Yes, you can understand Spanish and Portuguese 50 words!

           
Flags of Portugal, Brazil and Spain.

Portuguese and Spanish are so similar. Portugal is next door to Spain in Europe and Portuguese speaking Brazil is surrounded by Spanish speaking countries in South America. It makes sense to learn to recognize a few words of both languages, especially if you are travelling from one to another. I always try to learn a few words in the month or six months before my next trip.

You find Portuguese words in South America (Brazil - population more than two hundred million), Europe (Portugal - population more than ten million), the island of Madeira in the Atlantic, Asia (Macau and East Timor) and Africa.


Map of the world showing Portuguese speaking countries. Source: Wikipedia.

Rio De Janeiro
You may think you don't know a single word of Portuguese, but actually you know three. You know the name of the city Rio de Janeiro? Right? That's river of January.De is of.

Let's see if we can compile a list of instantly recognizable Portuguese and Spanish words.

I went into Google translate and typed out a lot of everyday words. I deleted those translations which were too hard to remember and left only those which were instantly recognizable

       

1) ENGLISH WORDS - Portuguese
river - rio
January - Janeiro
water - água
tea - chá
wine - vinho

5 words

garden - jardim
sea - mar
street - rua
king - rei (with an e as in regal)
sandwich - sanduiche

Another 5. That's 10

pizza - pizza
hamburger - Hamburger
meat - carne
cheese - queijo
pork - carne de porco

15 words.

salmon - salmão
smoked salmon - salmão fumado
salad - salada
glass of water -copo de água - cup or glass of water, (agua sounds like aquarium filled with water)
cup of tea - copo de chá

20 words

white coffee - café branco
sugar - açúcar (Remember the c with the cedilla or tail underneath sounds lik an s or sh)
brown sugar -açúcar mascavo - ( Muscovado sugar gets its name from here)
cocktail - coquetel
bar - barra

25 words

restaurant - restaurante
toilet - banheiro
ladies - senhoras
gentlemen - cavalheiros
girls - meninas

30 words

shoes - sapatos (memory aid: footwear to separate your toes)
sandals - sandália (notice the accent on the a)
jacket - jaqueta
blouse - blusa
flower - flor

35 words

flowers - flores
pretty - bonita
good - boa
beach - de praia
sea - mar

40 words

good morning - bom dia
good afternoon - boa tarde
good evening - boa noite
good night - boa noite
goodbye -Tchau
hello - Olá

46 words
Not bad for day one.

Let's get to 50 words.
Pick colours - just the ones which are easy to remember.

pink - rosa
green - verde

48 words

Some essentials:
passport - passaporte (keep the double s, just add an e in Portuguese)
immigration - imigração

That's 50! Here are the translations into  Portuguese




2) PORTUGUESE - ENGLISH
rio - river
Janeiro - January
água - water
chá - tea
vinho - wine

jardim - garden
mar - sea
rua - street
rei - king
sanduíche - sandwich

pizza - pizza
Hamburger - hamburger
carne (meat - like our English word carnivore meaning meat-eater)
queijo - cheese (c/ch/qu and ee/ei = cheese)
carne de porco (meat of pork)

salmão - salmon
salmão fumado - smoked salmon (think of salmon left in the fumes of smoke)
salada - salad
copo de água - cup or glass of water, (agua sounds like aquarium filled with water)
copo de chá (cup of tea, we used to say cha and the char lady did chores and served tea)

café branco - white coffee
açúcar - sugar (Remember the c with the cedilla or tail underneath sounds lik an s or sh)
açúcar mascavo - sugar Muscovado)
coquetel - cocktail

Barra - bar
restaurante - restaurant
banheiro - toilet, bathroom
senhoras - ladies
cavalheiros - men (cavaliers, horseback riders, chivalry)

meninas (Like the painting Las Meninas)
sapatos - shoes
sandálias (sandals)
jaqueta - jacket
blusa - blouse

flor - flower
flores - flowers
bonita - pretty
Boa - good
de praia - beach
mar - sea

bom Dia - good day/good morning
boa tarde - good afternoon (tarde, tardy, late)
boa noite - good evening or night
boa noite - good night
Tchau - goodbye
Olá - hello! (like 'allo backwards)

rosa - pink
verde - green

Then I did the translation Spanish into Englsih

3) Spanish - English
Rio - river
enero - January
Agua - water
te - tea
vino - wine

jardin - garden
mar - sea
Calle - street
Rey - king
sandwich - sandwich

pizza - pizza
Hamburguesa - hamburger
carne - meat
queso - cheese
carne de puerco - pork

salmón - salmon
salmón ahumado - smoked salmon
ensalada - salad
vaso de agua - glass of water
taza de te - cup of tea

cafe blanco - white coffee
azucar - sugar
azúcar moreno - brown sugar
cóctel - cocktail

