The Bats under the Bridge, Austin, Texas

Congress Bridge * Town Lake - Austin, TexasBats under the Congress Bridge Austin’s Town Lake, Austin, Texas http://www.austincityguide.com/content/congress-bridge-bats-austin.asp
Home of the famous and largest bat colony bridge located in the heart of Austin Texas. The Congress Avenue Bridge spans Town Lake in downtown Austin and is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. The colony is estimated at 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats. Every night beginning in mid-March to roughly November, the bats emerge from under the bridge at dusk to blanket the sky as they head out to forage for food. This is one of Austin’s as well as Texas’ most spectacular tourist attractions. The best time to view them are during the hot dry August nights when columns of bats emerge. When I visited 4/27/07 is was more like a swarm of mosquitos (bats) around a bloody arm (the bridge). 4 stars out of 5.

Salsarita’s Fresh Catina, Austin, Texas

Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina
504B Trinity St. Austin, TX 78701 * (512) 436-2739 tel

Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina
504B Trinity St. Austin, TX 78701 * (512) 436-2739 tel
A relatively new Tex-Mex Chipotle’s-like fresh, organic, and healthy alternative cafeteria near 6th street in downtown Austin. Selections from tacos, large burritos, Fajitas, and salads are available … with options even for grilled shrimp and getting a ‘wet’ burrito. Mmmm mmmm good. Free wireless for computer geeks too. 4 stars out of 5.

Woodpecker’s Roadhouse

Woodpecker’s outside of Oberhausen, Germany
Zur Grafenmühle 147, 46244 Bottrop, Germany - 02045/410048 * www.woodpeckers-roadhouse.de
A pretty cool roadhouse aux German interpretation ‘American’-style. Very pleasant pub/restaurant with an extremely friendly staff. The ambiance has much American memorabilia and supposedly the restaurant has very good food - and big burgers. We went only for drinks the night I visited, which were more potent than usual as I’ve found in Germany as I am used to strong drinks coming from the Pacific Northwest and the mile high Denver. I went with a Long Island Ice Tea and a B-52, both very good, though weaker than their American counterparts as they contain less alcohol in the mix. Woodpecker’s seemed to be very busy, lots of cheery people, and the wall screen was playing “Happy Tree Friends” - quite nice! My friends from Germany wanted to show me this American roadhouse since they will be bartending there some day in the near future. A very good experience! As far as roadhouses go, I’d give it a 5 star (out of 5). From the patio space and the fact it’s nestled nicely into the woods off the highway, looks like a very popular hangout joint for the outdoors and travelling folk, including motorbikers. Great place!

Woodpecker’s Roadhouse

Reaklif, stone of Victory (Freisland, the Netherlands)

Reaklif - a historic monument just outside of Warns, Netherlands in the Nijefurd municipality of Fryslân province; is a symbol of Fryslân independence and their battle with the Dutch. It’s a monumental rock, that tells the tale when Count Willem IV of Holland tried to invade Fryslân in 1345. It was on this spot and in Warns that Willem and his knights were beaten comprehensively by the Fryslân and the count was killed. It is here that “1345 leawer dea as slaef” (1345 rather dead than slave) is chiseled and remembered every 26 September till 1500, and was named “Fryske Leaffrouwedei” (Frisian Blessed Virgin’s day). The power of the spot is overwhelming as it sits overlooking the large lake that is endless and could be confused with the ocean. Incredible site and monument. A must visit when in the area.

