Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

This unassuming little church in Rome houses a
colorful Gothic interior. While Gothic architecture flourished in other parts of Europe, Rome missed out, leaving this church one of the only examples in town. but you wouldn't guess if from the exterior. The most noticeable feature of the church's exterior, is actually the elephant with a column on its back which sits in the front courtyard.

I was well prepared for my visit, thanks to the information I found here. The church is beautiful inside, despite its plain exterior. The deep blue vaulted ceilings accented by golden stars and mixed with pink and white marble columns is a startling but beautiful combination. Visiting truly feels like finding the diamond in the rough all the other tourists miss, as they hurry just up the street to the more famous Roman Pantheon.

Because this church is so convenient to the Pantheon, and, in fact lies along the road between it and Area Sacra Largo Argentina, you've really got no reason to miss it. It's one of those lovely little places that takes exactly as much time to appreciate, as you have to give to it.

Johnsonville State Park

A while back I bought a book by Kelley Roark called Hiking Tennessee. This book has led us to many nice hiking and walking trails, including those at Johnsonville State Historic Park. This park is located about 50 miles west of Nashville on the edge of Kentucky Lake a damned portion of the Tennessee River. We visited during the time that colder parts might call late winter, but I think of as early spring. The buds on trees were just beginning to appear, and the spring flowers were just beginning to push green tips up out of the ground.

Because the book was published over 10 years ago, some of the information is not up to date. The directions on how to get to the park were wonderfully accurate, but they were only from Memphis, and we were coming from Nashville, so this was a bit of a nuisance. The main problem was that the trail map wasn't quite right with regards to the trail head locations.

We parked next to what is called the museum by the park, but the visitor's center by the book, and checked out the civil war era cemetery which is on the map in the book. The cemetery is surrounded by the inner redoubt. The trail we were there to follow in the book is listed as the Johnsonville redoubt trail, known in the park as "trail" on all the signs. If you are wondering what a redoubt is, it is a reinforcing earthwork or breastwork within a permanent rampart according to dictionary.com.

Now, the museum and trail head are on the top of a small but steep wooded hill, by the edge of the lake. According to the book, the trail led around the cemetery, and down the hill, but there was no trail there as far as we could discern. Instead, the was a trail marked simply that, well to the left of the cemetery, and another one labeled "Nature Trail" further still to the left. We decided that "trail" was the right one, and started off. In retrospect, I think that we should have chosen the nature trail. The trail system is a large loop, and the descriptions in the book are in the reverse order if you leave from trail. We wound up returning from a different area completely, and crossing the road and the parking lot to return to our car, so I do not know where "nature trail" goes.

We hiked down off the hill, to an old service road, and from there cut through some brush to reach the rocky beach. At this spot there is a large amount of plastic garbage, broken glass, and shotgun shells. Not exactly what I think of when I think of a park. The explanation for the majority of this material (especially the shotgun shells) is also there on the beach. It is a duck blind, covered over by dry grass and camouflage netting. Inside are a few camp chairs, a small camp stove, and a frying pan, along with dozens of empty soda cans (no alcohol in state parks you know) and some more shotgun shells. While this wasn't the tranquil park experience I was used to, it was still definitely interesting. We walked back up to the service road, and followed it out to what used to be the rail tracks, as it crossed what is now the lake. This long corridor stretches out into the lake, and out at the very end of it is the serene state park feeling. There is no trash there, just the water breaking over the rocks, and some seagulls. From there we followed the old service road back the way we came, to the other end of it.

At this end is a muddy little inlet, which was fantastic, because there were animal footprints everywhere. Several deer, possum, raccoon, heron, and either wild dog or coyote had been there. It may have been a domestic dog, but if so, it was there without its owner; ours were the only human prints. From there, it was back to the trail, and up a very steep hill. From the top we could see a good view of the lake through the trees, which would be blocked later in the year. Then we continued along a ridge for a while, back down a steep incline, into a nice little valley. We saw two red tailed hawks circling overhead, and heard them calling back and forth to each other. Then we saw some squirrels. Eventually we found ourselves headed back towards the railroad end of the service road. We passed through an area where the ground was littered with bits of coal, from what I assume were old shipments on the railroad. Along the banks were the outer redoubts. And beyond them, was a flock of ducks, floating on the lake. Then it was just a short hike back up to the hill to our car.

I really enjoyed this park, because it is nice and quite. Though the trails are not long or difficult, and the parking is ample, there were few people about. There were some kids playing basketball in the parking lot, and a couple fishing on the lake, but there was no one else around. Aside from the trash on the beach, and the fact the museum is closed until next month, the park seems well maintained. All the "trail" signs were new, bright blue with yellow letters. It's close to Nashville, and would be a good destination for a day trip for anyone there. It's also a historic crossroads, as shown by the civil war cemetery, earthworks, and old railroad passageway. There is something even more interesting under the water: Old Johnsonville, which was flooded over when the damn that created Kentucky Lake was built. B+

Radnor Lake, the secret of the city

According to their website, Radnor Lake is the "largest pocket of wilderness in the U.S. in close proximity to a major city". The real irony is, you would drive right by it, and never know it was there. The secret is to look for Otter Creek Road, as no sign boasts the park's location.