Bar - bar
restaurante - restaurant
baño - bathoom
señoras - gentlemen
señores - ladies

chicas
zapatos - shoes
sandalias - sandals
Chaqueta - jacket
camisa - blouse (remember, top, like the word camisole)

flor - flower
flores - flowers
hermosa - pretty
Bueno - good
de playa - beach, like the French plage, think of playing on the beach
mar - like the English word marine and French word mer)

Buen día - good day/god morning
buenas tardes -
buenas noches - good evening
buenas noches - good night
Adios - goodbye
Hola - hello

1b) More English to Portuguese

English - Portuguese
river - rio
pink - rosa
green - verde

2b) Back to Portuguese to English

Portuguese - English
rio - river
rosa - pink
verde - green

3 ) Now English to Spanish
English - Spanish
river -
pink
green

4) Spanish - English

Finally, compare the Spanish and the Portuguese
Spanish - Portuguese




5) English - Portuguese - Spanish
river - rio -rio
January - Janeiro - Enero
wine - vinho - vino (add an h for the Portuguese)
garden - jardim - jardin (Spanish is closer to French and English, ending in n. Portuguese uses m.)
sea - mar - mar (the same sea, same in both languages)
street - rua - calle (the Portuguese is easier, closer to the French word rue)
king - rei - rey (Spanish for king is with a y, like the English regal; Portugese just the quick i)
meat - carne - carne (the same in both languages)

Useful Websites
Languages
translate google
duolingo
duolingo.com



https://www.visitbrasil.com/key-information/language.html
memrise
memrise.com
https://www.mezzoguild.com/portuguese-and-brazilian/

Travel
https://www.visitportugal.com/en
https://www.visitbrasil.com/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, speaker, author, and teacher of languages.
Latest book: An ebook  Improve Your English. Several books by different authors have that title. Make sure to add the name Angela Lansbury.
I have written a post about the Spanish restaurant in Melaka, called Salud which means cheers.
Please share links to your favourite pages.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a trave writer and phtographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a langauge evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
Or quicker to type and easier to remember:  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

Melaka Museums - Submarine Museum

In the centre of Melaka my top rated museum to visit is the peranakan Museum. However, Melaka has many more.

We drove out towards the sea and found a submarine museum.


Submarine Museum, Melaka, Malaysia. Submarine and fighter jets. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The submarine was bought from the French and used as a training ship before being turned into a museum for the education of all.

Photographer Chongkian has a picture of the submarine's interior, on the Wikipedia Commons page.


Hanging on the gate by the ticket kiosk was a list of other museums. Mntreost of them are back in town. A large theme park is under construction next door and there is lots of new development being built. We headed back to the town cantre and riverside for afternoon tea at Casa del Rio.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Useful Malay Words
Malay - English
galeri - galleries
keluar - exit
muzium - museum(s)
perbadanan - corporation
sejarah - history
Warna - colour
warna warna - colours

English - Malay
colour - warna
colours - warna warna
corporation - perbadanan
galleries - galeri
history - sejarah
museum(s) - muzium

Useful Websites
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Malacca
singaporeair.com

Language
duolingo.com

memrise.com

If you are reading abou this in the UK or planning to go to the UK, London has a warship museum, HMS Belfast, in the water on the river Thames. My family member fondly recalled, "I saw lots of pictures of it because Amateur Photographer magazine used to have an office overlooking the ship and they would test out cameras by photographing it. As it was black and white it was an ideal subject in those days."
Out of London, there's also a submarine museum.

https://www.nmrn.org.uk/submarine-museum/plan-your-visit-royal-navy-submarine-museum

About the author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Malay Food Words For Reading Menus And Ordering

Reading the Menu

Malay-English

air - water

ayam - chicken
bir - beer
buah - fruit
epal - apple

gula - sugar

ikan - fish
keju - cheese
kopi - coffee
lemon -lemon

oren - orange
strawberi - strawberry
sup - soup

telur - egg
tomato - tomato
wain - wine

Asking for Food

English - Malay

apple - epal
beer - bir
cheese - keju

chicken - ayam
coffee - kopi

egg - telur

fish - ikan
fruit - buah
lemon - lemon
orange - oren

soup - sup
strawberry - strawberi
sugar - gula
tomato - tomato

water - air
wine - wain

Useful Websites

Duolingo has a course on Indonesian which is similar to the Malay language.


duolingo forum Malay

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/12/malay-words-for-meal-times.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages.
Please bookmark and share links to your favourite post.

