Wednesday photo: Coney Island

Posted on August 25, 2010 by elliewick

Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y., is one of those storied places. When I spent a summer there in 2008, I knew I had to visit the beach and boardwalk.

I ended up visiting four or five times because there were so many things to do: ride the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone, check out the boardwalk stands, eat Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, see the sideshow and relax on the beach.

I haven’t been back to NYC since the boardwalk here began to redevelop and I wonder what it is like and what it will be like in the future.

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It’s fair time, part 2

Posted on August 24, 2010 by elliewick

I am usually so good at planning out my time, but this coming weekend is a major failure.

It’s fair time next week, and I have a lot of work to do. I have to prepare my three photos, and one isn’t even chosen (poll below). I also have to bake chocolate chip cookies and lemon bars. I don’t need a trial run with the lemon bars, but I do with the cookies, and I’m not sure when I’ll have time for that. All of my entries need to be turned in on Tuesday for judging on Wednesday.

Time is a problem because I am going to Stratford, Ontario, on Thursday and Friday to see two Shakespeare plays: “The Tempest” with Christopher Plummer and “As You Like It.” Stratford is about five hours away, so going there requires some time.

Also this weekend, I am attending a wedding, so that will eat up most of Saturday. Then on Sunday, I am going to the German-American Festival in Toledo, where I am also submitting a dessert, which I will have to prepare in small portions over Friday night and Saturday.

Before I can bake, I need to organize all my recipes and get all the ingredients I need, and I will need over a dozen eggs and probably a dozen sticks of butter, as well.

And now, it’s time to vote for your favorite flower photo to help me decide on my fair submission! Below you will find six photos, each with a name, and then, there is a poll below the photos, where you can vote for your favorite.

Lily in Huron

Tulips at home


Tulips at Keukenhof

Narcissus at Keukenhof

Rose at New York Botanical Garden

Water lily at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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It’s fair time!, part 1

Posted on August 22, 2010 by elliewick

Over the past couple of weeks I have had my fair (pun definitely intended) share of fair activities. I went to the Wood County Fair and to the Northwest Ohio Antique Tractor Association’s tractor square dancing. Friday afternoon and evening I spent a couple of hours at the National Tractor Pulling Association’s championships in Bowling Green (Wood County) for work. You can read my story here: “Beer Wagon” trying to deliver at Bowling Green tractor pulls.” You can watch the fans go crazy in my tractor pull video, below. On Wednesday I submitted the paperwork for five entries at the Hancock County Fair and in two weeks, I will be checking out that fair for the first time while also, I hope, heading home for some Canfield Fair action.

I am not much of a fair person, but then again, I am, especially now that I am living in a county where agriculture is really important. The fair and many of the other events that happen at the fairgrounds are a true example of classic Americana.

The things I dislike about the fair are that it is smelly and often dirty, and it is always ridiculously hot. The things I like about the fair include the food and the people watching and the non-smelly animals. I also enjoy the art barn.

The fair is a whole different world from what I grew up in. As opposed to Amanda from A Dangerous Business and her statement that her high school didn’t have a “Drive Your Tractor to School Day” in jest, my high school did have that day in jest.

At some point during my older teenage years, I boycotted the Canfield Fair. My dad always went as a kid, so it’s tradition that we go. But we look at the same things every year. We’d get a mouth guard from the dentist in the health building. Look at photos and art. See the gigantic pumpkins and decorated scarecrows. Look at the horses and eat from the same stands, whether it was free kettle corn from over near the antique tractors or ice cream from the stand by the grandstand.

After enough years, all that got boring. (One year I even took a book to read!) But now that I’m older, like with so many things, the fair really isn’t so terrible, because all the awesome people watching makes up for everything else. Mullets are in high supply, the food is always good and now that I’ve seen some other fairs, I know how awesome the Canfield Fair truly is.

