Program 663: The MLK Trail; Afghanistan Ski Challenge; Favorite Travel Memories

On the next Travel with Rick Steves, we look at places you can visit, to better appreciate the accomplishments of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. Adam Russell Taylor from Sojourners suggests sights that taught him the most.

Travel writer Tim Neville tells us how a home-grown ski slope gave a bit of joy to the young people of Bamyan Afghanistan, at least for a few years.

And listeners share their favorite travel memories, as they anticipate new adventures before long.

• Sojourners President Adam Russell Taylor, author of "A More Perfect Union" (Broadleaf Books)
• Travel writer Tim Neville

• Sojourners President Adam Russell Taylor is the author of "A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community." 
• The sites Adam recommends visiting are:
  The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. 
  The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
  The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis  
  The original Ebenezer Baptist Church building in Atlanta, and The King Center for Nonviolence and Social Change.
• The Civil Rights Trail has an interactive map that lists more than 100 relevant sites you can visit in 15 different states. 
• Tim Neville adds that a fundraising effort to support Afghan refugees has been started from Switzerland for the Bamyan Ski Club.
• The Guardian provided a photo essay of the Afghan Ski Challenge in March 2021.
• Tim Neville spoke with Rick about "unlikely ski resorts" in Kosovo and North Korea, on Travel with Rick Steves program #424 in November, 2015.
• Former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, whom caller Patricia met, died from complications attributed to Covid-19 in December 2020, at the age of 94.
• Listener Nick on Staten Island New York wrote in the March 2021 online magazine for AAA Northeast about his experience driving in Sicily for the first time.

• "My first (and only) trip to Spain was to Catalunya-Barcelona in Dec 2017 at the height of the independence movement. I loved it. The food was delicious, wine well priced and fantastic, the sites and neighborhoods incredible, and the people so very friendly. I have heard there is no one-true Spain, as it is really an amalgamation of so many cultures." (Larry in Boston)
• While traveling in Ireland in 2007 we had a very memorable (and sleepless) experience witnessing young Irish people partying all night while staying at a bed and breakfast in a village in County Cork. Moral of the story: If you visit South Cork on a warm and beautiful October Saturday, plan on sleeping through the afternoon, and then join the party that night.  (Jake in Bend, Oregon)
• "On my last visit to Paris I tried a new tactic for dinner. I found a small, very local-heavy bistro near my lodging. The food was very reasonably priced and very good, and so I returned there the following evening, and the one after that. Beyond a reliably delicious and budget-friendly meal I became a 'regular' there! I highly recommend this 'method,' especially for solo travelers who tend to feel more markedly the accumulated effects of social isolation at the evenings." (e-mail from Kimberly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
• Caller recommends reading Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" as the best preparation for a trip to Paris. "Once there I always visit the Shakespeare & Company Bookstore's second floor to touch the books, and imagine what life might have been like for the writers of 1920s Paris." (Martha in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts)
• "While it is understandable that first-time American tourists in Germany might be drawn to the west, especially Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, there are so many interesting places in eastern Germany that are not often frequented by American tourists.  Our pre-covid independent travel in the former East Germany included Berlin, Dresden and Potsdam, and the Luther sites of Erfurt, Wartburg Castle and Wittenberg. Many less well-known sites are worth a visit." (e-mail from Kirk in Bellingham, Washington)   
• "My most memorable moment during our pilgrimage walk from Le Puy en Velay to Conques was meeting France's former president Giscard d'Estaing at his château and having my photo taken. He even greeted me and said goodbye in Mandarin."  (Patricia in Bothell, Washington)
• "My wife and I went on a couples trip to Sicily. It was the first time I drove in Europe. For us, it was a trip to visit sites all over Sicily, but also family in Messina. That rental car brought so many misadventures and memories, most of them fond, they inspired me to write about them. There were so many I didn't want to forget. Since it was driving related, I sent it to the editor of the regional Triple-A Northeast website. They wound up publishing it! I had never had any writings go public before, so it was a huge thrill." (e-mail from Nick Popolo, Staten Island, New York)  

• Dr. Don Shirley, "I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free," Gospel According to Don Shirley / Columbia (1968)
• Warner Williams, "Step It Up and Go," Blues Routes (collection) / Smithsonian Folkways
• Intro to Aretha Franklin, "Tiny Sparrow (You Fair and Tender Maidens)," Tiny Sparrow:  The Bobby Scott Sessions / Columbia-Legacy
• Carl Burnett, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," Life Before MIDI / (self-released)
• Taj Mahal, "Waitin' for my Poppa," Follow the Drinking Gourd:  A Story of the Underground Railroad / Rabbit Ears Productions-BMG Music
• Etta Baker, "One Dime Blues," Blues Routes (collection) / Smithsonian Folkways
• * Toledo Clarinets, arr. Greg Kostraba, "Venezuela-Las Pascuas, No. 3:  Aguinaldo (William  Grant Still)," Works by Moross, Still, Osborn, and Dietz / Cambria
• Du'Oud, "Racailles," Wild Serenade / Label Bleu (France)
• Zurich Symphony Orchestra, Bian Zushan, cond., "The New Sound," East West Symphony and other compositions by Heinrich Schweizer / Musica Helvetica-Swiss Radio International
• Rahim Alhaj & String Quintet, "Letter 7: Fly Home-Fatima," Letters from Iraq: Oud and String Quintet / Smithsonian Folkways
• Malang and Mohammed Akram Rohnawaz, "Drum Solo on the Zerbaghali," The Big Bang (collection) / Ellipsis Arts
• Aphex Twin, "Shiny Metal Rods," Selected Ambient Works, vol. 2 / Sire-Warner Bros.
• Sporto Kantes, "Lee," Beast Off / Green United Music
• * Tim Story, "Emerald Lake," Caravan-A Soundtrack / Nepenthe Music
• Intro to Buffy Sainte-Marie, "The Priests of the Golden Bull," Medicine Songs / True North
• Modern Mandolin Quartet, "Redonda," Sampler '94 (collection) / Windham Hill
• Antoine Rozé, "Temple Bar Party," KTV 015 Discovery-Electro Celtic / Universal Production Music France
• Olivier Baumont, harpsichord, "Les Barricades Misterieuses (Couperin)," The French Experience, disc 2 (collection) / Warner Classics
• Simon Gledhill, "Ace of Clubs," California Here I Come (performed on the Wurlitzer organ at San Francisco's Castro Theatre) / TV Recording
• Minnesota Orchestra, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, cond., "Dance Suite: Moderato (Bartok)," Dalí: Música Surreal (collection) / Museum Music
• Gerry Mulligan, Michel Legrand, "Malagan Stew," Michel Legrand-Le Jazz Grand / DCC

* indicates filler music used during breaks

• The segment A interview this week dovetails with the Martin Luther King national holiday. Rick mentions it in the open to segment A.
• Rick refers to the Taliban taking back control of Afghanistan in the billboard and in the segment B interview. At 21:18, Rick adds "it's tragic what's going on now" in Afghanistan. Tim Neville adds that the current political situation for the skiers in Afghanistan is "fairly bleak" at 31:34.
• At 34:46, Tim says he gets daily messages from people he met in Bamyan, and adds that many have scattered to other countries, while some remain, frightened at home in Bamyan. He adds that the Taliban are anti-sports. 
• At 38:00, Rick says he hopes there will be skiing again in Afghanistan.
• Rick opens the segment C open phones segment with "Even if you're not up for the challenges that can come with international travel right now…"
• At 41:15, Rick notes that political leaders in the Catalunya region of Spain "recently declared" their independence from Spain.