Yes, It's Still Hanukah. Where to see hanukiahs and why 44 candles?

Hanukiah in Singapore. Photo taken on day three of Hanukah showing three (electric) candles lit. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

What is a Hanukiah
Once you know what a hanukiah is you will recognize it. Three others walking with me went past this Hanukiah without noticing it. I saw it and was delighted. I hanukiah is a nine candle candlestick for Hanukah festival, celebrating the oil lasting eight days when the second temple in Jerusalem was re-dedicated. The Hanukiah is for the festival of light around Christmas time, and the Hindu festival of lights.

What is a Menorah?
The Menorah with fewer branches, only 7, is used throughout the year on the sabbath. Menorah simply means lamp in Hebrew. Firstly, a reminder that a simple menorah is a seven branch candle-holder, three semi-circles, for the seven days of the week. It is lit at dusk on Friday night. The first electric light in homes was in the 1880s, the time of my late father's grandfather.

The Hanukiah's Helper
However, a festival hanukiah is larger, eight candles for the eight days of Hanukah, plus the one extra candle, the helper or servant, in the middle to light the others.

Why 44 Candles?
When a friend gave me a hanukiah, the nine branch candlestick used to celebrate Hanukah, I also received a pack of 44 candles.

My guest told me, "You always get 44 candles."

"Why 44?" I asked.

"You need lots of candles. You need to light one on the first night, plus the central candle used to light the others. Two on the second night, plus the one to light the others, up to eight on the last night.
You always get 44. I don't know why. But it's the right number. It works out."

Counting To 44 On Fingers
That night as I lay in bed, in the dark, falling asleep I tried to add up the numbers in my head. I dozed off and lost count a few times but eventually added it up the total.

Night one 1 +1=2. Night one you used two. Always one extra candle to light the others.
Night two 2+ 2+1.

Simple Maths
Maths, we say in the UK. We say math in the USA.

Let's make it simpler.
Night one is 2 candles. Night 2 is 3 candles.
So the total number is
2 +3+4+5+7+7+8+9.

I added 2 and 3 and made 5. Then what?  Add four, or three or five?

I was in the dark, half asleep, but I eventally added up the numbers by folding down the fingers of my left hand. When do you stop counting? All the fingers on your right hand except the last because the hanukiah has nine candles.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

If it's easier, start with the big numbers folding down the fingers on your right hand. Nine and eight, which is, twice eight which is 6, add one, is 17. 17.

You now have only two finger on your right hand upright. Five on the left hand and two on the right hand is seven. Added to what? I yawned. Start again. 17 and 3 is 20 so 17 and 7 is 24.

From then on it's easier. 24 and 6 is 20. Doesn't sound like we will reach 44. But keep going.  Twenty and five is 25. 25 and 4 is 29. 29 and 3 is 32. And two is 34. The answer should be 44. I have lost it. Start again to check.

I am ten out. Sounds like it must be my arithmetic. I have lost ten somewhere.
9=*+17
17+7 +24
24 +6+30
305 =35
add 4 39

24 and 6 is not 20 it is 30. Ah.

Correcting Math(s) Mistakes
Always count up and down a column so you don't make the same mistake twice.

2
2 plus 3 is 5
5 = 4 is 9
9 and 5 is 14
14 and 6 is 20
20 and 7 is 27
27 and 8 is 35
35 and 9 is 44.

Add 7. 14, plus one is 24. yes, big numbers.

I went to sleep happy. You need 44 candles, exactly the number I had been told. I shall now always remember that if you add the numbers 2 to 9 (to light a hanukiah) you get 44. If  you were to add the number 1 to 9 you would get 45.

If you add 1 to ten you would get 55.

My husband is a statistician. He knows that sort of thing. I am not a stastician. Interesting mathematical problem for children. Fun with numbers.

You could do this count with smarties or M and Ms, or beads, or as I did it, on my fingers.

Where To Buy 44 Candles
Where could you buy a pack of 44 Hanukah candles? If you want to buy candles, you can go into a Jewish shop, a supermarket in a Jewish area, or buy online, or ask somebody going to Israel or New York or a city with Jewish or Israeli goods to look for a pack of 44 Hanukah candles.

