The return

 

The city of Columbus and its airport John Glenn International.

On the taxiway.  The control tower is seen on the left.

On the way to New York at dusk.  The curvature of the Earth hopefully will convince the Flat Earth society members to change their minds.

I am now in the land of the blue skies and seas, the land I was born at and I call home.

2013-2021; a Travelogue

In the past 7 years, I uploaded 202 posts in my blog Cross Country Chronicles.  As this is the first post of 2021 and maybe the final of this series that started with a trip, I took with my son John, from Orlando to San Francisco to Chicago and on to our starting point Columbus, Ohio.  Also, it included among others the remarkable crossing from Spain to Greece on my brother Nikos 29-foot sailboat Okyrhoe.  The trip from Florida to California and back to Ohio is described in 55 posts in January and February 2014.

The trip from Spain to Greece is described in 23 posts from August 2015 to July 2016.  There are many individuals from my immediate family, and those who love and care about me, to friends I love dearly, to professional associates at places where I lived and worked, and all those who encouraged and inspired me to write.  I want to thank and express my gratitude to all and wish them a good a pleasant trip in their lives.  The pictures in this post are from Porto Rafti, the beautiful little bay, I have made my domicile while in Greece.

                                                                       The three pictures in this post were taken by my brother-in-law Kostas Fotos.

Sunset

In Greek mythology Hesperides were are nymphs of the evening or the golden light at sunset.  They were called also Atlandides because they were daughters of the titan Atlas.  According to legend the Maidens of the West were tending of the Tree that Dance of the Hesperides around the Golden Tree that was bearing Golden apples.  Hesperides took great pleasure by dancing and singing sweet songs around the tree, (Canvas by Eduard Carvet, 1799-1883)

A happy cow enjoying the green grass of Ireland at sunset (photo by Enya Woods)

View of downtown Columbus, Ohio at sunset after a summer storm (photo by George Spigos)

Chicago also known as windy city or city by the lake at sunset from Adler Planetarium

View of Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn bridge.

Tourists flock at Cape Sounion to visit Poseidon's Temple and to enjoy the sunset at Saronic Gulf. 

Super moon over Poseidon's Temple.  If you can visit the site tomorrow October 2nd you will enjoy the rising beautiful moon between the columns of the Temple that was erected at 440 BC. (photo by T. Matsopoulos) 

Covid-19 Pandemic; observations thus far.

There have been more than 10 million cases and more than 500,000 deaths worldwide due to Covid-19 as of today. It is nearly impossible from the new cases and death numbers that are presented even by respectable sites for someone to reach a conclusion on how Covid-19 pandemic compares those in the past.  The cultural differences among people and the enormous variation of lockdowns, from very strict to light to mini make comparisons very difficult.  The examples below provide us with information on how four distinct populations fared due to their unique characteristics.

On the cruise vessel Diamond Princess 3,618 tests were performed on 3,711 people (2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew).  712 of the tests or 19% were positive. Half of those tested had symptoms while half were asymptomatic. There were 14 deaths.  The death rate of the entire cohort (crew + passengers) was 0.37% while the death rate among those who tested positive, who were likely elderly, it was 2%.  In a brief report has been published in the Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the interested reader, can find epidemiological information regarding Covid-19 in a group of people who were isolated in close proximity within the confines of a vessel. The passengers and crew were quarantined in Yokohama, Japan and the lockdown was total. 

In the State of Ohio 787,929 tests were performed, of which 52,419 or 6.7% of which were positive. There were 2,890 deaths.  The death rate for the 10 million inhabitants is 0.03%.  The death rate is 6% among those who tested positive.  Ohio enacted what I consider a light lockdown.

In Greece a total of 308,392 tests were performed of which 3,409 or 1.11% were positive.  There were 192 deaths.  The death rate from Covid-19 among the 10 million inhabitants is 0.002%.  The death rate is 6% among those who tested positive.  Greece enacted a strict lockdown. 

In Sweden a total of 444,600 tests were performed and 68,451 or 15 % were positive.  There were 5,333 deaths.  The death rate from Covid-19 among the 10 million inhabitants is 0.05% while it is 8% among those who tested positive.  Sweden enacted a mini lockdown allowing its inhabitants to continue their lives as in the past forbidding only gatherings of more than 50 people.

The cultural differences among people and the enormous variation of lockdowns from very strict to light to minimal make comparisons near impossible.  Also, the way different societies care of their elders and those at risk varies not only between countries but also between big cities and small villages within the same country.  The three above mentioned countries have near identical populations (10 million) but fewer than 10,000 elderly are housed in nursing homes in Greece a country in which the elderly are cared at home.  Approximately 30,000 elderly are in nursing homes in Sweden to more than 100,000 in Ohio.  Also, the number of people incarcerated differs as well, from approximately 6,000 in Sweden to 10,000 in Greece to 50,000 in Ohio.  Finally, risk factors such as smoking is more prevalent in Greece while obesity is more prevalent in Ohio. 

