In the spring of 2009, my parents and I traveled from Munich up to Nuremberg (Nürnberg in German). You probably recognize this city from the Nazi war crimes trials that happened here after WWII. If not that, you’ve probably heard of the city’s famous Christmas market. This city was also very important to Hitler during the war. Here he built the Congress Hall and a colosseum, along with rally grounds for the mass demonstrations the Hitler planned. If you have seen Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will,” you will recognize images of this city, because this is where it was filmed.
All of these sights can be visited in a trip here. The Documentation Center is quite an impressive museum, with so much history and artifacts from the Nazi-era, and it is all the more powerful because it is inside the Congress Hall.
After a visit to the museum, with images of the rally grounds fresh in your mind, a short walk there will leave you with an entirely different image. The grounds are now mostly used as a skate park, with people sitting and playing in the stands. It’s quite a contrast.
Nürnberg is also the home of Albrect Dürer, and there is a museum in his honor. The city fortress can also be toured, and there are many churches and a style of architecture much different from Salzburg to admire. Also, Nürnberg is home to my favorite sausages, tiny gray ones, about the length of a finger, so of course, I had to eat some while there.
Click the photo below (of the Documentation Center) to see some of the sights of Nürnberg.
This is the Kukulcán Pyramid, also known as El Castillo, at the largest of the archaeological cities of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Just days after graduating high school, my family headed to Cancún for a week, taking a bus tour here from our hotel that included stops at a restaurant with Mexican dancers for lunch, a guided tour of Chichén Itzá and a stop at the Il Kil cenote.
I remember a handful of things about this day: I am always amazed by the architectural prowess of ancient civilizations, and the Mayans perfectly aligned their buildings and created meaningful shadows and echos; earlier that day I vowed to avoid tour buses when possible as we drove through Valladolid and I couldn’t get off to look around; and it was one of the hottest days in my memory.
Unfortunately, climbing the pyramid is no longer permitted. Two sides were in total disrepair when I was there, and just a few months later, in January 2006, the climbs ended. If the stairs are reopened (0r for any other steep stairs you may have to climb), remember this hint: Climb the stairs at an angle, going back and forth across the steps rather than straight up.
Today you’ll notice a change on my blog. I’ve updated my theme so I could have a couple more features, like the drop-down menus you’ll notice when you wave your cursor over the “Planning your trip” and “Photos” pages.
Other things are in the works, as well. Starting Wednesday, I’ll be posting a photo from my travels, so I can show you more of the places I have visited. This will be my first weekly feature.
Also, I have a long list of post beginnings, and I hope to get many of them posted here in the next couple of weeks. Some topics you can look forward to include a visit to Playhouse Square in Cleveland, a video of my trip to Rome, walking the Brooklyn Heights Promenade in Brooklyn, a Top 5 post on free (or nearly free) museums in New York City and a tale about visiting two sights that are decorated with bones. You can also look forward to photo updates on Amsterdam, Keukenhof Gardens and Nürnberg, Germany.
Readers, I would also love more comments about what you like and don’t like. You can read my “About” section to see where I have traveled, and with your questions or suggestions, I could write something about any of them.
July is almost over, and therefore, summer, as I know it and define, is also coming to an end.
The month of July signifies summer to me because it is the month my family gets together at a house on the beach in Mitiwanga Park, in Huron, Ohio. Although many things happen at the beach house that can and do happen elsewhere during the rest of the summer months, it’s the memories of playing in the sand and waves, sitting and reading in the sun, and watching the world pass by from the front porch that look and smell like summer.
Here’s a list of 14 ways to describe summer:
Sunsets over Lake Erie
From the hill that leads down to the beach is the most spectacular spot to watch a sunset. It is never the same and always beautiful.
The beach
Even though my family and I actually sit on a pier rather than the beach, I still am fiercely loyal to one section of the beach and prefer to be there than any other section.
Fireworks
Conveniently, July includes Independence Day, so fireworks are easy to come by. The video below is of Findlay’s fireworks and Mitiwanga Park’s fireworks.
Ice cream
My favorite ice cream joint, the Pied Piper, is in Huron and therefore, I visit it only in July. My favorite treat is a Reese’s sundae with chocolate ice cream, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup pieces and chocolate and peanut butter sauces.
Peaches
Fresh and juicy, and also just picked from the tree make a wonderful snack and dessert. Home-grown peaches are easy to come by in Huron and the vicinity and not so easily found where I live the rest of the time, which made my July peaches all the more sweeter.
