A Roll in the Hay in Northern Italy

I thought this article was most interesting in its approach. It covered such a small, specific experience, but managed to introduce the reader to aspects of northern Italian culture. It begins by setting the scene of the writer in a very ambiguous situation. She gives precise description but keeps the reader wondering what's going on until the third paragraph. You can tell that she did her research on the practice of hay bathing; she tells us the history of it in South Tyrol, the ingredients, and the government regulation.
She also uses the attendant to incorporate some history of the area's culture by mentioning her German accent and connection to Austria in the past. I thought that her method of touching on all this information was very well done; she always prefaces or follows factual information with its direct connection to her experience, so the facts don't weigh the piece down.
Part of what kept the piece interesting and moving forward was the writer's voice. She kept her tone light and humorous, like her skeptical comments on the g-string and that "this is what it must feel like to be a teabag." Her language and descriptions were very precise. Every word added to the piece.
I felt like one place where she had the opportunity to expand the piece and tell us more about northern Italy was the moment where she mentioned the scratch she got from a hike earlier. If she had wanted to, she could have included information about the hike and the story behind the scratch, and it would have given the reader a broader view of South Tyrol. However, I think that the reason the piece works so well is because she focuses on this single unique experience. Telling a story about her hike would have diverted the reader from the experience of the hay bath and I think it would have bogged down the tone and the voice of the piece.
So I think the success of this piece lies in the author's quick, precise description of this unique experience in northern Italy.

Jumping to Conclusions

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/traveler-magazine/unbound/victoria-falls/

This article starts off with both an interesting title and an engaging first paragraph.  Matson is able to place himself at the Zambezi River by making a game out of all the Z places.  This introduces the sense of humor and tone he is going to be using throughout the piece.  I think he also captures the feeling of watching this man jump off the waterfalls in a manner that most people can relate too.  "Jumping to the conclusion" that he is just trying to get a better view, when he jumps; and then he leaves the reader hanging, just like that man was hanging between (what the author thought was) life and death.

I thought it was interesting how Matson used two time periods in his piece.  One to introduce the Devil's Pool and the other for him to experience the Devil's Pool himself.  And even through the piece takes place in the span of five years, Matson keeps himself focused on his topic the lunacy and otherworldliness of this pool.

The only thing this piece left me wishing for was more of a local's perspective.  He has the one man say that some people die while swimming in the pool and that he wouldn't do it, but do other locals swim here or is it just a tourist attraction?

Matson ended the piece with himself becoming the crazy guy that is jumping, bringing the piece full circle.  And the juxtaposition of heaven and the Devil's Pool in the last paragraph was a great way to end the piece.

Overall, I was interested in the story that Matson was trying to tell and I think he succeed in creating a very full, short travel piece.

In Bulgaria, Roman Grandeur East of Italy

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/travel/in-plovdiv-bulgaria-roman-grandeur-east-of-italy.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ref=travel

I liked this article because of the writer's ability to cover a lot of different topics during her time in Plovdiv. In a long first sentence, she addresses both the history and the cuisine while also bringing herself into the piece. She then introduces her friend that is closely tied to the tumultuous history of Bulgaria. After giving a summation of part of Plovdiv's history, she then gives the reader an idea of what the city is like today and then focuses on the Nedkovich House, explaining her time there and the relevance of the house.

She then moves on to talk about another specific location, the Hindlian House. I like that she doesn't spend too much time talking about these places but instead mentions them and their significance to the city. She quotes the curator of one of the museums twice, giving us a sense that we're there, and by giving us enough information (but not too much), she shows how much there is to see in Plovdiv and establishes her knowledge of the city.

Moving quickly to the theater, she then shifts focus to theater and its impact in the old Plovdiv. She asserts that art is "what drives" the city today. I definitely liked the quotes that she included. She briefly included her favorite current artists as well. She then talked about the cuisine, which she started the piece with, giving us great descriptions of the food. I'm not sure how I feel about the abrupt ending, taking the piece back to Mia's ancestor's murder. I definitely think that it had to be addressed because that was the part of the story that I found most interesting, but I think it seemed out of place as there was no smooth transition. It seemed abrupt, and I wish she had given the history of that more while also still talking about her time in Bulgaria. I found this piece particularly interesting because the writer was so involved in the piece but I still felt like it wasn't overwhelming, and instead of "I," she mostly used the word "we," referring to her and Mia.