In the past 6 months we have learned that certain practices such as social distancing, avoidance of crowded places and wearing masks, the practice of respiratory etiquette and other hygienic practices such as washing hands are effective.  Intense early testing and contact tracing in the early phase of the epidemic have been employed successfully by several Asian countries such as Singapore, S. Korea and Taiwan.   We also learned that strict infection control measures at hospitals, nursing homes, meat processing facilities, prisons and cruise ships are necessary. 

We now know that locking down entire countries adversely impacts economies.  McKinsey's researchers estimate that government deficits could reach $30 trillion by 2023.  Stanford University's epidemiologist John Ioannidis believes that the infection fatality rate (IFR) of Covid-19 can vary from less than that of Influenza to ten times more.  It all depends on case mix, how patients are treated and what age group is infected.  It is known that almost 80% of the deaths are individuals over the age of 80 or those with poor health due to risk factors.  Since several countries  such as Taiwan, Singapore, S. Korea and Japan have dealt successfully with the viral epidemic, hopefully the rest of the countries can decrease their fatality rate if a second or more waves take place. (In the picture the US daily fatality rate as depicted in a NYT article)   

The leaves fall and the generations pass

Like the generations of leaves, 

So are the lives of mortal men.

Now the wind scatters the old leaves 

Across the earth,

And when the spring comes round again

The living timber bursts with new buds.

And so with men, 

One generation comes to life 

While another dies away.

From Homer’s Iliad

In memory of Norbert (Nobby) Enslen a good man, father and husband who passed peacefully at the age of 68.

Down the mighty Ohio...

Long ago I was in Cincinnati, and I set to map out a new career. I had been reading about the recent exploration of the river Amazon by an expedition sent out by our government. It was said that the expedition, owing to difficulties, had not thoroughly explored a part of the country lying about its headwaters, some four thousand miles from the mouth of the river. It was only about fifteen hundred miles from Cincinnati to New Orleans, where I could doubtless get a ship. So, I packed my valise, and took passage on an ancient tub called the ‘Paul Jones,’ for New Orleans. For the sum of sixteen dollars I had the scarred and tarnished splendors of ‘her’ main saloon principally to myself, for she was not a creature to attract the eye of wiser travelers.

When we got under way and went poking down the broad Ohio, I became a new being, and the subject of my own admiration. I was a traveler! A word never had tasted so good in my mouth before. I had an exultant sense of being bound for mysterious lands and distant climes, which I never have felt in so uplifting a degree since. I was in such a glorified condition that all ignoble feelings departed out of me, and I was able to look down and pity the untraveled with a compassion that had hardly a trace of contempt in it. Still, when we stopped at villages and wood-yards, I could not help lolling carelessly upon the railings of the boiler deck to enjoy the envy of the country boys on the bank. I kept my hat off all the time, and stayed where the wind and the sun could strike me, because I wanted to get the bronzed and weather-beaten look of an old traveler. Before the second day was half gone I experienced a joy, which filled me with the purest gratitude; for I saw that the skin had begun to blister and peel off my face and neck. I wished that the boys and girls at home could see me now. (Slightly modified from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi)

1492

Christophorus Columbus (1451-1502) was a Genovese explorer and expert navigator who proposed a new westward route from Europe to South East Asia.  The monarchs of Spain supported his expedition, as they were interested in establishing new routes and dominate the spice trade.

During his first voyage to the Americas in 1492, he landed on an island in the Bahamas that he named San Salvador.  Columbus was a learned man who knew Latin, Portuguese and the Castilian languages.   He had read the works of Ptolemy, Pliny’s Naturalis Historia, and Marco Polo’s travels among others.  Columbus became an accomplished mariner as between 1473 and 1485 had travelled extensible to the Greek island of Chios, Bristol in England, Galway in Ireland and also Iceland. Those who have crossed oceans on sailboats know the multitude of difficulties mariners face in long distance passages.  Columbus’ voyage was no exception and it was his knowledge of the “trade winds” that propelled him to the Americas and also helped his return trip to the Iberian Peninsula.  

When Columbus made his landing on Oct 12, 1492 he encountered the gentle Arawak Indians, but this lush green utopia was not a paradise. Other tribes such as the Carib Indians were warlike and carried raids across the Caribbean. They were known to eat human flesh.

Today, Americans are being encouraged to judge the past based on modern enlightenment and condemn people such as Columbus for failing to live up to our standards.  Six out of ten Americans agree though that his accomplishments were pivotal for bringing together the Old and the New World and honored him by giving his name in many towns like Columbus, Ohio.

The anniversary of Columbus's 1492 landing in the Americas is usually observed on October 12th in Spain and throughout the Americas, except Canada. In Spain it is called the Fiesta Nacional de España y Día de la Hispanidad, while a number of countries in Latin America celebrate it as Día de la Raza. In the United States it is called Columbus Day and is observed annually on the second Monday in October.