Author of "Driving in Florida: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Surviving the Roadways of the Sunshine State" Talks Road Safety; Learning Italian with Viaggiando Travel Agency, Milan, Italy; Summer Exhibitions and Classic American Art at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts; Pissarro's People Plus Contemporary Photos and Sculpture at the Francine and Sterling Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
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Topics Include:
Dr. Howard Grossbard, Author and Gastroenterologist, Sarasota, Florida, USA.
Email Dr. Grossbard
Travel Expert Stephanie Abrams and the "Travel With Stephanie Abrams!" Radio Show talk with Dr. Howard Grossbard, Author and Gastroenterologist based in Sarasota, Florida. Howard is the author of "Driving in Florida: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Surviving the Roadways of the Sunshine State," a book that highlights some of the crazier things drivers might encounter from Tallahassee to Key West.
"I've discovered that every day is an adventure on the roads," says Howard. "It's a very short book – really a booklet of 40-odd pages of text and some very funny drawings. I was drawn to writing the book after my family got tired of my raging at other drivers, when of course the other drivers couldn't hear. So I decided to write up a catalogue of things that happen regularly on Florida highways."
For example, a frequent sight is the car that seems to drive itself. "It's the invisible driver," explains Howard. "When you're behind the car, you don't see anyone. It turns out it's a 90-year-old, 90-pound woman with opthalmologist glasses who doesn't have a clue where she's going or what's going on around her." What makes driving in Florida so problematic, he adds, is the high percentage of both very young and very elderly drivers.
The very young and very elderly driving population is, according to Howard, created by the state's licensing laws. Teenagers in Florida can get driving permits at age 15 and licenses shortly thereafter. On the other end of the spectrum, Florida drivers can have their licenses renewed automatically through the age of 80. After that, all that's needed is an eye exam before the license is renewed for 3 years.
What's the most dangerous place on Florida roads? "Intersections," says Howard. "People don't know what to do at traffic lights. Everywhere else in the world, green means go, yellow means slow down, and red means stop. In Florida, green means go fast, yellow means accelerate, and red means barrel through the intersection. It's exactly the opposite of what you would think! Numerous visitors have come down to Sarasota and asked whether drivers stop at red lights. Most people don't – and those that do have bumper stickers to say that they stop at red lights. And of course stop signs are completely optional, if people can see them to begin with."
No matter what is taught in driver's ed courses, Howard suggests yielding to everyone in sight at four-way stops. "You always assume that either someone is going to run a different sign or go in front of you, even if you're the first one at the intersection," he says. "Just yield to everyone, especially elderly drivers." Going along with this, Howard recommends never fighting with anything larger. As a former motorcyclist, he understands that a bike will never win against a car.
Another key point to remember at Florida intersections is that a green light doesn't mean it's safe to proceed. "When you're at a red light and it changes, the last thing you do is go forward," says Howard. "You have to wait for a guy to run the red light in the other direction. And if the light's about to turn red, the last thing you want to do is step on the brakes. Everyone assumes you're going to run the red light, so you'll be hit from behind. Another major problem is speed. People have no concept of spacing between cars and will sit 5 feet behind you going 60 miles an hour. If you have to step on the brakes, you'll have a visitor in the backseat."
Of course, not all states have such drivers. On his trips to the Rockies, Howard has been impressed with Colorado drivers, who, he says, don't pose any of the problems he faces in Florida. Stephanie encountered polite drivers in Texas. "Someone would never think of stealing your parking space there, because everyone has guns," she says. This brings Howard to another point about expressing anger on the road. "You have to be careful when you flip people the one-fingered salute, because they may be armed these days," he warns.
What's the solution to Florida's driving problem? "It's not a priority to change things," Howard says. "But they are putting cameras at intersections to catch people running red lights and automatically ticket them. To me, this is a good thing. And so far, it hasn't been a big revenue generator. I'm hoping it won't be, because then people will get the idea that they shouldn't be running red lights because it's not safe and it will save lives – or at least bumpers."
When not opining on Florida's crazy drivers, Howard is a practicing gastroenterologist. Upset stomachs are a problem for many travelers; Stephanie once organized a familiarization trip to Italy where one woman was plagued by stomach pains even though she was careful about what she ate and drank. A fellow traveler happened to be a cardiologist and counseled the woman to stop drinking mineral water. After a day of drinking tap water instead of mineral water, the woman felt better.
Howard's number-one tip for travelers is Pepto-Bismol. "It's the cure-all, the great preventative," he says. "If you're traveling in weird places – I've gone on safari in Africa with it – 2 tablets every morning does wonders. You just take it in advance. The other magic drug is Cipro, an antibiotic that's usually given to people with diarrhea. You'll need a prescription for it, but you can take it on your trip in case you develop an illness. In the vast majority of cases, it will shorten things."