With over 5 miles of trails meandering around a sprawling, smallish lake, nestled against the southern side of the city, Radnor Lake is an urban retreat like no other.

Once we found our way to one of the two parking lots, and managed to find a spot to park, I had some serious misgivings about the number of people. Encouraged by an optimistic husband, I was convinced however, to give the place a chance, so we started our walk from the visitor's center along the spillway trail, following the bone dry Otter Creek. We were rewarded almost immediately by the sighting of several deer. Down by the stream bed was a doe feeding. Then, after some crashing about a mature buck, with a full sized, velvetless rack arrive on the scene, startling the doe. When she took flight, he was quick to follow her, into the forest, out of sight. Not far ahead on the left of the trail, a younger male was feeding. From here the trail wound gently round the lake, becoming the Lake Trail. Along the way, we saw a Carolina Wren, a Carolina Chickadee, and a very large Great Blue Heron, casually preening on the lake's edge.

When we reached the juncture with the Ganier Ridge Trail, we left the lake to follow it. This trail winds along through the tall trees, then twists abruptly up the face of the ridge, marking the only difficult part of the trail. On the top, the trees are short stubby things, obviously suffering from the long dry summer. We followed along the level top of the ridge, past a young fellow playing the acoustic guitar, finally winding down the far side, and connecting to the access trail which leads to the second parking lot.

We then followed the road for a ways, taking note of the ducks on the water, and the obligatory Canadian geese. There were mallards swimming alone in a group of 15 or so, in a small pond or overflow area, on the opposite side of the road from the lake. On the lake itself were 3 ducks we were able to identify with our binoculars as 2 female and 1 male Scaup. This marks the first time we've seen these, though it was at a good distance. There were quite few other ducks further onto the lake, but our binoculars could not show us enough to figure out what type they were. A kingfisher was also present, mostly telling on himself with his unique voice, but finally showing himself when he took off across the lake.

We then left the road to follow the South Lake Trail among the trees, staying quite close to the road. Along the way we were accosted by a tufted titmouse. Finally we returned to the car after what turned out to be an enjoyable walk.

Overall, the trails at Radnor lake are flat and easy, and largely well cushioned by thick layers of wood mulch. There are quite a few people, but most stay well spaced out, and many seem to visit only to walk the road portion between the two parking lots. Fall is an especially nice time to visit, not only for the aforementioned wild life, but also for the beautiful fall foliage.

Ostia Antica

The ancient city of Ostia Antica is something of a secret in Italy, being overshadowed by the city of Pompeii. But this city is not less impressive, or expansive, and it is less crowded.

It is not a difficult place to find, and is only a few minutes from Rome's Fiumicino Airport, making it an ideal first stop when visiting the country. The entrance leads down a wide lane, riddled with grooves from ancient wagon wheels. The first area is is the roman necropolis, the region of crypts customarily placed a distance from town. Beyond the this area is an open market area, with buildings, which were, if I understand the translations from the information I got online, warehouses. This area has many interesting geometric mosaics on the floors.

Beyond this area we came to the large bath complex on the right side of the road. It is possible to go down some of the side streets, and catch glimpses of the closed off interior. Returning to the main road, we climbed some steep steps to the top of one building, to over look the large mosaic floor of on area of the baths.

Behind the baths is the barracks for the soldiers, who were also the city's firemen. It consists of a courtyard, with many smaller rooms opening onto it, and there is only one way in or out. From here we took a detour behind the ruins to the tree lined modern road to the snack area, so we could take a quick pit stop. We returned back to the ruins, heading towards the amphitheatre. In front of this structure, there is a small temple, and before the temple is the ancient market.

The market area is essentially a rectangular shaped open air shopping mall. Each small store had a mosaic on its floor, and often a mosaic on the sidewalk in front, naming the business and
advertising their wares. It is a unique and interesting feature of Ostia Antica. Not all of the mosaics today represent their historical pattern, as they were restored in a time when archaeology wasn't quite as exacting as it is today, which is to say, they made up some pictures using the ancient mosaic stones.

The Amphitheater is beautiful and well preserved. At the time of our visit, the area of the original stage had been covered and outfitted for a modern performance. The seating area is fully accessible, and we climbed up to the very top, where the ancient nobility would have sat.

The amphitheater is a semi circle, with the main entrance a single large archway through the middle. There are 2 additional entrances in the form of stairways with climb the back, or outside, of the amphitheater on either side of the main entrance.

There is a good deal more to this city, but as this was our first day, we were just too tired to continue. But from what I saw, I know that I will return next time I visit Rome, to finish exploring the incredible place. This is an A+

Magnolia Manor

The Magnolia Manor in Bolivar, Tennessee was built in 1849, and according to their website:

"It was used as a Headquarters for the Union Army by Generals Logan, McPherson, Sherman and Grant during the Civil war and it is believed to be the home in which these four Generals planed the battle of Shiloh."

