, 2012

Favorite travel experiences: finding cheap and delicious food in unexpected places.

There we were, spending currencies void of English characters, enjoying the payoff after scrimping and saving at home to afford meals of whimsy in oddball settings on foreign soil. (Well, foreign asphalt on a side street in the concrete-jungle of Skopje, Macedonia.) Yes, we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to savor Michelin Star meals on our travels, but sometimes we find the most satisfaction in feast from a hole in the wall kitchen with a menu of foreign letters and surprisingly wallet-friendly numbers.

Ted left a 1,000 bill to cover the tab…and received 500 in change. I’ll spare you the trip to xe.com to figure out the exchange rate between US dollars and the Macedonian denar.

The total cost for drinks and a filling lunch for two: $10.06. Including tip. Continue Reading…

Guest Posts, Musings, Social Work

The Value of Being a Foreigner

July 19, 2012

This week, Ted’s Alma mater, Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon, shares his essay about the impacts of extended international travel on his understanding of the world and ability to love.

“One of the most important reasons to travel is to know what it feels like to be a foreigner.” – A. A. Gill

Not until I had been off North American soil for three months did I fully realize how much I missed home. South America was still “America;” I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t expect to feel so out of place, so distant, so foreign. On a daily basis, I found myself in situations where I was completely dependent on local people for the most basic necessities: food, water, transportation, communication. There was no “Spanglish” spoken here.

Thirty-one months after graduating from Multnomah, my wife and I embarked on a one-year backpacking journey around the world. We quit our jobs, mine at a local homeless shelter, hers at a landscape architecture firm, sold our stuff, and with much idealism began our journey in Lima, Peru. Today, I sit in a breezy apartment in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, reflecting on the last six months, bracing for the next half.

If there is one thing I wasn’t prepared for, it was being a foreigner in a foreign land. Sure, I’ve been places before—Europe, Mexico, Canada. But these days one can travel to all kinds of places without really having to leave the comfort and familiarity of ‘America.’ When we finally got off the beaten path, in Southern Bolivia for instance, or in Northern Lebanon, or on the undeveloped side of a Cape Verde island, we experienced a different kind of travel. We became at times guests, at times imposters, at times gawking and squawking ignorants, but always at the mercy of the land and people around us…

(Continue reading at the Multnomah University Blog)

Musings, Photography

Capture the Colour

July 15, 2012

One of my favorite preschool memories: snipping pictures from magazines and pasting them up to create my very own book of colors. One of my favorite childhood ditties: “Red and yellow and pink and green…purple and orange and blue…I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too…”

To this day, I get a kick out of ROY G. BIV, and, yes, I color code my iPhone apps.

No surprise that the compulsive, creative artist/organizer in me loved receiving Paul’s nomination to participate in the  Capture the Colo(u)r themed photo contest. Funny, though, sorting through six months of travel memories to find five photos turned quickly into hours of nostalgia spent scrolling through more than a few snapshots from home. Little square mobile pics reminded me of many good memories and great friends, and they looked so cute in a rainbow row…

For contest entries and competition details, please scroll down farther, but for a side-tracked walk down iPhone-memory-lane, indulge me and stay up here just a wee bit longer:

Continue Reading…

Destinations, Montenegro

Settlers of Kotor: Climbing Ancient Fortifications (and Scheming Up Board Game Expansion Packs)

July 12, 2012

High atop the Mountain of St. John, ancient stonework fortifications dating back to Emperor Justinian’s 6th century construction projects overlook Stari Grad, the old town of Kotor, Montenegro. The secured land is prime real estate located directly above the valuable eastern European port city on the Bay of Kotor at one of the farthest inland points of the Adriatic Sea.

If the spot was on the Settlers of Catan game board, I’d claim it on my first turn. A sea port with mountain access, and industries of art, gold, masonry, iconography, and architecture? Yes, please. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Food, Montenegro

Kotor, Montenegro: The City We’d Never Heard Of and Olives We’ll Never Forget

July 10, 2012



Kotor, Montenegro bears a truly impressive setting and a mind-boggling, complex history. I’ll admit (same song, second verse) to not knowing anything at all about the city or the region prior to our grand overland experiment. Each new visit to a place inspires research and learning (same song, third verse?), and here’s the smattering I’ve pieced together about this corner of the world: Continue Reading…

Money Matters, Travel Plans

Choose Your Own Adventure, Eastern European Style

July 8, 2012

Dilemma: We’re in Croatia. We need to get to Lebanon.

Do we A) pay for fast plane tickets or B) take the same money and divvy it up between bus rides, accommodations, food, and a cheaper, shorter flight from northeastern Greece and gain visits to Montenegro, Macedonia, and Greece (interspersed with brief stops in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Cyprus) in exchange for roughing-it on a few more bumpy roads?

For Choice A, turn to page 37. For Choice B, turn to page 73. (Kidding, kidding…but if there was a page 73, that’s where we’d be!)

Our decision: Overland through Eastern Europe. For nearly the same cost as two tickets, we gained a ten day visit to new-to-us corners of the world.

Continue Reading…