Order Online Dripless Ond Other Varieties Of Candles
You can buy online dripless candles, blue candles, rainbow candles, silver candles, pink candles for a cause.

Doctor Your Delivery Address
When I typed in from a laptop in Singapore, set to a Singapore delivery address, I got an amazon Singapore result. If you log in from elsewhere in the world, you will get results either for your home country, or the coutnry where you are logging in. to reduce postal costs, and delivery times, try to find a supplier in the country of delivery, or a supplier from somewhere such as China where many companies offer delivery worldwide for free.

Which Spelling?
Finally, Hanukah or Chanukah or Chanukkah? It depends on whether you are translating the word said with an H or a gutteral ch as in the Scottish word loch.

Where To See Hanukiahs After Hanukah?
The hanukah display in Singapore will be no longer visible after the end of Hanukah. However, you can see hanukiahs and menorahs in many places such as the Jewish Museum of New York.

USA - The Ukrainian Hanukiah
I was intrigued to see that museum had a hanukiah from Lemberg in what was then the Austria-Hungarian empire, now in Ukraine.

From the Wikipedia article on Hanukah.

I was also intrigued to see all the recent presidents at the White House presiding over a Hanukah party, Bush, Reagan, Obama and Trump.

Useful Websites
https://www.amazon.sg/Ner-Mitzvah-Colorful-Chanukah-Candles/
https://www.amazon.sg/Zion-Judaica-Hanukkah-Menorah-Silverplated
Dripfree candles:
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/g23652651/hanukkah-candles/
singaporeair.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Hanukkah_Party

See my later post about the Hanukiah outside the synagogue in Waterloo Street, with a photo.

About the author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Where to eat dinner in Melaka - top choice, Salud, Spanish restaurant. Why?

Flag of Malaysia

We had chosen a hotel, Jonkers, on Jonkers Street, right in the centre of the old area, within walking distance of both the Peranakan Museum, in an old house, and the Salud bar-restaurant, which my husband had enthusiastically recalled from a previous trip. We left our car in the free car park behind our hotel. . We loved our bedrooms and the location which enabled us to walk to the restaurant and not worry about parking. The hotel had no dining room so no temptation to stick to one place all the time. We had to walk off a few calories on our way to and from Salud restaurant.

Why Eat Spanish Food in Malaysia?
It might seem odd to eat at a Spanish restaurant in Melaka and not go for something local which is usually our first choice in a foreign country or even regionally in our own. However, we had had local food already, with flies everywhere, at a motorway stop Machap on the drive up to Melaka from Singapore, so we had done our duty trying local food at least once that day.

Sugar Snack
Melaka's streets are lined with kiosks offering savoury snacks, many containing shellfish (to which I am allergic) and bites of sweets made from rock hard sugar.

Street food made from sugar.

Since one of our visitors wanted non-spicy food, we were happy to have a proper place where we could discuss the menu with somebody who spoke English and a European language.

The glamorous, slim manager is Maria Marcos, chatty when she is not busy. She advised us what to order.


Salud restaurant in Melaka, Malaysia. Maria Marcus and husband. Notice the meat, jamon with e acute on the o to show you pronounce it the whole word, pronounced hum-on. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Dinner at Salud
Salud means cheers in Spanish, what you say when you raise your glass. The restaurant's tagline is small bites, big flavours. Salud is a Tapas bar and restaurant.

Tapas, I seem to remember, were originally slices of bread or meat or cheese placed on top of your drink to keep off the flies. When you finished your drink, you ate the food. (Which had flies on it? !  At least the insects had flown off and not drowned in the drink.)

Our dishes at Salud were all great.
Maria arrives to check all is well.


We had mini fish like sardines. I think they were sweet anchovies

Our main courses included pig cheek. But there were no 'main courses'. Everything was tapas, Small plates but enough for four of us to each try a piece.

I loved the potato omelette. Spanish omelette. But omelette with cubes of potato mixed up. More like a sandwich with a slice of potato through the middle and the egg firm on the outside like bread with soft and tasty in the middle.

For dessert: A cheese plate. with quince paste, rolled in membrillo.



Tips on Booking and Seating
Bar Or Tables?
We booked here six weeks in advance as soon as we planned out trip to Melaka. The date was Britain's Boxing day, Dec 26th,

If you don't book the restaurant you risk ending up sitting on bar stools, eating your dinner at the bar. That would be fine for one or two of you. But we were a party of four and all wanted to be part of the conversation around a table.