We stayed in the C. A. Miller Master Suite, an absolutely beautiful room. The hostesses were kind, and the eggs Benedict breakfast was fantastic. However, it seems that rates have increased a bit since our stay, as I recall paying about $100 and the site now posts a $135 price. It might however be worth the price, especially for those interested in Civil War History.

The Memphis Zoo

I love to visit zoos during cooler times. When the weather is in the 50's, animals that typically don't seem to do anything but nap are up and active. It was just this type of weather when last I visited.

The Memphis Zoo is good one. They have 2 Pandas, mountain lions, jaguars, lions, a male lowland gorilla, chimps, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, hippos, and a slew of other animals. We also get 50% off the entrance because we are members at the Nashville zoo, and that never hurts, right?

Upon entering the park we went immediately to the cats area, because the male and female lion were calling too each other. The male emitted a low rumble, like a whooo whooo. It carried easily across the distance from their cage to the entrance. I felt as if there was a speaker right above my head. The female makes a stranger noise that's a little higher pitched, like heh heh. They just go back and forth whooo heh whooo heh every so often for no apparent reason.

We saw a serval which was pacing its cage, and 3 young male mountain lions that were chasing each other around their enclosure. We also saw 2 black jaguars which were fighting over a rock. They were trying to lift if with their paws onto a rock ledge. They could have just picked it up with their mouths, but they didn't even try. I don't believe I've ever seen a jaguar elsewhere, or certanly not as close. I learned from the experience that they are actually marked like their spotted brethren, and when the light hits their fur just right, you can clearly see the spotted markings, though the fur is all black. The cheetahs were also very active, pacing the front edge of their exhibit and staring at the people looking at them, as if they were very hungry.

The zoo also has a lot of primates, most of which were active. The orangutan was eating grass, The mother chimp was holding her little baby, and the very large gorilla was carrying around his special piece of cardboard.

There is also a nocturnal animal exhibit, with a wide range of animals I've not seen elsewhere, like sugar gliders, anteaters, and kinkajous. We were a little upset that at the time we were too early to see the new exhibit with brown and polar bears, and also the seal show was off for that day because they were cleaning the pool.

This zoo is easily the best one in the state of TN, of the 3 that I have visited, with Nashville, Knoxville being the other 2. It is definitely worth a weekend trip, and perhaps a little further if there is not another zoo closer which has pandas. They are adorable, and of the 2 that they have, you are almost garunteed that at least 1 will be up and eating. They do seem to eat a lot.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin

The Pergamon Museum in Berlin Germany is an incredible museum. Most history museums have vases and jewelry from various historical sites, and while Pergamon does have that, it also has the sites themselves. This museum was designed and built specifically for the collections it contains in the early 1900’s, though to me the exterior looks rather more modern.

I will save the best items for last, though they are showcased at the very beginning of the museum. The museum covers several major time period/regions in its collections. There are Greek works, Babylonian artifacts, and some Islamic work as well. There are quite a few Classic Greek statues here, and also some of a genera I didn’t know existed, depicting, in the same style, more natural poses, such as a boy examining his foot, and even a dog licking itself. Of course, the Classic Greek statues were beautiful. We were able to listen to English information about many of the works, by keying in a number into a handheld audio guide. In this area there was also a case of glass work, which is impressive both because it is so well preserved, and because it is so beautiful. The Babylonian sculptures were less realistic, but equally interesting. One of my favourite pieces was a clam shell, the inside of which had been intricately carved into a low relief mural. In the Islamic section were several architectural pieces, including portions of a palace wall.

The real highlight of this museum is that, as I have said, it has the archaeological sites as well as the artifacts. The very first chamber you enter contains the massive Greek Pergamon Alter. It takes up a single, very large room. Steep ancient stairs go up to the alter top, and high relief sculptures depicting epic battles circle the room outside the alter. You can indeed climb the stairs to the top of the alter, to view an amazingly complex mosaic in the floor (the mosaic is not original to this alter) each piece in the mosaic is about the size of a pencil eraser. There is more. There is an old market gate, with sand colored columns rising up to support the two tiered structure, and finally, there is the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. If you saw the movie Alexander, you have seen a representation of this gate. As Alexander enters the city of Babylon, he looks around at this incredible blue gate, and blue walls that go into the city. This is what we saw. It is the gate, and several sections from the wall, forming a sort of “Victory Way” for returning heroes, and in Alexander’s case, the conquerors. I am thrilled to have seen something that such a great historical figure would have laid eyes on with wonder himself.

This museum took several hours (5 or 6 if memory serves) to peruse using the audio guides, but was well worth the time. Admission was relatively inexpensive, and the museum was built for the items it displays, and has been doing so for nearly 100 years, so you can count on it being there when you visit. This is a must. A+

Impressions of Italy

After spending 16 days on Italian soil I can honestly say that despite the language barriers, and the Italians' unique take on driving, that the place feels like home to me.

I intend to blog in detail about all the wonderful individual sites, from the ancient rock walls in Arpino, to the Coliseum, to Syracusa, to Florence's wonderful museums. But, for now I would just like to take a moment and give a brief overview of the country from my perspective.