Consider this. At the Wood County Fair there were a couple dozen food stands, a couple game stands and a handful of rides. No giant pumpkins. No elephant rides. No reconstructed pioneer village. And not too many people. I wasn’t impressed. I’m anticipating a bit more of the same at the Hancock County Fair over Labor Day weekend. At the Canfield Fair, there are dozens upon dozens of food stands. Everything is in mass number and the streets are packed.

Still to come:

Wood County Fair video, featuring farm animals and racing pigs
Tractor square dancing video, featuring square-dancing tractors
An update on my fair entries, with baking preparations and photo selections
A final roundup of the Hancock County Fair and the Canfield Fair after Labor Day

Posted in Movies, North America, Tradition, U.S. | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Wednesday photo(s): Elgin/Parthenon Marbles

Posted on August 17, 2010 by elliewick

Known as the Elgin Marbles by all the world except for Greece, which calls them the Parthenon Marbles, they have a storied history. These marbles include statues from the pediment and friezes. A few of these marbles were left on the Parthenon. Many are in the British Museum in London, taken by the British nobleman Lord Elgin between 1801 and 1805. This is part of the display in the Greece galleries in the British Museum. On the right are some of the Parthenon frieze, showing a parade of 400 people and 200 animals. At center left, behind the people, are some of the statues from the pediment.

One week later I would be in Athens at the Parthenon, trying to put together the controversial marbles in London with the holes on the Greek temple. Some historians and critics say that Elgin saved these marbles, that if they would have stayed in Athens they would have been destroyed. Others say that Elgin ruthlessly took apart a sacred monument, harming the structure and harming the pieces. It’s hard to say who is right and who has ownership. Either way, Greece wants them back and England wants to keep them. So when you see the Parthenon, this is what you see:

A pediment with only two bodies and replica friezes above the second row of columns.

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Postcard arrival: Finland

Posted on August 16, 2010 by elliewick

Another postcard from Finland! I don’t mind receiving a quarter of my postcards from Finland just because they have sweet stamps. This one isn’t a rectangle! Also interesting about this postcard is that the sender is traveling to Lapland and the Arctic Ocean. I want to go to the Arctic Ocean!

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BalloonFest at night

Posted on August 15, 2010 by elliewick

On Friday night during my lunch break at work, I headed back to the BalloonFest to see hot air balloons illuminated. The illumination didn’t last long, but even so, it was pretty sweet.

Earlier in the day I participated in a media flight before the opening of the festival. The hot air balloon ride really was unlike anything I have ever experienced. I expected winds and for the basket to swing like a Ferris Wheel chair when in actuality it was quite hot up in the stratosphere without any wind. The balloon and basket just flew right along, without any bumps at all, not even at our landing. You can see some of my pictures from the flight here: BalloonFest.

When I exited the basket (my legs were just barely long enough to swing over the side and I’m not short), I just kept saying to myself, “Did I really just go for a hot air balloon ride? Really? I’m not at all worse for the wear and I was just flying through the sky!”

To watch a video of my balloon flight and interview with my pilot, watch the first video below. The second video below is a super-short rendition of the short hot air balloon illumination. But before those videos, I have a link to the story a reporter at work wrote about BalloonFest and her ride through the sky: ‘You are one with the wind.’

I’m having a couple of problems with my videos, so here’s a link for the flight video: On the balloon Special Purpose. And my illumination video: Illuminate.

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BalloonFest: A flight over Findlay, Ohio

Posted on August 13, 2010 by elliewick

Today I went for a ride on a hot air balloon for a video/article for work. Later, I will post that video here, but for now, I just wanted to share a couple of photos from my morning.

Posted in North America, Photos, U.S. | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

PlayhouseSquare: Theater in Cleveland

Posted on August 12, 2010 by elliewick

Theater (along with the other arts) has always been a respected part of my family. We’ve always attended plays and musicals, from performances at church to high school musicals to summer stock theater to traveling Broadway performances and shows actually on Broadway.

We mostly frequent PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland, where I saw “The Phantom of the Opera” on Sunday evening. A far as I can remember, “Phantom” was my first show there roughly 10 years ago.