Howard does caution that the bismuth in Pepto-Bismol turns everything black. "It's nothing to worry about," he says, "it's just the chemical reaction. But we have to warn people; otherwise they think they're bleeding to death." He also recommends that travelers with a tendency towards heartburn or indigestion pack an acid suppressor. He suggests Prilosec, which is available over-the-counter both in the U.S. and often in Europe.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread:
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9210
Guests Include:
Dr. Howard Grossbard, Author and Gastroenterologist, Sarasota, Florida, USA.
Topics Include:
Alberto Amico, Travel Agency Owner, Viaggiando Travel Agency, Milan, Italy, Europe. www.viagginado.com
Travel Expert Stephanie Abrams and the "Travel With Stephanie Abrams!" Radio Show meet up with Alberto Amico, Owner of Viaggiando Travel Agency in Milan, Italy. Stephanie has known Alberto since his children were born. Viaggiando has a location on Via Montenapoleone in Milan, which is the equivalent of Rodeo Drive, Madison Avenue, or the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore.
Alberto is just about to meet with motivational speaker Tony Robbins, whose seminars have a growing following in Italy. "He's having more seminars in Italy, but the main ones are in the U.S.," explains Alberto. "So we organize the trip and everything. Most Italians can't follow in English, so we have simultaneous translations. We've organized trips to several locations: Palm Beach, Palm Springs, Scottsdale." He's also opened a second location of Viaggiando, near the famous La Scala opera house.
Although Stephanie loves Italy and has long-time friends like Alberto there, she's concerned about the plight of Amanda Knox, an American student who was convicted of the murder of her roommate and is now in an Italian prison. "I've spoken to people in Italy in the travel business, and in the early stages of the trial, they all thought Amanda Knox was guilty," Stephanie says. "Now, people seem to think there's been some injustice."
"I understand it's a very complicated situation," says Alberto. "I'm very sorry for what happened to Amanda Knox; I know we have some problems with our justice system. It's not always easy to follow what they're doing. I hope this new part of the judicial process will be in her favor, even though it's difficult to understand what's happening and what happened before in the trial. I would say that you shouldn't worry about coming to Italy, though. You can come, be safe, and see plenty of wonderful things."
Alberto was lucky enough to be there when Stephanie made her first joke in Italian. "We went to Venice Mestre, the land portion of Venice," she recalls. "Eventually, the land ends and you have to take a water taxi, which takes you exactly where you want to go, or a water bus, which goes to certain bus stops. So we were on the train to Venice Mestre, and Alberto pointed out the window and said, 'There's the River Po.' I only had a few sentences in Italian, so I said, 'Voglio un po,' which means 'I want to eat a little.' It was my first joke in Italian!"
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread:
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9209
For more information visit www.viagginado.com
Travel Tips:
Though she lives there year-round, Stephanie especially likes to spend her summers in Berkshire County in western Massachusetts. "Travel With Stephanie Abrams!" broadcasts from the Berkshire Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield. "It's really evolved into an amazing town; it's now actually a city," Stephanie says. "And it's pretty snazzy for a city that's still quite rural. You'll find a multitude of venues of historic value, including the Colonial Theatre, where both Rachmaninoff and Sarah Bernhardt performed several times."
The Berkshires are just 2 ½ hours north of New York City and 2 hours due west of Boston. Historically, the region was a stop between performances in New York and Boston, or between Boston and Chicago or Milwaukee. The city of Pittsfield also developed a cultural base thanks to the Crane family, which manufactured the paper on which U.S. currency is printed.
Stephanie is always disappointed to hear that tourism budgets are cut, and they are often the first thing to go when the economy gets tight. "Cutting the tourism budget is the dumbest thing you can do," she says. "If your town needs to fill its coffers, George Washington did a lot of traveling – you probably have someplace that he stayed, or another historic building.
"You can have the historic buildings redone – they've done that in an amazing and professional way in many places in Ireland," she continues. "And when you've created something that brings in visitors, they stay in your hotels, eat in your restaurants, buy souvenirs and local items, and fill their cars with gasoline. What they don't do is use your schools, your fire departments, or your police forces."
Fun Facts:
What we think of as 'Swiss cheese' (or 'Schweizer cheese,' as Stephanie learned growing up) is actually known as Gruyere in Switzerland. She learned this while in a Swiss shop buying supplies for a picnic. "On vacation, we often do marketing at the butcher or baker for a picnic," she says. "When our kids were younger, it was a way of avoiding a never-ending lunch in a restaurant and a good way for them to meet other children, if we stopped at parks or playgrounds."