The terrain is varied, from the beautiful green mountains of Florence, to the dusky dry south, from olive groves, to vineyards, to sunflower patches. The one constant is mountains. I explored much of the country from Bologna south, including Sardinia and Sicilia, and I don't believe I was ever out of site of a mountain. The early September weather was pleasantly warm, but not overly hot, with the glaring exception of the micro climate that is the Pompeii ruins.

The driving in Italy is hectic, fluid, and more than a little intimidating at first. In large cities like Rome and Palermo, there seem to be few rules, aside from which side of the road to drive on. Cars line up at the red light, as many across as will fit, with scooters weaving there way to the front of the starting line. Buses will generally drive where they need to, so stay out of their way! While I wasn't doing the actual driving myself, I did find that the system works well, and isn't nearly as harrowing once one becomes accustomed. I find I have a lot more to say about this, so I'll save that for a blog later.

The food in Italy was disappointing for me. I don't have a taste for wine, and I found the pastas to be less hearty and flavorful than American styled Italian. There were some definite winners though: the cheese sauces were fantastic, I loved the gnocchi, and don't forget the gellato. I think some of this might be accounted for our not knowing the right places to go. We did eat some really fantastic stuff at the Grand Hotel in San Marino, but there was so much food I couldn't enjoy the later courses properly. I do not know how anyone can eat so much!

The people of Italy are nice and friendly, despite our extremely limited Italian vocabulary. I enjoyed the combination of high fashion, modern younger people mixed evenly with traditional older people. It's the kind of place where Gucci bags are sold next to fresh produce, just down the street from a pescatoria where you can buy the catch of the day.

Of all the many sites we visited, I can not think of any that were disappointing, though the Malatestiano Temple in Rimini wasn't quit the den of evil I had been lead to believe. Some areas are more touristy than others, but for the touristy ones, early mornings help immensely to avoid the crowds.

We stayed mostly in hostels or camping villages, always with a room, bungalow, cabin, or house tent to ourselves, at rates that often beat anything we could have got in the US, even with the USD/EUR disparity. I would highly recommend looking into alternative housing to anyone desiring to travel to Italy for a little less.

Overall, despite the fact that the country is probably one of the most hyped up tourist destinations around, I can firmly say that it's not just hype.

Ocoee

The Ocoee River is a great place to Raft in Tennessee. It's located In the southeast corner of the state. The rapids are fun, but not too serious, mostly class III and IV. There is a damn upstream as well, so the should be fairly consistent during the season.

It's been some time since I went, so I can't remember the name of the particular group we used, but, like many of these places, there are several compainies to choose from. Whoever you wind up going with, you will probably start out on the deep water above the damn, learning how to work with your raft mates. Once you do board the raft, it is fairly nonstop until you reach the deeper, slow waters near the end. Here you will have the opportunity to climb out of the boat and float in the water.

This is a half day activity, and a particularly good location for the first time rafter. I highly recommend a visit here, especially if you find your self in the Chatanooga area, which is the closest larg city. A

Wild on Mammoth (think Discovery, not E!)

The Wild Cave tour at mammoth caves is a unique experience, and doing it is an accomplishment I’m pretty proud of. The web site describes it as :

Physical Challenges: Free-climbing cave walls; lengthy crawls through areas as tight as 9 inches high; walking in a crouched position; hand and knee crawls over jagged rocks and dirt; crawling through wet areas; twisting into and out of tight crawlway openings.

It is a 6 hour tour, covering in that time only about 5.5 miles.

The tour has a capacity limit of 14, but when we went we were fortunate enough to have only ourselves and two other guests on the tour, with the 2 guides that made six people, and because of that we were able to more move quickly through the tour and see more of the cave. They took us through some of the easier parts of the tour first, climbing up round rocks and through narrow tunnels. They looped back into the same room 3 times, from different directions, demonstrating how easy it can be to become lost in a cave, and how difficult it can be to recognize that you are going in circles. Then there was a test of sorts.

Before they could take us to some of the other areas, they had to make sure we weren’t claustrophobic. We all had to crawl through a small section of the cave that was so narrow you had to scoot in as far as you could, let out your breath, and push through the narrowest section. If you had gotten stuck, you would have been able to breathe only very shallowly. If is scary for everyone I think, but if you can do it, nothing else on the tour will even make you feel uncomfortable. The location of this is right at a major tour route through the cave, so if you can’t do it, they just leave you there, to get picked up on a more conventional tour. We didn’t have any chickens with us, so we continued on our grueling path, which can more or less be described by the physical challenges above.

The part about crawling over jagged rocks isn’t talking about something like gravel. The rocks are very sharp and remind me more of the underside of volcanic rock. We stopped to eat some food, which we packed in our fanny packs (I know, but we had to buy some for this and it’s the only time we’ve ever used them). We even arrived at the bottom of a deep pit at one point. Everywhere along the route were large orange duffle bags with items for emergencies, a constant reminder to pay attention, and not get hurt down here. We had a great time, and because there were so few of us, we had plenty of time to ask questions and listen to stories. We arrived after 6 hours back on the surface, exhausted and dirty.

