Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for September, 2015
Fossil Hunting in Montana
By Linda Tancs
The Hell Creek Formation in northeastern Montana is a fossil hunter’s paradise, a living chronicle of the end of the dinosaur age. That’s one reason why its impressive bounty of dinosaur remains such as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops is so significant. Hunting privileges get leased out for big bucks. For an affordable dig, go along with a prospecting company for a weeklong guided tour on property that they’re leasing. Best of all, you can usually keep what you find. Happy hunting!
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Grieg’s Symphony
By Linda Tancs
Inspired by his country’s folk songs, Edvard Grieg became one of Norway’s most famous composers. On the grounds of his 19th century home in Bergen, Troldhaugen, visitors can enjoy daily lunchtime concerts at the chamber music hall. Each week a featured pianist plays Grieg’s most well-known and prized piano pieces. The annual event takes place from June 1 to September 30. Better hurry!
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A Blast in Alabama
By Linda Tancs
A testament to America’s coming of industrial age, Alabama’s Sloss Furnaces is the only 20th century blast furnace in America being preserved and interpreted as a historic industrial site. Located in Birmingham, the facility contains two 400-ton blast furnaces and 40 other buildings although nothing remains of the original furnace complex. Nevertheless, the oldest building on the site dates from 1902 and houses the eight steam-driven “blowing-engines” used to provide air for combustion in the furnaces, vintage engines that drove (no pun intended) the Industrial Revolution. Sloss produced iron for nearly 90 years, rendering Birmingham a great industrial hub of the South that earned it the nickname The Magic City.
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Glasgow’s Catacombs
By Linda Tancs
In Glasgow, Scotland, the catacombs aren’t the usual subterranean ossuary, the likes of which you’ll find in Paris. It might feel just as spooky, though, except for the new steak and gin restaurant gracing the brick vaults. We’re talking about Glasgow Central, the busiest train station in Scotland and the second busiest outside London. You can tour the entire station—from its iconic roof (with 48,000 imposing panes of glass) to its boiler rooms and tunnels and, yes, the catacombs. This is a unique guided tour of the operational areas of a hallmark of Victorian engineering. Wear sensible shoes and dress for the weather.
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An African Treasure
By Linda Tancs
The Blue Nile is a river originating in Ethiopia, heading northwest into Sudan. Of particular interest (and a prime tourist attraction in Ethiopia) is the waterfall, the Blue Nile Falls. Following the rainy season, the width of the plunging waters is impressive this time of year. The waterfall is located about 17 miles southeast of Bahir Dar.
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The Legend of Twin Rocks
By Linda Tancs
Although identified plainly as “a garden in a valley on the ocean,” the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden is anything but ordinary. A natural greenhouse, the 40-acre valley just miles north of Hilo on the Big Island features nearly 200 species of palms alone and over 2,000 species of tropical plants from around the world overall. Its location on the site of the ancient village Kahali’i at Onomea Bay gives rise to the legend of twin rocks. According to the tale, two young lovers were recruited to stand guard over the bay during the night to protect against enemy sails spotted by the local chieftain. When day broke, the lovers were gone and two attached rock formations stood in their place, forever standing sentinel at the head of the bay. These days the enemy sails are just cruise ships, and passengers will be glad to know that garden staff will meet you at the pier for a day’s visit.
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The City on Three Hills
By Linda Tancs
You’d expect a hillside city with lake and mountain views to provide stunning panoramas. And Switzerland’s Lausanne does not disappoint. Home to the International Olympic Committee, this city on the shores of Lake Geneva offers amazing views from a series of viewing points accessible through a downhill stroll. Start at the top of Sauvabelin Tower, a wooden tower offering views of the lake as well as the three major landscapes: the Savoy Alps, the Jura and the Plateau. And who could resist the almost mythic view from the Hermitage, combining the lake, mountains, cathedral and St. Maire castle. From the Flon footbridge to the esplanades, the city’s natural wonders are unveiled every step of the way.
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The World’s Largest Book
By Linda Tancs
Mandalay is Myanmar’s second largest city, an exotic locale celebrated in a namesake poem by Rudyard Kipling. Among its charms is the riveting Kuthodaw Pagoda, located at the southeastern base of Mandalay Hill, where it was prophesied that a Buddhist metropolis (named after the hill) would take root. The unique feature of this temple is the 729 miniature pagodas surrounding the central shrine. Each of these smaller shrines contains a marble tablet inscribed with a page of text from the Tipitaka, the Buddhist sacred scriptures. Assembled together, the tablets would cover about one third of an acre or rise to a height over 300 feet. No wonder, then, that these pages are hailed as the world’s largest book.
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