If it’s summer when I run away from home . . .

. . . look for me in Bergen; if winter, look for me in Cape Town.  Aside from our Seattle, which Ann and I love, (from which and from whom I have no intention of running) these are wonderland cities which we ‘discovered’ in September and May.  Seattle lies at 48° north; Bergen even further, at 60°.  Cape Town is not so near its pole: 34° south, roughly equivalent to Monterey, But surprisingly, Cape Town has the narrowist temperature range of the three, and is very temperate. And it’s also the driest of the three.  Bergen, like Seattle, is known for its rainy days.

If Seattle is forging the future (Amazon, Microsoft, Fred Hutch, UW, and the rest), Cape Town is the future.  Yes, Bergen also has a future because Norway is welcoming the stranger, the refugees whose courage and determination to make a new life will, in time, give Bergen and Oslo an energy boost to growth. But in Cape Town today one sees 3rd world future – dynamic, well and cleanly governed by the Democratic Alliance (which is challenging the ANC and now is to govern Jo’burg as well,) developing a middle class, and populating its universities and technical colleges with young, ambitious Africans (of all colors.) Yes, it has its issues, particularly among its cohort of unemployed and uneducated youth. Like most of Africa, just too many youngsters.  Nonetheless, Cape Town can be a model for Africa.

For the visitor?  Bergen.  Cape Town.  Seattle.  In that order.  Or , , , maybe it’s Cape Town, Bergen, Seattle , , , tough call. 

Bergen's Bryggen Waterfront

The waterfront of Bergen takes honors; would that we re-develop Alaska Way into as pleasant a place to dine and walk and see the sea at work.  (Oslo’s waterfront is even better.)  Cape Town’s is more like what San Francisco aspired to have but CT does it better.

Dining?  Cape Town, hands down.  Cape Town is home to some of the world’s outstanding restaurants, and remarkably affordable.  Plus those fine, inexpensive South African wines.  Bergen’s best restaurants are good but outrageously expensive and with limited wine lists.  Seattle offers a wide variety of fine options, and good wines from all over the world, but all more pricey than Cape Town’s. 

Bergen from Floyen

Table Mountain loons over Cape Town

Hiking on Mt. Floyen

Vistas?  Bergen’s Mt. Fløyen is lovely, especially since up top is a parkland forest of beautiful trails and ponds, but Cape Town’s Table Mountain is truly awesome – higher, steeper, more rugged.  And unlike Seattle’s Cascades, Bergen’s and Cape Town’s mountains are right there in your face, looming over their cities.

Cape Town from atop Table Mountain

Hotels?  Cape Town.  The Victoria is the finest I’ve ever stayed in, a truly boutique hotel.  Bergen?  Limited choice; we enjoyed The Park primarily because of the charm of its owners and staff.  And nothing tops Norwegian breakfast buffets!  Seattle’s hotels?  Pretty much garden variety American lodging, though I must admit to being out of touch with the local hotel scene; maybe there’s something out there hiding away in some nook or cranny I know not of.

One of Munch's paintings of Feelings

Art, music, theatre?  Seattle is unparalleled – one of only five US cities with world-class opera, symphony, ballet, chamber and theatres galore. Bergen, for its size, is remarkable, with its four Koda museums, Grieg Hall, the University, continual music festivals and Troldhaugen.  In Bergen, I came to see that Munch is so much more than just The Scream.  Cape Town is too busy growing up and assimilating this new South Africa; the arts and culture will come.

A park in central Bergen

Parks, open spaces and walkable downtowns?  Bergen – beautiful.  Of course, smaller towns have an advantage, but Bergen takes full advantage and does it right.

People?  The world could well become a bit more Norwegian.  They not merely welcome the stranger, they relish in strangers and shower one with interest, care, empathy, and consideration.  Hospitality in-deed. And they speak better English than we do!

Yes!  African penguins

A Sognefjorden passage

Nearby attractions?  Seattle has its Mts. Rainier, Adams, St. Helens, Baker; access to Vancouver and Victoria; the San Juans and Gulf Islands; and nearby skiing and the Methow.  Bergen offers the stunning Sognefjorden.  Cape Town offers Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful botanical gardens we know of; the sobering history of Robben Island; the lovely wine country of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek; and penguins!  Yes, African penguins!.   But Seattle takes honors; home is where the heart is.

Franschhoek vinyards

Accessibility?   Well, Seattle is right here for us, and an easy reach for you from out of town.   Bergen is surprisingly accessible and affordable if one shops around, especially though Reykjavik,  Yes, Cape Town is a long way away – ten and a half hours from Amsterdam, another eleven hours from Seattle; so you don’t go for a weekend.

 

Bergen and Cape Town -- two most attractive cities at opposite ends of the earth.  Both with much to offer the world.  Look for me one place or the other -- 

Bergen waterfront

 -- if and when I run away from home.