As a child, I remember seeing “The Nutcracker” at Packard Music Hall in Warren, “Annie” at E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron, a performance of “Peter Pan” somewhere and going to the Youngstown Playhouse for other shows.

But then at some point in seventh grade I was introduced to “Phantom” and fell in love. I was always singing along to myself, particularly Think of Me and Masquerade. Fortunately, that same year, “Phantom” was traveling the U.S. with a stop in Cleveland. My mom and I went, and I was in love with the magic of Broadway. (Prior to this I saw “The Sound of Music” on Broadway, and though I loved it, I remember being surprised at the differences between the musical and the movie.)

Throughout high school and college, my mom and I (or myself with another friend and her family) would head to PlayhouseSquare and see a show whose music we loved. Very infrequently do we see something entirely new, mostly because we like knowing a bit of the story or the music; although one should be able to watch a musical with no prior knowledge, there is often so much going on, that there are just too many things to pay attention to.

This year we branched out a bit, seeing three shows this season (my mom saw four), and one was our first drama. “August: Osage County” is a story of how the death of the family patriarch affects his living family. It was depressing and full of anger, totally different from a cheery musical with lots of bright lights and colors, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

We started the year with “Wicked,” which I don’t think will ever grow old to me, as I have already seen it four times, two of them with front-row, lottery-won seats, and I still love it. This year we took my grandmother, who made the performance even more enjoyable. Watching her get excited over Elphaba’s flying during Defying Gravity is one of my favorite theater moments.

And then this past week we saw “Phantom.” This music also will never grow old or stale or bore me. There are a couple of parts I find a bit slow, but that’s the case with every musical I love. This production took a while to get rolling, finally building rapport and meshing entirely at Angel of Music, which led perfectly into The Phantom of the Opera and continued in perfect enchantment through Music of the Night. It is also perfect that these are the songs with the most effects, when the Phantom and Christine walk down the moving bridge to the gondola that weaves through misty water to his lair below the Opera Garnier.

The Phantom wonderfully exuded his spite, his anger, his love of music and his love of Christine. He emotions are so raw and unpolished that it is hard to not pity him and wish that things will turn out the best for him. No matter how many times I see the musical or listen to the end of the second half, his love always brings me to tears, mostly because he lets go and allows Christine to be happy with Raoul. The Phantom loses what makes the music of the night, but he does what is honorable.

What I am getting at after all of this is that, one, I love the magic that happens at the theater and hope that you someday will experience this magic, too, if you have not already. Secondly, these experiences did not happen that far from home, and many of the theater performances that I have seen happened within a half hour from my house. Yes, going to the theater may not be going somewhere across the globe, but the theater is a new experience and you do have to travel to get there. When traveling, you learn about people and about appreciating things those people do, and seeing musicals is an American tradition. See Shakespeare, and it’s English. Check out a performance of folk dancers or a play in a foreign language. By looking into the experience deeper, it can be more than just a night at the theater.

And for those worrying about the expense of the theater, consider Smart Seats at PlayhouseSquare or equivalents at other theaters. Or the performance or theater might offer student prices or discounts on leftover tickets the night of the show.

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Wednesday photo: Musee Rodin

Posted on August 11, 2010 by elliewick

My time in Paris was spent lovingly admiring art. One of my afternoons there was spent entirely in bliss at the Musée Rodin, which houses thousands of sculptures by Auguste Rodin and his mistress Camille Claudin. His most famous works, The Kiss and The Thinker are on display here in Paris at the Hôtel Biron, while the rest of his art is at the Villa des Brillants in Meudon.

I knew The Thinker, but not much about the man or the rest of his art. I am particularly fond of sculpture, so this museum was a natural fit for me. This day was one of the warmest while I was in Paris in March, and the sun was shining brightly, creating such wonderful patches of light and darkness. This photo shows all of that, and when I looked up at this sculpture, his torso and arm were creating such a space with the dome of Napoleon’s tomb, which was also reflecting the sunshine.