We then realized we hadn’t brought clean clothes, or even towels to cover the car seats with. Oh well. We were so tired that we only got as far as Bowling Green, before we pulled over in a Kroger parking lot to take a nap. I always tell myself I’ll do this again someday, but every time I think about it, my stomach knots up a little bit: “you don’t really want to do that again do you?” it says. Well, maybe someday…

Overall this is an awesome experience, and if you’re in reasonably good shape, you should give this a shot. You must be at least 16, and those under 18 must be with an adult. Hip or chest measurements should not exceed 42 inches, and the cost is $46 per person. Yeah, and don’t forget those extra clothes : ) A+

Opryland Hotel, Nashville

If you live in the area or you are going to be in the area for some time, you should definitely check out the Opryland Hotel. It is particularly nice in the winter, because you can walk around "outside" without a coat. The Hotel is a small city unto itself. The interior has multiple courtyards with a sky high roof of glass scaffolding above. These are not your normal courtyards. Each one is a jungle, with winding paths leading behind waterfalls and over them, around fountains and gazebos, and beside small streams. Wider lanes lead along the river, and through the small New Orleans styled street. You can board a boat on a track, and take a little tour of the area, or Head to the mansion on the hill for dinner. All of this is "inside" the walls of the hotel, under a vast steel and glass roof. There are even fountain shows, and a rotating bar. Along the more traditional interior areas, there is an old world charm. You will come uppon huge lounge rooms with piano and fire place, ball rooms with floor to ceiling murals, and quite corners. There are also several restaurants, bars, and shops inside.

The Opryland is a first class hotel, though the rooms aren't worth the 250 per night they cost, stay somewhere else, but check it out. The restaurants inside are good too, especially the one which looks like a mansion on the hill. I have yet to see a hotel complex as large or interesting anywhere else, of course, I've not yet been to vegas either.

Winter is a great time to visit because it is tropical weather inside the glass to keep all the palm trees alive. It's also a wonderful time to visit, because the hotel puts on an impressive display of lights and decorations, as well as having activities such as the Ice! event (see an earlier blog) and the Rockettes.

This place is an A

Kentucky Down Under

Kentucky Down Under is double well name because it has an Australian theme and a cave. My Husband and I went to Kentucky Down Under thinking it was just a cave, not really knowing about the other things it had to offer, so we was a little surprised at the cost, which was almost $20 per person. However, the woman at the gate gave us a map of the park, which has times for shows and the cave tours listed on it. From this, we were able to tell that there was a lot more to the place, and decided to go ahead. The first thing we did was head to the wool shed for a sheep show. On the way, we saw a dingo in his pen, and we passed through the bird garden, a series of large cages with kookaburras and cockateels. When we arrived at the shed we were treated to a show of many different species of sheep, which they brought out onto the stage. It was somewhat funny, and definitely educational. Then we went outside for a sheep herding demonstration by the speakers' dog, which went far out in the field, and herded the sheep to the fence by us. Then we went back inside for the real fun. They small kids from the audience were given large bottles to feed the babies. Every little child gets a bottle, and then they unleash the baby sheep. It is a stampede of minor proportions, as the small children are assaulted by the babies. It was fun to watch, but probably even more fun to do.

After the show we headed over to feed some lorikeets at the aviary. Along the way, I was able to get some very good pictures of a peacock with its tail fanned. Feeding the lorikeets is a lot of fun. You get to go into a large enclosure with a cup of nectar, and the birds land on you, on you hand, shoulder, or even head, to eat the nectar from the cup.

After the lorikeets, we went to the Kangaroo pen. This was my favorite part of the park. A park employee leads you on a tour along a sidewalk through an enclosed area with kangaroos, wallabies, and ostriches. We were allowed to pet the kangaroos and an ostrich. They are all very relaxed. At the time we were there a woman at the park had a joey in a special made pouch on her front, to simulate the Kangaroo pouch. She was mothering it, and kept it with her at all times. She let us pet him; he was very soft, like a rabbit. He was almost ready to come out, and doesn't fit into the pouch all the way anymore.

Once we had seen the kangaroos, we made a stop at the more traditional petting zoo, where they have miniature ponies and goats, which we brushed and petted. Finally, we were ready for the cave tour, which was a nice, basic cave, common in the area. The tour guide was king enough to take everyone's picture inside.

The only activity we missed was a visit to the reptile house, because we didn't get to it in time for a show, but I believe it is hands on as well. Kentucky is a lot of fun because it is so hands on. The staff all seem to like there jobs, and are very knowledgeable. I'll give this place an A. I will not give it a + because, in my opinion, it could have been a little cheaper. Still, it is a fun way to spend the day.

Neuschwanstein a Mad Man's Fairytale

Neuschwanstein was built by mad King Ludwig II on a mountaintop beside his parents home, Hohenschwagau. Hohenschwangau was built upon the ruins of the original swan castle, so Ludwig decided to name his new swan castle.

The castle, built in the mid 1800's, is probably the most famous building in the entire country. It is located near the southern border of Germany, in beautiful Bavaria.