Corn on the cob
Freshly picked that morning by the farmer who sells it is always the best.
Baked beans
The stickier the better.
Sleepy towns
Vermilion, Ohio, has a sleepy, little downtown area with some stores that have been there forever and others that change every few years. There’s good ice cream to be had at the Dairy Dock and Granny Joe’s (formerly Edna Mae’s), but the best dessert comes from Papa Joe’s Pizza and Pies.
Lighthouses
Walking out the mile-long pier to the Huron Lighthouse is another essential part of summer. The Marblehead Lighthouse also makes a great area stop.
Sitting on the front porch watching the world go by
There isn’t much world to watch in Mitiwanga Park, but there is a porch and it’s a nightly activity for my family.
Root beer floats
The foam, the root beer, the ice cream — all are delicious. Always made in a plastic cup at the beach house, they are perfectly portable to the front porch or down the street to watch the sunset.
Cedar Point
A trip to the Point always happens while we are already close (it’s about a 20-minute drive to the park in Sandusky from the east side of Huron), so that we can arrive earlier and stay later without needing a hotel.
Baseball
An Indians game in Cleveland or a Scrappers (Single-A affiliates of the Indians; CC Sabathia got his start there!) game in Niles are both on my summer list as well, but July will be over and I won’t have made it to a ballpark to cheer and boo and hear the crack of the bat on the ball (and to grimace at all the people who don’t sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” correctly — it’s “buy me some peanuts and CRACKER JACK”).
Lawn concerts
Sitting on the lawn on a blanket listening to any type of music or even watching a movie is my final summer point. It could be a concert at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, or the Metropolitan Opera singing at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, N.Y., or the Packard Band playing in Warren, Ohio.
Delft was a city I had dreamed about, ever since reading Tracy Chevalier‘s “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” This book is about the painting of the same name by Johannes Vermeer. There is also a wonderful film version with Scarlett Johansson.
I first encountered the book during English Festival, a northeast Ohio program at Youngstown State University about books. I can thank the festival for greatly widening my young adult literature horizons and for teaching me about Johannes Vermeer.
Perhaps the charm about this painting is that the girl in the painting is unknown; she could be anyone. After visiting the Vermeer museum in Delft, I learned that she probably isn’t anyone at all other than a pretend girl and a practice painting, but that does not make me love her, the painting or Johannes Vermeer any less.
I went to Delft to see Vermeer’s city, to see the scenes from the movie, to see the famous blue and white porcelain from that city. I combined this with other stops in the Netherlands for a greater-Vermeer + tulips tour, which so greatly passed all my expectations.
To see some of Delft, click the photo below, which is Vermeer’s grave in the Oude Kirk.
My first postcard from this bunch is from Moscow. This is definitely somewhere moving up in my travel wish list. The architecture just looks stunning and there is so much history there that I think I could really enjoy the city and rest of Russia. And check out the stamps!
Secondly, I have a postcard from China. This is another appealing postcard from China. My thoughts of China remain the same: language and food sound scary but the scenery would definitely be worth it.
This is my second postcard from Finland. This postcard has a nice, rose stamp. I would also like to visit Finland. An interesting piece of knowledge on Finland: it is not part of Scandinavia. I’m not sure which region of Europe it falls under.
And finally, I have a second postcard from the Netherlands. (After these three country doubles, I think I may have to update my postcrossing profile to eliminated country doubles. I’d like to branch out a bit more.) There are tulips, which I love, and two other scenes that I wouldn’t so quickly associated with the Netherlands, which is nice: cows and a craggy coast.
I really have enjoyed receiving these postcards, because they show me how much of the world I haven’t seen and keep me excited about traveling, even if I every so often feel as if I having a bit of the doldrums.
Last week I went to Cedar Point, “America’s Roller Coast,” to experience the amusement park’s new water ride, Shoot the Rapids. I did this as part of a media day for coverage for a section of the newspaper I work at.
The ride was awesome. Refreshing, pleasant and exciting are words I would use to describe it.
To watch me ride the ride, (yes, I was video taped while on Shoot the Rapids), watch below. To see the newspaper coverage of my day at Cedar Point and all of the family-friendly things you can do there, read about the new ride, and how to best use your time at the Point, click this link: weekend-edition.
For three years I have been driving the portion of U.S. 6 between Fremont and Sandusky, Ohio, that passes the Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area. This area is between Route 6 and the Sandusky Bay, so it is a great freshwater estuarine habitat.