Courting Vienna

The article starts off with a very intriguing description of a person, not of Vienna, that drew my into the piece as I wondered about the significance of this person. The concluding line of the first paragraph, " Her name is Annelies, and she, not Mozart, nor Beethoven, nor even Empress Sissi, has come to embody Vienna for me", is interesting because now the reader knows her importance to the author but not yet why.  The rest of the article does a good job of exploring the author's time in Vienna up until he meets this waitress.

The whole article is about how we wants to get the local perspective of the city, instead of the tourist perspective which I know is a goal we are aiming at when we write our own pieces.  His first stop of shopping in the local markets was a good move because that is really something that visitors do not do and he explored a lot of culture in that market, even learning a local's recipe for sauerkraut.  I found the dialogue he put in very good and useful in understanding his experiences.

I felt like during his journey through the parts of the city, he weaved in the history very well.  But there were some points, especially during the section about music and his own attempts at conducting, I felt that there was too much.

Still I liked the way he pointed out little details of life in Vienna, focusing on parts of Viennese life that is indigenous and not touristy and how he discussed his own transition from visitor to local when he talked about loving to return from the center of the city to his Vienna.  Overall, I think the article provided a very good view of the city and talked about the merits of the city outside of what the every day tourist will see and experience.

The Longest Sunday

The article begins with a strong and effective title, envoking curiosity and directly linking with the theme of the piece without being overbearing or preachy. The first paragraph opens with uncanny descriptions  (nagging cell phone, ant colonies, jam and jangle, etc.) which I felt were a bit too colloquial and did not fit with the rest of the story. However, the author clearly states his angle at the end of the first paragraph, allowing the reader to ignore the awkward wording of the first few sentences.

Morgan does an incredible job of keeping his focus around the central theme and selling Paris in August, though he does not come off as a solicitor. He discusses places to go in Paris which may be undiscovered by the everyday tourist, such as the Garden of Love, the flea market, and the Cluny.

Morgan's historical , geographical and statistical intellegence adds to the credibility and authenticity of the article. The information about the 20% gap in population during August intrigued me and made me want to witness this phenomenon myself.

Time is a major concept in the article and is carried throughout with ease and success. The concluding paragraph brings the piece full circle without sounding corny or cliche. The article has a genuine plot and works as an effective short story as well as a first-hand account.

Ghosts of Hong Kong

Ghosts of Hong Kong

     By starting off with the quote, “The Chinese believe smoke is a way to communicate between the world of the living and the world of the dead,” Daisann McLane not only pulls the reader into the spiritual mysteries of the oriental world, but draws an intense connection between the superstitions and myths of Hong Kong and the housing projects that work relentlessly to repair and rebuild the overpopulated city. The cliff-hanger within the first segment builds up suspense for the rest of the piece, something I’ve not seen often in travel writing pieces; “The ghosts! They’re all here! This is where they go!”

     McLane gives essense to the city—the most striking line for me here was: “The most commonly used word in Hong Kong isn’t in Cantonese but English: ‘Sorry.’” It speaks volumes about the city (it’s Americanization) without editorializing. Even details from daily life, including the fish in the market, help add an authentic, intelligent voice to this piece. It settles readers in for the inevitable subpoint: “’Foreigners coming to Hong Kong for the first time always ask if Hong Kong has changed since the handover from Britain to China,’ said one of Lau’s friends, pointing down from the tin toi to streets filled with Friday evening happy hour revelers. ‘They want to know if we have become more Chinese. Actually, we are becoming less Chinese.’”

     That being said, there are elements in this story that don’t seem to add to these overarching ideas of overcrowding, Americanization, Oriental superstition/myth, etc. For example, I think the paragraphs detailing the tradition of eating on ones roof are excessive. Though it does shed more light on the cuisine in China, I didn’t see it as essential to the major points McLane was trying to draw upon.