We arrive in the little town at the base of the two castles late in the afternoon. Though the castle was already closed for the day, we made the hike up the hillside to see it anyway. The main front doors were closed, and we had the place to ourselves, in that golden light before sunset. What impressed me most about the castle was sheer size. The main tower is about 260 feet tall, and the rest of the building is not too much shorter than that. The exterior is smooth white limestone, with red brick around the gate. Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland was inspired by this massive structure. We returned to the town for dinner, and went to bed anticipating a visit to both castles in the morning.

Unfortunately, it was on this night that I became seriously ill. It would seem my husband hadn't been nervous on our wedding day, but legitimately sick, and contagious. I could barely walk 30 feet, much less make the climb to the castle, and keep up during the tour. So we left for our next destination, there was nothing else we could do. Fortunately, over the next day, we were able to compress some of our activities, and we made the hard decision to forgo a half day trip to Austria. 24 hours found a much recovered me, and Jake returning to Neuschwanstein

This time we would not be denied, and soon found ourselves standing within the now crowded area of the gate house. Our tour guide here, and at Hohenschwangau, had the most horrific accents. I do not even believe they were German, but Slavik. They were next to impossible to understand, but we managed. Unfortunately, due to Ludwig's being declared insane, and his mysterious death, much of the rooms were never finished. What is completed is incredible. There are 3 rooms of highlight. First is the music hall with a stage, surrounded by carved benches, with the background of the stage being an elaborate forest scene. Second is Ludwig's bedroom, with an ornately hand carved canopy bed, which if memory serves took a team of carpenter's years to complete. Finally is the throne room. It has a huge vaulted ceiling, a wonderful mosaic floor, and a chandalier shaped like a crown. The one thing this room is missing is a throne, which was never completed.

I loved this place. Don't miss Hohenschwangau either, it has less spectacular rooms, but a little more history than this castle, which was barely occupied. A+

Cypress Grove

The Cypress Grove Nature Park just south of Jackson, Tennessee is a nice way to spend an afternoon. We visited there for two reasons. The first reason being it was rainy and cloudy at home, and we had reason to believe that west TN would be nice and sunny, which we were right about. The second reason was because we thought cypress were evergreens, and so would be nice and green year round, which we were wrong about. Still, we had a good time. The park provides a nice walk along a boardwalk, which winds through the trees. There is a rookery with injured birds, near to the start of the trail. When we visited we saw a Bald Eagle, a Red Tailed Hawk, a Golden Eagle, and an Great Horned Owl. They had all been recently fed white rats, but unfortunately, no one was eating while we were there. We walked the boardwalks, and even though there was no foliage, we were still able to enjoy the wildlife. We saw a squirrel, which sat quite close to us while it ate a nut, a woodpecker, and also a rabbit. Some of the trees, which were not cypress, had produced buds, probably because of all the warm weather we had been having at the time. After we had walked the paths, we headed back home to the Nashville area.

Along the way home, we stopped at the Opry Mills mall, intending to eat at the Macaroni Grill, but it was very busy, so we ate at Banditos instead. Banditos was good and very filling, though of course, even though we only got two burritos, a coke, and a water, it still cost $20. That is just one of many things I hate about Opry Mills.

Overall, I would have to say that the Cypress grove is worth seeing if you live close by, or if, like us, you just need to get away. B+

Fall Creek Falls

Tennessee, thanks to it's soft limestone, Mountains in the east, and many creeks and streams, has quite a few waterfalls. Some of the falls are small, some are large, but there are few places in the state as nice as Fall Creek Falls State park.

This park has several falls. The main one is Fall Creek Falls, for which the park is named. It is created by a stream falling 250 feet into a boulder strewn bowl. There is a view point overlooking the falls, and a trail leads off to the left and winds down to the base of the falls. From the base of the falls, you can follow the creek to it's connection with a larger stream, and following this upstream, you will eventually reach Piney Falls. from there, you can climb out with the aid of a steel cable (the cable trail) and you will find yourself at the Nature Center parking lot, and Piney falls overlook. The Visitors Center is quaint, but not spectacular. There are restrooms here as well. Piney Falls is not as high as fall creek falls, and is a good deal wider. It falls into a large deep pool which some people swim in, and the water stays very very cold year round.

Behind the visitors center, you can choose to go down to the Cascade falls, or use a suspension bridge to cross above the top of the falls. The cascades are usually a great place to swim. The nature of the falls creates several natural slides, deep pools and shelves. If water is especially high swimming could be dangerous, as it is only a short distance to the drop of Piney Falls. If you choose to cross the suspension bridge, you can continue to follow the trail that ultimately leads around, crossing fall creek above the falls, and returns you to the fall creek overlook. In this manner, you can hike and see the best parts of the the park, but both areas are accessible by car as well. There are other trails in the park, but this route is by far my favorite.

The park offers the best of what Tennessee parks have to offer. Limestone cliffs deciduous forests, beautiful streams, waterfalls, groves of mountain laurel, quiet, and wildlife viewing opportunities. It is rare for a visitor to not see a few deer, turkeys, and red tailed hawks while at the park. There is also a lake and bike trails in the park. This is one of the natural highlights of the state, and it is well known and loved by the hiking locals. I give this location an A.