Reaklif stone

a very magical tree

Tersoal, the Netherlands

Tersoal, Friesland, The Nederlands
Boarnsterhim municipality, Fryslân province
Tersoal (in Dutch it’s Terzool), us a quaint little charming village in the Boarnsterhim municipality in Fryslân that used to be in the former municipality of Rauwerderhem, northeast of the city of Sneek, in the region known as the “Lege geaën” (see Poppenwier), with a Hervormde and a Gereformeerde church. Like Grou it was an “archpelago village”, cut through by a lot of canals, but this character has been ruined by the “ruilverkaveling” (re-allotment of agricultural grounds). It’s Nickname is Koalraepen (cabbages, especially turnip-cabbages, were grown plentiful in Tersoal). The Coat of Arms of Tersoal is in red three golden turnips, placed 1-2; in base a silver cabbage and is inspired by the rime:
“Trije rapen en in koal,
steane yn it wapen fan Tersoal”
(three turnips and a cabbage are on the arms of Tersoal). The Fryske Rie foar Heraldyk did first enquire whether the honorable people of Tersoal were not affronted by that rime, but the villagers told that they were mighty proud of the arms.
Flag: two vertical stripes of red and yellow, proportioned 2:1; in the red stripe a cabbage.
Source: Genealogysk Jierboekje 1986.
Encyclopedie van Friesland, 1958.
Jarig Bakker, 21 Aug 2003.
I found the village quite nice. Reminded me of many small town European village movies. The only store I saw in the village was an antique store. There was a school, a church, a grave yard, and other than that - all i saw were houses and farmland. I suppose if you were driving through town and have a heavy sneeze that made you close your eyes, you would have literally missed the town. Population around 300. The village is full of little traditional practices like the wooden Dutch shoes outside the doors, wreaths on the outside of the doors of the village athlete, grave goods outside a recent grave, etc.

Tersoal

Immediate City center of Tersoal

antique store, only store i saw in Tersoal

Immediate City center of Tersoal

Berlin and Berliners …

Berlin & Berliners …
The key to Berlin - is old and new - to be a Berliner, is for anyone who arrives
and remains there. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, one of the most influential individuals
in shaping the city, was born in Neuruppin (Brandenburg) is considered a Berliner
since he’s buried there and the city’s cemeteries are the final arbiters of who
belongs there. Ulm born singer and actress Hildegard Knef is another famous
Berliner. “Once a Berliner, always a Berliner”. Or so they say. Even John F. Kennedy
was seen as a Berliner by choice (even though the Members of the Federal Parliament
are forced to be Berliners on June 20, 1991 when they were forced to move from
Bonn to Berlin). World tales of many suffering homesickness for the city, even to
the extremes of a young man who hijacked a plane from Istanbul to Berlin, just
because he wanted to come home. Tales of Berliners being brash and lacking in
taste could also be interpreted as being quick-witted and independent. The city is
a fabulous smorgasboard of culture, art, music, museums, history, imposing buildings,
elegant shops, and notorious events: Some of the most famous are Bus Route 100,
Boat Trips, Museums as Theatre, Fabulous Monuments, The Berlin Wall, Over 3,000
culutral events every day, Colonnades of the Alte Nationalgalerie, the former GDR
state bank, Wings for the Imagination, the Neukolln Opera, High and Fringe Culture,
Carnival of Cultures, Summer Nights in the Open-Air Arena, Battle of the Cockroaches,
and the notorious Bear-O-Mania. Of course, my trip to Berlin, did not consist of a
single highlight above as most guides advertise … as I found my adventures a little
more off the tourist trekk ( though I did imbibe in some of the hotspots) as I explored
this “Island in the Red Sea.” See, Berlin at the end of WWII was divided by the former
Soviet Union and the Allies (Britain, France, and the USA) to a division of the German
Reich and Berlin into four occupation zones …and the Soviets made their own plans
different from the Allies. The west was surrounded by the Soviet zone and under Allied
control. After the six-power conference in London, the Allies decided to reconstruct
their zones while the Soviets withdrew cooperation in March 1948 - when they blocked
all land access to West Berlin in June that same year.

