A good way to get a feel for a country you are visiting is to take a train journey through it. Andy, Nigel and I took the train from Minsk to Brest and I snapped these photos to try and provide a better sense of what Belarus is like outside the main cities: Continue reading
One museum in Brest that Andy, Nigel and I enjoyed was the Museum of Confiscated Art (Known locally as the Museum of Salvaged Artistic Values), a display of valuable international art pieces (paintings, sculptures, ceramics) seized by Brest border guards as they were being smuggled out of the country. The museum itself is in an … Continue reading
Herat was a city I was looking forward to. Denied a visa into Iran, I knew Herat with its heavy Persian influence was about as close to Iran as I would get for a while. The city had a history that intrigued me as well. If you want to skip the background, you can just … Continue reading
I first became interested in Suriname after Tanja Gromala told me about it. It was after reading Karl Penta’s “Have Gun Will Travel” (the hardcover edition is pictured below), however, that I realized an investigation into Suriname as well as French Guiana by The Velvet Rocket was now compulsory. Here is how the jacket of Penta’s … Continue reading
It has been a while – too long – since Team Ames and Team Boers pursued an adventure together. So, it was with great pleasure that I, accompanied by my Italian, met up with Brandon and Amanda in Brazil. I’m a big fan of bees… and honey. Turns out my close family has the same … Continue reading
What can I say that has not already been said? I’ll just tell it like it is. The journey to Auschwitz… It’s just as gloomy as you would expect it to be. When Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1939, the Germans occupied Krakow and the smaller towns around it for the duration of … Continue reading
1915 – Built in Scheveningen as a sailing trader/fishing vessel 1917 – During World War I she is reported missing in the English Channel 1925 – Found abandoned in the Congo River by a Scheveningen fisherman who brings her back to the Netherlands 1928 – First engine installed 1926-1940 – Operates mostly as a cargo … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 