There was Snow in June

In June of 2004, my husband and I took a trip to New Mexico and Colorado. I, being from the Southeast, did not expect snow to be anywhere trees can grow in June. So imagine my surprise at the amount of snow that can be found when we reached Rocky Mountain National Park. The park was our last major stop of the trip. We entered through Estes Park and had a nice drive through a beautiful deep and narrow canyon. We then proceeded to a parking lot where we could board buses which would take us to Bear Lake. Here were my first signs that things were different here. I attributed the patches of snow around the lake to the deep shade of the trees. From Bear Lake we walked a short distance to Nymph Lake, which is really no larger than a pond, but it is beautiful all the same. There are several more lakes along this route, but it was at this point that I officially wimped out. Having hiked into the Black Canyon only two days before, I really wasn’t up to walking, especially at such an elevation. I live at an elevation of about 500ft, and the park is around 10,000 ft, which is a pretty significant different. It doesn't help that I was in pretty poor shape at the time.

We returned via bus to the car, which fortunately hadn’t been broken into by any wandering bears, and we drove to the portion of the park that is labeled Moraine on the map. Here there is a museum, but we only had one day in the park, and we were much more interested in the parts that were outside. The Moraine is a beautiful valley, with an abruptly flat bottom, through which small streams lazily wind. The field is alive with prairie dogs, and we were delighted to see several elk laying in the grass as well.

After this we headed for trail ridge road, which crosses the alpine region of the park. As we turned onto the road, we passed a snow plow. For some reason, I failed to question this. As we drove along we noticed very long narrow wooden poles, such as could be used for pole-vaulting, standing upright along either side of the road. Eventually, we cam upon the reason the poles were there. There was snow, and it was deep. I would say 3-5 feet along some portions of the road. My speculation is that the poles were there so the plow, and possibly cross country skiers, would know where the road was. Yet still, my feeble brain didn’t really consider just how very cold it must be, especially as we were now in the "Alpine" region. We stopped at an overlook; I believe it was the forest canyon overlook. The view was awesome, but the marmots on the rocks a few feet below the railing were stealing the show by playing and “talking” too each other. After they all retired to their burrows, we got back in the car and continued on, finally arriving at the alpine visitor’s center, which was absolutely covered in snow. Inside we found a souvenir Christmas ornament, a real aspen leaf, eaten away so it was only the webbing, and dipped in silver. This began a tradition of leaf ornaments. We continued along the road, finally descending at the other side of the range.

We made a stop at the site of the old Never Summer Ranch. In a field to the right were dozens of elk, possibly a few hundred, though I have no basis for that number at all. They were a good distance away though, so we felt fine following a trail back into the woods. Along the way a red wing blackbird caught my attention. It flew into a stand of brushy young trees growing in some standing water. Among these trees were three moose. They were what looked like a bull and two cows. Though we were pretty close to them, they never looked our way, allowing us to comfortably watch them for some time. Back in the car, we continued down the road just a short distance when we noticed several cars pulled over, so we did likewise. The attraction was two male elks with large racks, which were relatively close to the road. A man there told us he had heard that there was a baby moose down the road somewhere, but he hadn’t seen it. Excited, we got back in the car and continued on our way, but we saw nothing either. We pulled in to turn around at the coyote valley trail head. There was the baby. Just 15 feet of the parking lot, in a small hollow full of bright new green grass was an awkward little moose calf! It was trying very hard to rub its head on a stick on the ground. It would lift one end of the stick until it was vertical, and then try to scratch its head on it, knocking the stick over. Mama was just a few feet away in the edge of the trees. She was eating, not the lush green grass, but the twigs off of the small trees. Because we were so close, we stayed in our car leaving it in drive. After we had our fill of watching the baby and getting some wonderful video footage, we returned the way we came, to head across Kansas on our way home. This park was just spectacular. My only regret is that we should have come a little later, because there was still one road in the park, a one-way rustic road to the alpine visitor’s center, that was still closed at our time of visit. I had a great time here, the views are terrific, and there is so much wildlife everywhere. I highly recommend it. A+

Rau!

This is about an art exhibit that I went to see some time ago, considering the items on the exhibit were sold after the tour was over, I'm not sure it's worth your time, but it's worth mine to write it

I visited the Rau exhibit at the Tennessee Museum in Nashville, on its almost last day here in the U.S. The exhibit was named for the man who had collected these works for his personal collection over the past 30 years. The subtitle was six Centuries with the European Masters. Some of the highlights were a Portrait of a Young woman by Bernardino Luini, who's work is often mistook for DaVinci's, as this painting once was. Saint Domino in Prayer, by El Greco, David Decapitating Goliath by Guido Reni, Woman with a Rose by Auguste Renoir, which I seem to remember copying in art class in highschool, Several works by Claude Monet and by Camille Pissarro, Woman with a Black Hat by Edouard Manet, as well as self portraits by Edgar Degas and Edouard Vuillard. My husband and I had a good time, though the exhibit was fairly packed because this was the next to last day of exhibit. The paintings were very intersting to look at, and Jake had to conceed that he liked the impressionists' work more than he thought he would. I liked seeing the art like this becuase experience is a better teacher than a textbook, and also, it's hard to study a painting by a photograph, because you can't really see the paint.