Guests Include:
Alberto Amico, Travel Agency Owner, Viaggiando Travel Agency, Milan, Italy, Europe. www.viagginado.com
Topics Include:
Victoria "Vicki” Saltzman, Director of Communications, Francine & Sterling Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.
www.clarkart.edu
Travel Expert Stephanie Abrams and the "Travel With Stephanie Abrams!" discuss summer art exhibitions with Vickie Saltzman, Director of Communications at the Francine and Sterling Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The Clark Art Institute is a year-round destination located on a college campus that's surrounded by rolling green mountains. This summer, however, the museum has 3 special exhibitions in addition to its permanent collection.
The largest exhibition at the Clark in summer 2011 is "Pissarro's People." "It's the kind of exhibition that people have come to know and love the Clark for doing," says Vickie. "It's gloriously beautiful, filled with exceptional works that came from museums and private collections around the world. We're very fortunate to be able to engage many museums and collectors in lending their paintings because they realize the important scholarship that this show puts forth. It's looking at Pissarro not just as a great landscape painter – which is what most people think about, given that he's known as the father of Impressionism."
Curated by Richard Brettell of the University of Texas, the exhibition looks at Pissarro the man, his family relationships, and the personal and political connections that he maintained through his life. The exhibition explores how these relationships influenced Pissarro's art and how his art reflects the man's interesting and intriguing life. "He was far more than just a painter," adds Vickie. "So the exhibition has more than 90 beautiful works. The galleries are humming with people."
The museum's Stonehill Center currently hosts an exhibition by African contemporary artist El Anatsui. "He's probably one of the most significant sculptors working today and one of the most important coming out of Africa," says Vickie. "The 3 works we have are just breathtaking – that's the only word for it. They're massive pieces that at first glance appear to be textiles but in fact are sculptures hung on the walls.
"They're created from discarded aluminum bottle tops from liquor bottles found in Nigeria, where the artist lives and works," she continues. "The bottle tops are bent, crushed, crumpled, then wired together into incredible pieces. It's hard to imagine anyone actually creating them, but they are gorgeous. One of the works spills directly onto the floor, so we see it as kind of a living, breathing piece."
The third show at the Clark this summer is "Spaces," a contemporary photo exhibition with works by two noted German photographers, Candida Hofer and Thomas Struth. "They work in sort of diametrically opposed approaches to spaces," says Vickie. "Hofer looks at places that are virtually devoid of humans and shows the beauty of the connection between art and architecture in spaces like libraries, churches, or museums.
"Struth likes how people interact in those spaces – what they do when they're in museums, libraries, and churches," she adds. "So his pictures are full of people. Every time you look at them, you see something a little different. It's an interesting juxtaposition and a chance to do something very different with the Renoir Gallery this summer. Many of the Renoirs are still there – just in a different gallery – but many are on an international tour that will open July 13 in Giverny, France. It's kind of a homecoming for these French paintings to go back to the heart of Impressionist country."
So far on the European tour, over 680,000 people have seen the Renoirs and other paintings in Madrid and Milan. "We're very excited about the next stop on the tour in Giverny," says Vickie. "It was a very coordinated and planned ballet of shipments, places, and people [to organize the tour], and it's awesome to watch it happening. We're very excited to have the chance to bring new things into the Berkshires and equally excited to share these works with the rest of the world. It's a great opportunity for us to talk to the world about this magical little place in the Berkshires."
Although the Pissarro exhibit is open through the summer and until October 2, 2011, art lovers can also explore the paintings on the Clark Institute website. "We have a very extensive micro-site that talks about his story, political views, and family," says Vickie. "One thing that almost everyone will find interesting is his tremendously touching portraits of family members, including those of his daughter Minette, who died as a young girl. Anyone who is a parent can see the progression of the father's realization that his daughter's life was likely to be short and his obvious love, including in a heartbreaking piece that he painted on her deathbed."
Family was clearly an important part of Pissarro's life, and many of his descendants continue to be active in the art world. The curator of "Pissarro's People" worked closely with the artist's heirs while creating the show, and two of the artist's great-grandsons, Joaquin and Lionel, were able to visit the Clark before the show opened.
Related Photo Galleries:
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/album.php?albumid=441
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread:
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9208
For more information visit www.clarkart.edu
Fun Facts:
Camille Pissarro was born on the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean and held a Danish passport (though the island is now part of the U.S. Virgin Islands). After leaving the Caribbean, Pissarro went to South America, then moved to France to realize his dream of becoming an artist. He was born Jewish and influenced by Judaism throughout his life, particularly during the Dreyfus Affair. He was also an anarchist and held quite radical political beliefs, which also influenced his art.
The synagogue on St. Thomas has a sand-based floor and is the oldest synagogue in continuing use.
Guests Include:
Victoria "Vicki” Saltzman, Director of Communications, Francine & Sterling Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.
www.clarkart.edu