The mayor and governor organized an airlift for 11 months to takecare of the 2.5 million people in West Berlin who were supplied withall the necessities of life - from coal to toilet paper to the Tempelhof airport. In 1950 financial aid brought this ‘front line city’ billions in subsidies and tax concessions - spent of renewed splendour, new districts, department stores, dance halls, film festivals, museums, and art - all to show West Berlin’s will to survive as a self-governing entity and was knicknamed “Shop Window of the West.” 1952 - the GDR leaders in the East severed all telephone lines between East and West and by 1953 they shut down all the bus and tram links between the two areas. Berliners had to walk, using the still-open sector border crossings, the U-Bahn or S-Bahn. June 1953 East Berlin workers staged an uprising against the raising of production norms - which took the lives of 21 people and 187 injured, now celebrated as Tag der Deutschen Einheit (day of German unity). 1961 - 2.7 million people fled from the East to the enticing ‘Golden West’ resulting in the closing of the Soviet zone borders and the Building of the Berlin wall - making Berlin an island in the “red sea”. You can see the history in Berlin’s architecture.

The architecture represents the spirit of the times as the Cold War was fought with
trowels and mortar. From pre-WWII when there was only 1 Berlin - it was typically
Classical - drawing on mixtures of Neo-baroque and neo-classicism and mocked as
“Parvenupolis” with some traces of Expressionism. The Cold War brought on a war
of the architects after the city was partitioned - as the East set up a “Competition
for Berlin the Capital City” architectural race. Soviet neo-classicism combined with
elements drawn from Schinkel - massive housing blocks in wedding-cake style rose
out of the rubble on both sides. 1956-1957 the “Interbau” - International architects
were commissioned to erect, on the edges of Tiergarten, visible evidence of the
‘forward looking city’. Modern styles of Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Egon Eiermann,
Bruno Taut were influential in the Hansaviertel district. 1961-1966 the Springer
publishing firm built its 19 story skyscraper on Kochstrasse in Kreuzberg holding a
view to the other side - getting a reaction from the East in 1972-1977 on Leipziger
Strasse - four identical blocks, 25 storeys high, with 11 storey connecting blocks to
obscure the publishing house. The Europa-Center on Tauentzien was the first high
rise block in West Berlin (1963-1965) as a 22 story building clad with steel and glass
holding an ice rink, restaurants, 100 shoppes, became a new shopping experience.
Until 1991 the residence of the Senator for Culture was placed here. The 14 m (46′)
high Mercedes star signalled to the East the strength of capitalism. The competition
of the East and West can be seen all throughout the city - duplication of zoos, operas,
museums, concert halls, observatories, theaters, etc. all showing to each other that
they didn’t need one another. After the Fall of the Wall, Berlin became a magnet for
architects with bold new designs bombarding the city.
Berlin is a young city, not yet 800 years old - it occupies an area of 892 sq km
(344 square miles) and the division of East and West no longer exists. There are
190 km (120 miles) of waterway and almost 2,000 bridges in Berlin making Berlin a
“waterside city” giving rise to many houseboats and floating homes. Ref: AAA Spiral
Guide to Berlin

Kettlewell, England

The Village of Kettlewell
:: Kettlewell, (Yorkshire Dales) - England ::
A thriving market town known or it’s scarecrow festival and it’s Calendar Girls. It rests between Grassington, Kilnsey, Conistone, and Starbotton lies the village of Kettlewell in Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire, England. At the feet of the Great Whernside & Buckden Pike where the River Wharfe and Park Gill Beck merge. A market was started in the village around the 13th century which blossomed the village into a thriving community. Lead mining, marketing, arts, crafts, and tourism made the village boom. There are three famous Inns in the village - the Blue Bell, the Racehorses, and the King’s Head as well as many guesthouses, cottages, a Youth Hostel, several tea bistros/cafes, a village store, an outfittery, clothing shop, and a smithery. A late Victorian church with a gorgeous graveyard rests in the town. Each August a annual scarecrow festival attracts visitors from all over England.

entering Kettlewell, England

Read more

Chinese Charades