Which Chairs?
The tables have two sorts of seating. We were on what looked like metal backed chairs, rather narrow. Other tables had a combination of banquettes against the wall and wooden chairs. However, once we had started eating, we forgot about the style of chairs.

Wonderful Wine
I particularly liked the Spanish light white wine in the white bottle. Vinas de Anna. A black and white sketch of Anna wearing a headscarf is on the bottle.

The wine is Blanc de blancs meaning white wine from white grapes.

Toilets' Mottoes
The toilets have a motto on the mirror. Different mottoes in the gents and ladies.

Dinner at Bulldog
145 Jalan Bendahara

Stay at
Jonkerboutiquehotel.com
no restaurant

Breakfast at
The Backlane Coffee
This restaurant took only cash not credit cards. The breakfast juices were tasty, tangy and refreshing.
The tea cup had a cover to keep the drink hot.


Useful Websites
Spanish Wine
www.annadecodorniu.com
Hotel
Jonkerboutiquehotel.com
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com
https://www.malaysia.travel/en/sg

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer author and speaker. See other posts for photos of the Swan lake Sculpture at the Botanical gardens. Please share links to your favourite pictures.

Malay words to use for meal times

US flag


 
Malaysian flag

Juice and tea



English (Malay translation below)
good morning - selamat pagi
good afternoon - selamat petang
good evening - selamat petang

I - saya
I want - saya mahu
a table for - jadual (table) untuk (for)
one - satu
two - dua
three - tiga
four - empat

and - dan
a sandwich - sandwic
cake - kek
cheese cake - kek keju (note that the adjective comes second in Malay)
potato - kentang
chicken - ayam

allergy - alergi
fish - ikan
shellfish/clams - kerang

please - sila (like the French s'il vous plait)
thanks - terimah kasih
coffee - kopi
tea - teh
decaffeinated
sugar - gula
milk - susu
juice - jus

Goodbye - selamat tinggal
(the) bill - bil
credit card - kad kredit
receipt - resit
smaller - lebih kecil
larger - lebih besar

Malay Translation (English above)
selamat Pagi - good morning
selamat petang - good afternoon
selamat petang - good evening

saya mahu - I want
jadual untuk - table for
satu - one
dua - two
tiga - three
empat - four

dan - and
sandwic - sandwich
kek - cake
kek keju - cheese cake
kentang - potatoes
ayam - chicken

alergi - allergy
ikan - fish
kerang - clam

Selamat tinggal - goodbye
bil - bill
kad kredit - credit card
resit - receipt
lebih kecil - smaller (size small)
lebih besar - larger (size large)

Useful Websites
Two websites for learning languages for free:
duolingo.com
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/20964564/Malay-A-Directory-of-Lessons

https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/23rGcewh/malay-basics-1?lesson=0
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/20801143

memrise.com
https://www.memrise.com/course/193830/beginners-malay/

https://www.malaysia.travel/en/sg

About the author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, who teaches English and other languages.

Melaka was marvellous but Machap was not

Flag of Malaysia

Fly from Flies At Machap
We hired a car in Singapore, drove up the motorway, stopping to pay the tolls. We drove past the first stop for food point, wanting to get on our way. We stopped for lunch, at the second stop, giving our visitors a glimpse of old days, old ways, Malaysia at Machap. a dire motorway side stop. A food court above the shops. A good place to buy a hat. Not so good upstairs for food and toilets.

Toilets
First the good news. The ladies was easy to find. In the ladies, cubicles were plentiful.

Most of the toilet cubicles were the hole in the ground type. Only after I managed to use one of those, did I discover a door showed a picture of a regular modern toilet.

Now the bad news. The toilets were full of flies. Victorian England, where the outside toilet was at the back of the house behind the kitchen, established a building regulation requiring two doors between a toilet and a kitchen, as a fly trap, to prevent flies zooming from - you can work it out. From toilet to table.

Upstairs at Machap the food court tables were full of flies. I wished I had brought the fly spray from home (Singapore).

The people at Machap, were lovely, so sorry for them having to work amid the flies. The girls covered head to foot in what was traditional garb had another advantage - the girls were in what turned out to be fly-protective clothing, with their hair pushed into headscarves.

I felt conspicuous. I stuffed my blonde hair inside my baseball cap.

I considered a making a badge saying: To answer your question, I'm from London, England.

The wrapped up girls were no different to the conservative Malays in Singapore, all smiling and helpful. A white haired toothless man by a kiosk smiled and when I asked aloud, 'Can anybody speak English. Can anybody translate? I want chicken, ayam, and potato - what's that in Malay?' he was only to keen to help translate.