There are a handful of places to pull off the road and observe the wildlife, specifically the observation deck in the middle of the area. I have always wanted to stop, but usually I am in hurry to be somewhere and don’t take the time.
Last night, though, with no particular need to be anywhere at any time, I decided I would stop, especially because the light was wonderful; it was about an hour from sunset. The observation area is a bit hidden by trees and a car had been driving on my tail, so I missed it because I didn’t want to stop suddenly.
So first, I turned onto the street leading to the information office, heading towards the bay. I stopped at a small turnoff with this sign:
I just happened to turn around to look at what was on the other side of the road when I saw two herons fly by. I guessed that there was a body of water there, and I was right. It was lovely. There were heron and geese in the water, birds flying and deer munching. There was also another bird perched on a dead tree; to my untrained eyes I would guess it was a hawk, but it could have been a bald eagle.
I went a bit farther down the road, stopping again to take photos of some pretty pink flowers.
Then I turned around and headed back to the observation area, driving past a deer grazing along the side of the road. After seeing the animals and vegetation at the other spot, I was a bit disappointed here. The sun was disappearing behind clouds and there weren’t any animals in the water.
I was glad I stopped, though. I had always wanted to know what the view was from that deck, and now I know. I also took some nice photos, which you can check out by clicking the photo below. And to learn more about the wildlife area, check the state’s Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife page for the area: Pickerel Creek.
At the end of the Christmas break in early 2009, my friend Jennica and I met up in Graz for a tour of the capital of Steiermark in southeastern Austria. It was a nice overnight trip, with just enough things to keep us entertained for about 24 hours. The train ride from Salzburg was also spectacular because it was directly through the alps. The art museum was really quite cool, especially because of the blob shape with tentacles design to the museum building. There was a lot of this interesting mix of new and old there with the Insel in the Mur river and a remake of the Statue of Liberty. And like just about everywhere in Austria, there were beautiful views.
The Life Ball is an annual event in Vienna that is Europe’s largest charity event for people with HIV or AIDS.
This year’s Life Ball was Saturday night and the opening ceremonies were rained out. This is what the Associated Press had to say:
VIENNA (AP) — A thunderstorm has cut short the star-studded opening of a flashy Austrian AIDS charity gala known as the Life Ball.
Appearances by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and Patti LaBelle — among other celebrities — had to be skipped after authorities issued a weather warning and ordered the square outside Vienna’s city hall to be cleared.
The annual party attracts thousands of revelers in quirky costumes and aims to raise money for people with HIV and AIDS. This year’s bash is linked to an international AIDS conference that kicks off in the Austrian capital Sunday (today).
Saturday night’s show also should have included an address by actress Whoopi Goldberg and a video message from Sharon Stone, as well as a fashion show.
Seeing this bit of news at work was perfect timing for me because I just recently finished editing my video of last year’s Life Ball. I did not attend the ball, but I did see some of the dress rehearsal and part of the actual opening ceremony.
My friend Jennica and I were meeting another friend for lunch near the Rathaus, the city hall. After lunch, Jennica and I were walking past the Rathaus, which we had already seen with all of its flashy set for that evening’s ball, when we heard singing that sounded like Katy Perry. I insisted that it was really Katy Perry, not just a recording being played because it sounded like a sound check.
We went to investigate and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the dress rehearsal rather than seeing the sights, but like every time I went to Vienna, I never went to any of the museums I planned on visiting, so I wasn’t disappointed.
We had tickets for “Frühling Erwachen,” or “Spring Awakening” in German for that night, which I had secured for us with my reward points from the grocery store. We got second-row seats for half price, and were pretty happy campers. After the show was over, we decided we should return to Rathausplatz to see what we could see.
Of course, now there were significantly more onlookers trying to see Katy Perry and Bill Clinton for free, but we still managed to see some of the fashion show and catch a couple glimpses of Perry and hear her sing.
For weeks I have been working on my video of last year’s Life Ball not because I have lots of video but because the video is at times terrible. The music is loud and sounds awful on my camera, and because I was at times filming through or over a fence, it’s a bit wobbly.
Nonetheless, you should check out my video. Also, below are pictures of the event. The theme was “Let Love Flow,” so the costumes and decorations are aquatic. There are waving mermaids and fish costumes and singers coming out of shells like Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.” They guests were even taken to the front entrance of the Rathaus by gondola on a moat that was built for the event.
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travelin' the globe 