I haven't had much opportunity to examine paintings. Nashville doesn't have a lot in the way of museums, but this collection was a solid lesson in art history, and I greatly appreciated the opportunity to see these works.

Meersburg

Meersburg is a small town on the shores of the Bodensee, also known as Lake Constance. It's a beautiful and quaint little lakeside town, and our hotel was right next to the coast. After we got settled in our little room, we walked along between the lake and the many restaurants there, trying to decide what to eat. We finally settled on a little pizza place which was attached to our hotel, the Hotel Seehoff, which was cheap and perfectly located, by the way. Well, we ordered a salami and pepperoni pizza, but when they brought it to us there was no pepperoni at all, just thick cut salami and these long green peppers. That is how we discovered that in Germany, those peppers were pepperoni, and as far as I can tell they don't have what we know as pepperoni in America.

In the morning, we both woke up about 4am, because we were still getting used to the German time zone. So we got up and walked out on a little concrete barrier and watched it get lighter in Switzerland, and Austria, which also border the lake. Then we took a little walk around the town, as the shops began to open, though there were no tourists about. Finally we returned to our hotel for a standard German hotel breakfast. It consisted of rolls, meat, cheese, coffee, tea, orange juice, cereal, and fruit. After we had eaten we climbed stairs though the trees, up to the second level road, where the Altes Schloss Meersburg (old meersburg castle) was located. This castle is an old (628 a.d.) defensive castle, made of heavy stone, with thick walls. It has lots of medieval style armor, weapons, and furniture. It also has a couple of neat features. There is a rookery for the falcons, there was a tunnel that was once dug down to the lake to sneak supplies in during a siege, which was latter converted to a "put 'em there and leave them" dungeon, and in the towers, there are pieces of the floor which lift up to reveal the stairs downward. I assume this is also defensive, but really have no idea. It's very much a medieval, Camelot style castle, and the fee to get in was only a few Euros, if I remember right. After we had explored the castle, we took the long way back down to our car, along the sunny cobbled street. We bought an ice cream cone, and got back to our car, ready for the next part of our trip. The town is adorable, and the castle's very nice, and has a different feel than many of the other castles we visited here, and though there are some towns which draw more tourism along the coast of the Bodensee, this one has all you could want, with maybe a few less people. I would give this place an A

Diamond Caverns

Diamond Caverns are located within the Mammoth Cave National Park, but they are privately owned. My husband and I have been to a lot of caves, including Mammoth Caves, Lincoln Caverns, Cumberland Caverns, Kentucky Caverns, Ruby Falls, the Lost Sea, and probably more. This one struck me as pretty interesting as far as private caves go. It was a very wet cave, and had something we hadn't seen before: a honeycomb like rock, which we were told was created when pyrite was eaten out of the rock by sulfuric acid, which was formed when carbonic acid came into contact with the rock. The carbonic acid would be created by the limestone I believe. I think that's pretty interesting. Our guide was freindly, but didn't exactly seem to like his job. There was also a nice gift shop, with leaves dipped in silver and gold for christmas ornaments. We bought one of those, to go with a similar one we have, of an aspen leaf we got at Rocky Mountain National Park. Ultimately, this cave, as is any cave, is a good way to spend a winter day. I would give it a B.

Lancaster County

Today I'd like to talk about Lancaster County Pennsylvannia. There is a large number of amish and menonite people living in this religion. I found this area to be very fun and enjoyable. First, let me say we had some wonderful home cooking at the Bird in Hand Restaurant in the town Bird in Hand. We finished off our meal with shoo fly pie, which was great. I think is best described as an apple pie without the apples, and extra cinammon. Then we went on Aaron and Jessica's buggy rides, which was interesting. In one way, I was disappointed, because I was hopping to ride in one of the small enclosed buggies that you see so often. Instead, several of us rode in a more wagon like rectangular buggy, that was roofed, but mostly open air. However, this was made up for by the man who drove the buggy. He was an amish man whose name was Meno, I believe. I had not expected this, as I was aware the the amish are somewhat private people, and I did not really expect to find an amish person involved with a tourist operation. He told us that the Amish generally didn't like to have their pictures taken, and to keep an eye out for road apples from the horses. We rode the buggy through the farmland, where houses all had laundry out to dry, and the air was clean, and the views nice, considering there were no power lines in the way. We stopped by one house where some children were selling souvenir horseshoes that had been brightly painted for only a few dollars each. After our nice little ride we headed up to the gift shops where I bought a book on the Amish, and my husband bought a shirt that proclaims " I love Intercourse" Intercourse being, of course, a nearby town. In the market area they also had bundles of dry flowers, and I would really have loved to take some home, I doubted they would make the trip all the way back to Tennessee in the car. Finally, as we left the area, we stopped by to get some home made root beer, in a glass bottle. It was more stout than the brands you can get at the store, but it was good and it was cold. A fun day can be spent here, especially if you enjoy riding around in the countryside. I'll give this area a B+.