The Speech I Wish She'd Given

I have been with Hillary since the beginning but was very disappointed in her acceptance speech Thursday.  She wasted the largest audience she is likely to have this year.  The speech was poorly conceived, poorly organized, repetitious, overly long and poorly delivered.  She pointed her finger and shouted at us; I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to have a finger pointed at me or be shouted at.  I want a talk, not a speech.  I wanted to hear why I should trust and support this woman.  Here is the speech I wish she had given.

Hillary Clinton:

Thank you.  Thank you. Thank you for placing your faith in me as Democratic Nominee for President of this vast and marvelously diverse country.  I humbly accept your nomination.

Much has been said about me over the last six months – about my strengths and weaknesses.  Some of it over-blown praise; much of it mean-spirited scorn and criticism.  Perhaps now it’s time I talked about me – not about what I plan and propose, you’ve heard plenty of that and will hear a lot more before November.  Perhaps now it’s time I talked about why – why I care, what makes me tick, why I want to take on the challenges and drudgery and pot-shots of what I’ve seen and what’s been called the worst and hardest job in America.  After all the talk about my hair, why would I want a job that will turn it white all that sooner? (laughs)  But seriously, why am I willing, why am I seeking to take on that job?

Perhaps I was born with a caring gene.  I probably got it from my mother, but I care about people who need care and consideration, people who haven’t had the advantages my parents gave me, people who feel unnoticed and not listened to.  I simply care – I can’t help it, I just care.

 I care  

•  for children in poverty or those without access to good education.
•  I care for immigrants struggling to find a footing in America and to figure out how to give their children a more struggle-free life than their own.
•  I care for college students faced with crushing debt;
•   for people without access to insured health care;
•    for hard working Americans of all classes forced out of work by changes in the world’s economics.
•  I care for aspiring men, women and children who want to earn a better life for themselves and their families, ordinary people I’ve listened to all around the world in than 120 countries.
•  I care for people haunted by worry about climate change and our environment;
•   for police and minorities who feel threatened in their streets and on the job;
•   for parents and partners of people wounded or killed in gun violence;
•   for people hurt in the financial crisis, forced out of their homes, losing their retirement income, broke and out of luck.
•  And last but by no means least, I care for veterans hurt in or haunted by their service to protect the interests and values of all of us.

I simply can’t stop caring and listening.

But, apparently, also I was born with a fix-it gene, probably from my father who served his nation in WW II, built a small business and was a social and fiscal conservative.  My Dad had his sense of what it would take.  You know I like to figure out what we should do – you’ve already heard about all kinds of plans (laughs) – but I’m even more interested in figuring out how to get things done, how to remove the barriers and reach the agreements so that we can move ahead. I worked with the Bush administration to get New York back on its feet.  I worked with Tom Delay in the Senate, the most intractable opponent of Bill Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s, yet he and I found a way to agree on and develop a program to provide health insurance for children in need.  I did it as Sect. of State, working to forge trade agreements and alliances and treaties with people who do not necessarily wish us well.  How to get things done is the question that nags at me, how to fix it, how to open eyes and minds to find common ground, how to move forward toward a shared goal of making America better for everyone of us.  

Well, that’s what makes me tick.  I can’t turn away from someone who needs to be heard and given respect and consideration.  I can’t stop asking how will we get this done?  I believe these are qualities that Barak Obama brought to the Presidency, and that the next President of the United States must have.

Democrats, you have given me your trust.  I will not disappoint you.

•   I pledge to you that I will campaign with grace and honesty and humility, and also with energy, every waking moment between now and November.
• I pledge to you that I will campaign for Senatorial candidates, for I will need a Senate that will advise and consent to cabinet and judicial appointments, that will promptly fulfill its obligation to hold hearings and pass judgement on nominees in a timely and responsible way. 
•    I pledge to you that I will campaign for and support in any way I can our Congressional nominees so as to, if not win back control of the House of Representatives, at least bring its balance more into line with that of the American people.  We are long past the time when Representatives can be so out of sync with, can so ignore, Americans’ positions on issues – as with gun controls, immigration reform, and so on.
•  I pledge that I will seek to enact and bring into being the intentions and wishes expressed in our Democratic Party Platform.

·         If you, (turning to the cameras) the American people, give me your trust in November, I pledge to you

·         that I will listen and work tirelessly to remove the barriers to your dreams and wishes and needs;

·         that I will seek solutions that work for all Americans – Democrats, Independents, yes, and you Republicans --, Libertarians, Greens, and a-political folks; whether young, middle-age, elderly; of whatever color and ethnic background and belief and gender and sexual persuasion.

·         I pledge to you that I will represent the best ideals and values of America;

·         and that I will do all we can to keep you safe, wherever in the world you want to be.

So that’s who I think Hillary Clinton is.  And speaking for myself, I think you should help me.  I can’t do this alone, no one can.  Only working together can we meaningfully care and fix it – only together. 

Together, we can make America ever better.  Thank you,. . . and, as Tiny Tim said “God Bless Us, Everyone.”

Well, that’s what I wish Hillary had said – in 20 minutes, not an hour, with smiles and laughs and not pointed fingers and shouts, with introspection and not a laundry list of proposals.  That’s the Hillary I hope for and intend to vote for and do believe lies beneath that public persona people so distrust.