I ordered chicken, a generous portion of halal meat on the chicken wing, and potato. The rice which I had not asked for came automatically. All on a piece of green banana leaf.

Our visitors from England wanted non-spicy food, preferably vegetarian. I saw Chinese dumplings with filled with dates and other fillings, maybe savoury, maybe sweet, behind glass which saved the cabinet contents from the flies.

We sat down and ate fast, waving flies off our plates. The people were friendly, the flies over-friendly. I counted 16 on the floor and did not count those on the table because I was too busy swatting the ones on the table.

I muttered, 'Why doesn't somebody invest in fly killing machines and daily fogging? Maybe they do.'

We bought wrapped fruit, and canned drinks including Nescafe from a machine to drink in the car.

After Machap, I was so glad to reach Melaka.

Two days later, when we got back to Singapore, my biking family members told me: "As you drive on towards the capital, KL, the standard of motorway stops improves."

Useful Websites
https://www.malaysia.travel/en/sg

About the https://www.malaysia.travel/en/sg
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other posts on marvellous Melaka. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Alabama and the missing woman - we need ID for drinkers!

Flag of the USA

A worrying news story about Alabama caught my attention. A missing woman reportedly left a bar in Alabama with two men who were strangers to her.

What could we do? One safety rule would be to make everybody drinking in a bar register their name and address with an ID. Register.

Sounds impossible? Too complicated? No, it isn't. It was done in West Virginia years ago.

Advantages. Any regular at a bar is known to the barman who had the customer's ID.

As a customer, you can carry your local bar's ID, or even a national chain, rather like a Starbucks card.

Drinking Clubs In West Virginia
When I lived in the USA, in West Virginia you could only drink in a so-called club. You got club membership instantly by showing your ID, getting a club card and paying a nominal one dollar.

This proved that you had been drinking. If you were stopped for driving whilst drunk if you had just bought a drinking club card it did not do you any favours.

Equally important, it gave the premises your identity. Want to know the stranger's name, or that they are of drinking age and not a minor, just ask to see their drinking club card.

Or ask the barman to confirm the customer's name.

The barman then knows the identity of the men, and women, instantly. They can inform police. Much faster to identify a suspect, go to locate and visit where the person lives and ask where they last saw their companion.

Note that the drinking ages and ages of consent vary from state to state.

It may be illegal to drive a minor passenger across a state line in order to have drinks or sex with them in another state. Now, what is there to see nowadays in Alabama? See my earlier post.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Alabama: And What Tourists Should Visit in Alabama: Helen Keller and Hank Williams

Flag of the USA


The state of Alabama.

ALABAMA TOURISM
My son's fiancee grew up in Alabama. When we visited New Orleans we drove into Alabama.

Alabama's capital is Montgomery. But the biggest city by population is Birmingham.

What can a tourist see in Alabama nowadays? My hitlist:



1 Helen Keller's Birthplace House, Tuscumbia, Alabama
Helen Keller Festival June 24-8 2020
2 Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Alabama
3 Hank Williams Museum, Montgomery, Alabama

Helen Keller lived in Tuscumbia which is in the North West of Alabama near the border with Tennessee.

Helen Keller Museum, Ivy Green, Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA.

Helen Keller's Birthplace House, Ivy Green, is named after the ivy which grows there. In the museum you can see her Braille typewriter. Helen Keller lectured in more than 25 countries.
She said, Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.



Statue of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, USA.

From the spoken word, and the written word, let us move on to songs.

Hank Williams publicity photo from 1951.

Alabama Singers
The Alabama Hall of Fame (AlaHOF) features several well known names including:
Nat 'King' Cole, Hank Williams, Dinah Washington, Tammy Wynette, The Commodores, The Temptations, Lionel Richie.

Hank Williams, singer-songwriter, is credited with being the founder or father of modern Country Music..
He wrote Jambalaya, (Son of a gun, we're having fun on the Bayou).

Hank Williams Memorial sign at Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, capital of Alabama.

Where Else For Hank Williams?

Star for Hank Williams in Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA.

Useful Websites
https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/west-virginia-alcohol-laws-know/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_West_Virginia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama
http://www.helenkellerbirthplace.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Music_Hall_of_Fame
https://helenkellerfestival.com/site/index.php/helen-keller-story/
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears_National_Historic_Trail
https://www.thehankwilliamsmuseum.net/storec32a7e59/Clothing-c37142025?offset=9

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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