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e-Marginalia :: A Passion for Travel
Issue #1, November 21, 2003
http://www.e-margaux.com
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READ ONLINE: If you experience any trouble opening the links in your newsletter or you would prefer to read online, you may access e-Marginalia at:
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http://www.e-margaux.com/en/contact/opt-in.htm
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In this issue:
~ WELCOME e-MARGONAUTS :: Greetings from e-Margaux
~ MEANDERING MARGAUX :: Naked Southwest, by George Davis
~ FEATURE STORIES :: Top Travel Tales
Potomac to Port du Punic, by Tasneem
Exploring Italy by Train, by Nancy J. DiDio
View from the Sun, by Nancy Koan
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~ WELCOME e-MARGONAUTS :: Greetings from e-Margaux
Welcome to the first ever e-Marginalia, the newsletter from
e-Margaux.com. Is it really possible? It seems like forever ago that
we decided it was time to respond to your requests for a newsletter,
and we've kept it on our To Do List, but it just kept getting pushed
back as we hustled to meet the rapidly growing demand for our
existing services. And then, when we finally committed to making the
dream a reality, to creating the quirkiest, helping-ist, neat-o-ist
travel e-journal a reality, it just plain took a lot longer to make
it happen than we had ever dreamed possible.
So, for all of you who've been mighty patient, we're sorry. Really,
really sorry. And thanks a whole lot for hanging in there and
waiting around. For those of you who've only just joined us, thank
you. The good news is that most of the major challenges are now
behind us, so there shouldn't be any more notable delays. And
finally, to all of you, a huge heartfelt welcome. I hope you enjoy
what we've prepared for you.
So, here's the skinny. e-Marginalia was born out of a desire to
create a truly alternative travel journal for those of us who feel
like travel is just about the most vital avocation out there.
(Actually, frankly, some of us consider travel to be closer to a
philosophy of life, not just a compulsion, but a vital and
nourishing way of existing... a paradigm for everything else that we
do! e-Marginalia was conceived as a forum for collecting and sharing
the esotorica, the diversity of rich artifacts that we all collect
along the way.
As we blundered along the dot-com superhighway, trying like the
dickens to craft a user-friendly forum for e-Marginalia, we wavered
between your basic, bare-bones monthly newsletter model and a far
grander online e-journal to showcase the best submissions we
received each quarter. There were ample pros and cons for each
model, and well, we decided that we just couldn’t live with one or
the other... so we compromised and created both. So voila, here it
is. A quarterly online e-journal which will live at http://www.e-margaux.com/en/e-marginalia
and a monthly newsletter which will keep everyone in the loop.
Each newsletter will include a Meandering Margaux reflection, the
first is an embarrassingly long-winded travelogue from a recent trip
through the Four Corners and at least three submissions currently
featured online at e-Marginalia. With time, there will be further
additions including travel promotions, hot new listings on
e-Margaux.com, and contest announcements, updates and winners.
But one step at a time. For now, we stall a moment to celebrate the
magic of Edna Badalian, our magical web designer, and to dream of
all the places we could be. I have chosen to feature the three
stories below—Tasneem’s quick-paced Tunisian travelogue, Nancy J.
DiDio’s down-to-earth train travels around Italy, and Nancy Koan’s
quirky reflection on a solar eclipse—because of there staggering
popularity since Friday when they were launched. If everyone else
loves them, then you probably will to.
So that’s enough blather for now. I hope you enjoy our maiden voyage
into the world of online publishing. Read a story, enjoy some
photographs, and start planning your next adventure!
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~ MEANDERING MARGAUX :: Naked Southwest, by George Davis
It was inevitable. Like falling in love again. Like sunrise after a
long, dream-filled night. Like the sort of deep satisfaction
discovered in a bowl of green chile stew after four years of Brie
and foi gras! It was inevitable that my return to the Southwest
after four years in Paris would rejuvenate me, no, would plunge me
headlong into the thrill and dazzle of naked living…
Naked?!?! That’s it. Unadulterated, unveiled, stripped of pretense
and modish packaging. Naked life. My wander through the Four
Corners, mostly centered around a couple of plum destinations in New
Mexico and Utah, reacquainted me with the vibrant raw beauty and
soul nurturing smorgasbord of the American Southwest…
Click Here for Story:
http://www.e-margaux.com/en/story/naked-southwest
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~ FEATURE STORY :: Potomac to Port du Punic, by Tasneem
Brrrr . . . Washington D.C. in early March is not a pleasant area in
which to spend one’s hard-earned free time. Winter persistently
clings to the city long after its welcome has worn out and spring is
more of a wishful thought than an actual season – if you blink,
you’ll miss it. I wanted to escape the slushy streets, the
threatening icicles, and the bone-chilling wind to spend my
sabbatical from the law in a relaxed, sun-splashed country.
Narrowing my choices was difficult, but I decided to trade the icy
Potomac River for the warm Mediterranean Sea. My friend Lina, a
fellow attorney-on-the-run, had been encouraging me to visit her in
Tunisia since she moved there from the States to join her husband.
With the invitation extended and the promise of balmy weather, a
visit to a coastal resort, and quiet tours of historical sites, I
booked my flight, packed my bags with summer clothes, and made my
zig-zaggy way (via Zurich and Paris) to North Africa
Click Here for Story:
http://www.e-margaux.com/en/story/potomac-to-port-du-punic
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~ FEATURE STORY :: Exploring Italy by Train, by Nancy J. DiDio
During our first visit to Italy several years ago, my husband Fred
and I became infatuated with everything about this charming country
of Fred’s ancestry. We have revisited there numerous times since to
experience the customs, marvel in the architecture and history, and
best of all, to enjoy the food. We have returned from each trip with
many fond memories, but one trip which stands out is a train trip we
made through Northern Italy.
When I made the suggestion to Fred that we do the train trip, I had
never even been on a train. The thought of using that mode of
transportation in a country we had only begun to know was a bit
intimidating. But, I had read that train travel in Europe is safe
and efficient, so it likely would not be any more challenging than
touring by auto, which we had done a couple of times. And, it
offered some advantages: we wouldn’t get lost, something which had
frequently happened in our auto trips; there would be no long
searches for parking places; and we could sit back, relax, and enjoy
the scenery instead of fumbling with maps and watching for signs,
all while being wary of the infamous Italian drivers. The decision
was made, and the planning began
Click Here for Story:
http://www.e-margaux.com/en/story/italy-by-train
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~ FEATURE STORY :: View from the Sun, by Nancy Koan
I’m not usually the type who likes weddings. My own or others. I’m a
funeral kind of person. I find people much more honest in grief than
in the joy so often displayed at matrimonial ceremonies. That being
said, there was one wedding I didn’t want to miss: the marriage
between the sun and the moon, a solar eclipse, August 11, 1999. As
I’d been living in England for the summer, the natural place to
witness this event was the southwest coast, Cornwall country. Two
and one-half minutes of totality were promised—a darkened sky in the
middle of the morning. Though that might not sound like such a big
deal in usually overcast Britain, it would in fact be very special.
Birds, momentarily confused, would stop singing as if night had
fallen. And if the astrologers were correct, a grand cross
configuration of outer planets would usher in a slew of strange
pre-millennial energies. Plus, the “powers that be” were warning
people that Southern England would turn into a huge mess with enorm
ous crowds, lack of food and water, and anarchist riots. That was my
idea of an experience
Click Here for Story:
http://www.e-margaux.com/en/story/view-from-the-sun
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