Amsterdam's Canals - thoughts of Venice...

When I first saw photos of Herengracht canal in Amsterdam, I thought of Venice and how much I wanted back on the road. Water is so calming, especially when it takes the place of cars.

The calmness and timelessness of Venice was so restful compared to the rest of our whirlwind trip throught Italy. Wandering along cobblestone walks, often ending at the edge of a canal, sending us back along a different path.

Are Amsterdam's canals - Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht, Zwanenburgwal - like that? Maybe a quick flight on KLM would answer that question?

Paperback Dreams, the documentary

Paperback Dreams
In Fall 2008, Vertigo Books in College Park MD presented the PBS documentary - PAPERBACK DREAMS. The film follows the challenges of independent bookstores by looking at Andy Ross, owner of Cody’s Books, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler’s Books. Check the website for airtimes on PBS or screenings. Hopefully it will come around again as all the dates on the website are for 2008.

What's it all about?

While Travel Dreams Books is about books and traveling (duh), it's also about dreaming of travels to places visited and places I'd love to see. It's about the dream of owning a bookstore that encourages and feeds the desire for travel and to learn about things that are different. To help us dream beyond the limitations of our day to day experiences.

Unfortunately, the bookstore piece of it seems further away as I read of more independent bookstores closing each month. Not only small ones, but often large independents with a steady clientele that have been neighborhood fixtures for years.

But isn't that what dreams are? Imagination, desire, aspiration, hope, wish (of course, they're also considered delusion, fantasy, hallucination and fiction). Only time will tell.