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The Top 5: Free (or reduced) New York City

Posted on August 8, 2010 by elliewick

I spent the summer of 2008 in New York City, interning in Midtown and living in Brooklyn Heights. Since I was barely getting paid and trying to save as much money for my year abroad as possible, free or reduced-priced activities were my best friend. I tried to plan my weekends and nights about activities that normally had a fee, but at certain times were free, reduced or had a suggested admission. Remember, though, that these times of free or reduced admission often bring long lines and huge crowds. But the smaller museums, on the other hand, are usually no more crowded.

Continue reading to see my top five free (or reduced) activities in the City.

5. Free concerts and movies

Free concerts abound in Manhattan and its boroughs. I saw Cold War Kids and the Metropolitan Opera for free in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall musicians have free concerts throughout the summer across the city. Bryant Park is a wonderful home to many free activities, from Broadway in Bryant Park on Thursday lunch hours to the Summer Film Fest on Monday evenings.

Broadway in Bryant Park, the cast of "Spring Awakening"

Bryant Park Summer Film Festival

4. Staten Island Ferry

The State Island Ferry gives riders a free view of the Statue of Liberty, the southern tip of Manhattan and western Brooklyn. When my parents visited, we decided that stopping at Ellis Island and Liberty Island weren’t worth the fee (Statue Cruises takes you there), but we did want to see Lady Liberty. If that’s the case for you, too, the Staten Island Ferry is a breezy, picturesque ride without the wait, but there is likely to be a huge line.

View from Staten Island Ferry

3. Museums with suggested admission/pay what you wish

Museums in N.Y.C. don’t seem to have many student or young adult admission prices, but some of them do have a suggested admission or a “pay what you wish” time. A suggested admission means that if you don’t state otherwise, you’ll pay what the sign says the admission is. This also means  you can pay as little or as much as you want.

That summer, the first time I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I paid the full price because I went to the Cloisters, a branch of the museum dedicated to medieval Europe, and to the main branch of the museum. But the exhibit that I wanted to see (Jeff Koons sculptures on the roof of the building) was closed, so when I returned, I did not pay the full price because that was all I was going to see.

The Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Jeff Koons "Balloon Dog" on the Met's roof

Some other museums that have a suggested admission include the Museum of the City of New York, the American Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Museum. The Frick Collection offers a pay what you wish time on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., as does the Guggenheim on Saturdays from 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

2. Weekly free museum admission

Other museums offer a specific day and time when admission is free. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is free on Tuesdays, Saturdays between 10 a.m. and noon, and winter weekdays. I was one of only a handful of people in the garden the Saturday morning I went, and the gardens were absolutely lovely and quite peaceful.

Japenese garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Water lily at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Museum of Modern Art. MOMA is free on Friday nights from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and it usually seems like every tourist in N.Y.C. is there with you. But at MOMA, if you branch away from the main galleries, tourists are fewer and farther between.

Inside the Museum of Modern Art

1. Reduced Broadway tickets

My No. 1 on this list is the most costly, but it is what I enjoyed the most and also where I saved the most. My first week there, my office mate told me about the lottery system for Broadway tickets. Every Friday night during my internship, I would rush to a Times Square theater to get my name on a piece of paper for a chance to win a reduced-price ticket to that night’s performance. On my first Friday night, I hurried to “In the Heights,” where there was a guy with slips of paper and a bucket waiting for entries. At 6 p.m., he pulled 14 or so names, mine included. This got me a front-row seat to that evening’s show for a fraction of the cost ($25). After that, I headed to a different show each week, and never went without a show, but I did lose the first time I tried “Avenue Q.” “Wicked” definitely is the most sought-after. Check out this Playbill site to see each show’s policy.

"In the Heights" at Richard Rogers

Another way to get cheap tickets is through the TKTS booths, and if you really want to see a show and don’t want to buy a full-price ticket, this is the way to go. Your chances are significantly higher.

Other ways to find free activities in N.Y.C. include Time Out New York (a calendar list on their site here), FreeNYC, NYC: The Official Guide and Free in NYC.

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