Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for travel writing
The History of Polish Jews
By Linda Tancs
The Museum of the History of Polish Jews stands in what was once the heart of Jewish Warsaw—an area the Nazis turned into the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. Its compelling location underscores its role as a narrator of history and its standing as an important and innovative center for research, education and culture as well as a platform for social change. The museum traces 1,000 years of the Jewish community’s history in Poland, and its core exhibit includes artifacts, paintings, reconstructions, interactive installations and video.
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The Heart of It in Lyon
By Linda Tancs
To the Lyonnais, there’s no such thing as a bad restaurant. The rest of us would likely agree, or else the French city of Lyon would not be widely recognized as the nation’s capital of gastronomy. Home to chitterling sausages and pike dumplings, you’ll find that and more at Les Halles Paul Bocuse, the city’s famed indoor food market with nearly five dozen stalls selling countless gourmet delights. Once you’ve overindulged, walk it off in the old quarter, a World Heritage Site featuring a picturesque mix of Renaissance mansions, narrow alleys and dozens more restaurants. A must-see is Rue Saint-Jean, the old town’s main street. It’s surrounded by the city’s distinctive traboules, pathways joining two streets by going through several buildings.
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New Jersey’s Mighty Oak
By Linda Tancs
In an area replete with Revolutionary War history stands a mighty white oak, its age estimated at 600 years. The tree in question is lovingly referred to as the Holy Oak, a Nature-supplied frontispiece for the 1717 Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church. The New Jersey gem is credited as the oldest white oak tree in the Northern Hemisphere and possibly in the world. Given its age, you can imagine the degree of lore associated with it. Is it the burial spot for flag maker Betsy Ross? A meeting point for George Washington during his march to Morristown after the Battle of Princeton in 1777? No one knows for sure, but there’s no doubt that the old gal has seen her share of action since colonial times. Although it has managed to exceed its usual lifespan of 300 to 350 years by at least as many years, the grand dame is succumbing to the effects of old age although the locals will continue to investigate all means to maintain the relationship between town and tree.
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What’s Hot in Idaho
By Linda Tancs
Idaho is one hot destination, literally. Just head on over to Lava Hot Springs, a quaint resort town on the way to Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons. Its therapeutic hot springs attract visitors from around the world. In addition to public pools (including an indoor aquatic center), many hotels have private hot pools. Even the “coolest” hot pool is pretty hot. Can you stand the heat? If not, then maybe an onsite massage is in order.
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Where the North Begins
By Linda Tancs
Portage, Wisconsin, dubs itself a city “where the North begins.” Located along the Fox/Wisconsin water route, it certainly was an important asset in the Northwest Territory, leading to the construction of a fort there (Fort Winnebago) in the 1800s. The location of the town at the split of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers is what gives the site its name “Portage,” which means carrying a boat or its cargo between two navigable waters. The third oldest settlement in the state, it also boasts the historic Indian Agency House, one of Wisconsin’s earliest houses. The Federal-style house served as the residence of the family of John Kinzie, the U.S. agent for the Winnebago Nation.
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Steaming Through Cass
By Linda Tancs
Cass, West Virginia, is a charming old logging town founded in 1900 by a pulp and paper company. Its main attraction is Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, home of the railway line built in 1901 to haul lumber to the town mill. Lest you think it’s a quaint site riddled with old, rusty railroad cars, the astonishing fact is that Cass is home to the world’s largest fleet of geared Shay locomotives. Many of the passenger cars are old logging flat cars that have been refurbished for use as part of a popular train excursion, allowing visitors to relive an era when steam-driven locomotives were an essential part of everyday life. For a taste of this bygone era, take the excursion to Whittaker Station, the location of an authentic logging camp recreated by the volunteers of the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association. Just four miles up the track from Cass, the journey includes a stopover for breathtaking country views.
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Aloha from Michigan
By Linda Tancs
The tropics beckon at Honolulu House in Marshall, Michigan. Yes, that’s right. In America’s Midwest, a sandstone mansion incorporates Polynesian (plus some Italianate and Gothic Revival) architecture. Its tropical influences include a raised veranda and observation platform. An inviting nine-bay porch spans the front, with its wide center bay serving as the base of its pagoda-topped tower. Built in 1860 for the first U.S. consul to the Sandwich Islands, it stands in the heart of Marshall’s National Historic Landmark District (at the corner of Mansion and Kalamazoo) and is listed on the Historic American Buildings Survey.
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The Essence of Creole
By Linda Tancs
Creole, a blend of western European, African and Native American influences, flourished in Louisiana before it joined the Union in 1803. You’ll find its essence alive and well at Laura, a Creole plantation in the heart of New Orleans Plantation Country. Originally called l’habitation Duparc (after Duparc, a French naval veteran of the American Revolution who acquired the property in 1804), it was renamed Laura Plantation after Laura Locoul, a descendant of the Duparc-Locoul families. At its largest size, it was approximately 12,000 acres, which included properties amassed over time. More than a house and garden tour, visitors are enriched in Creole culture through a 70-minute tour (in English and French) sharing the compelling, real-life accounts of multiple generations of the plantation’s Creole inhabitants—plantation owners, women, slaves and children who once called this centuries-old, sugar cane farm their home. The property is located on Highway 18 midway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, only 35 miles from New Orleans International Airport.
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Plantation Life in Maryland
By Linda Tancs
A National Historic Landmark, Sotterley Plantation is the only tidewater plantation in Maryland that is open to the public. Located in Hollywood in Southern Maryland, the Colonial-era site boasts a 1703 plantation house, a rare and restored slave cabin and an abundance of outbuildings set amidst nearly 95 acres overlooking the scenic Patuxent River. Older than George Washington’s beloved Mount Vernon, visitors can also enjoy nature trails, bird watching and an array of archeological exhibits from excavations on the grounds.
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The Little Church Around the Corner
By Linda Tancs
Known officially as the Church of the Transfiguration, the picturesque Episcopal church at 1 East 29th Street in New York City is better known by locals and tourists as “The Little Church Around the Corner.” The nickname dates back to 1870, when Joseph Jefferson (famous for his portrayal of Rip Van Winkle on stage) had requested a funeral at another church for his fellow actor and friend, George Holland. The priest refused, subscribing to a common belief of the time that actors lived loose lives and were unworthy of Christian burial, and suggested that “the little church around the corner” might be more hospitable. And so it was. To this day the church maintains close ties to the theater community. Made of brick and timber, this architectural gem is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the city’s landmarked properties.
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