Linda A. Tancs's Blog: The Long and Short of It, page 187

The History of Coffee

By Linda Tancs

Hawaii’s Kona Coffee Living History Farm tells the story of Kona’s coffee pioneers during the years 1926–1945. America’s only living history coffee farm, it tells the story behind Kona’s gourmet crop. A self-guided experience, take a walk among the coffee trees or learn how farmers milled and dried their world-famous coffee. At the end of your visit, be sure to sample the farm’s 100% Kona coffee. No doubt you’ll pack a little extra for the trip home.

Europe’s Largest Jewish Cemetery

By Linda Tancs

Jewish heritage abounds in Łódź, the third largest city in Poland. Jews first began settling there in the late 18th century, and the city became one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, second only to Warsaw. When the Nazis attacked, it became a ghetto, replete with death and mourning until its liberation by the Soviets in 1945. Amidst such history it should come as no surprise that the city hosts Europe’s largest Jewish cemetery (and one of the largest in the world), with about 160,000 people buried on its grounds.

Breaking the Code

By Linda Tancs

A birthplace of modern information technology, Bletchley Park is the home of British code breaking. It was the site of the British Government Code and Cypher School, where methods were studied and devised to enable the Allied forces to decipher the military codes that secured German, Japanese and other nations’ communications during World War II, particularly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. Once one of Britain’s best kept secrets, it is now an increasingly popular museum where you’ll find a replica of The Bombe, the machine invented by Alan Turing to break the codes. Located in Milton Keynes, the museum is easily accessible via train from Euston.

Spinning for Over 60 Years

By Linda Tancs

In New Orleans, Louisiana, there’s one carousel that requires adult admission. That’s the famous Carousel Bar & Lounge in Hotel Monteleone, a long-time favorite NOLA hotspot. It’s the city’s only revolving bar, spinning for over 60 years now. The brightly hued, circus-style merry-go-round seats 25 guests and turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, pulled by a chain powered by a one-quarter horsepower motor. Patrons circumnavigate at one revolution every 15 minutes. Prized for its whimsicality as well as its drinks, the Goody and The Vieux Carre cocktails were first concocted at the bar. Why not go for a spin!

Women’s Power on Capitol Hill

By Linda Tancs

The Sewall-Belmont House in Washington, D.C., celebrates the history of women’s progress toward equality. Located near the U.S. Capitol, the house is the site where Alice Paul and other suffragettes fought for equal rights for women. It’s been home to the National Woman’s Party since 1929. Designated a national monument earlier this year by President Obama, the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument is named for Alva Belmont (a former party president) and Alice Paul, the party’s founder. The site contains an extensive library and archival and museum holdings relating to the women’s movement.

Maryland’s First Capital

By Linda Tancs

Just two hours from Baltimore is historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s first capital. Visitors can explore outdoor exhibits on the banks of St. Mary’s River set on 800 acres of beautiful tidewater landscape and discover how archaeologists and historians uncovered this treasured part of Maryland’s past. A National Historic Landmark, it’s one of the best preserved English colonial archaeological sites in North America. St. Mary’s was also the scene of many notable firsts in America’s early history: the first effort to free religion from government in America, the first legislator of African descent in North America and the first woman to petition for the right to vote in colonial America. Plan an overnight stay at The Inn at Brome Howard, located on the museum grounds. Once the center of life in St. Mary’s City, it’s a perfect example of a mid-19th century gentleman’s plantation house built for Dr. Brome.

 

Top Stones in London

By Linda Tancs

So what does a famous London cemetery have to do with geology? The answer lies in the rocks, of course. The rocks used for headstones at Highgate Cemetery make it a great place to see a wide range of geology in an urban setting. In the East Cemetery (highly popular due to the burial site of Karl Marx) these include granite, gabbro, larvikite, marble and some limestone monuments containing fossils. Thanks to the range of rocks and stones used as headstones, mausoleums and monuments, the cemetery was voted one of the top 100 geosites in the U.K. and Ireland by The Geological Society. Built in 1839, Highgate was one of Victorian London’s most elaborate cemeteries, with Gothic catacombs and mausoleums in Egyptian and Classical styles. Visitors may roam the East Cemetery freely with payment of an admission charge. The West Cemetery is open to guided tours only. Take Archway, not Highgate, tube.

Bows and Arrows in Montalcino

By Linda Tancs

Sagra del Tordo (Festival of the Thrush) is a highly anticipated event in Tuscany for tourists and locals alike. Held every year on the last weekend of October, the celebration takes place in the medieval city of Montalcino, south of Siena. Largely intact since the Middle Ages, its fortress is the backdrop for the annual fiesta, highlighted by a procession of over 100 men and women wearing medieval garb. The march leads to the archery field and is followed by a longbow tournament. Enjoy the weekend spectacle with a feast at the ramparts fit for a king, including some of that world renowned Brunello wine.

The Picasso Route

By Linda Tancs

Pablo Picasso was only 14 years old when he arrived in Barcelona, Spain. Lauded there for his success, the city’s Picasso Route is a trail chronicling the artistic studies of his formative years. His art school, La Llotja, wasn’t far from his home, a flat in the tony residential block called Porxos d’en Xifré. Its rooftop views provided ample inspiration for the painter’s landscapes and seascapes. Picasso donated a large number of his works to Barcelona, housed today at the city’s Museu Picasso. A short distance from the museum, the Plaça Nova is another feature of the walking tour. There you’ll find  the artist’s only piece of public art in the city: the three friezes on the façade of the Col·legi d’Arquitectes building, executed by the Norwegian sculptor and photographer Carl Nesjar according to original drawings by Picasso.

A Sacred Space in Manhattan

By Linda Tancs

From about the 1690s until 1794, enslaved Africans were buried in a cemetery in present-day Lower Manhattan, running from Chambers Street at Broadway to Foley Square. Long forgotten after years of landfill and development, the sacred space was rediscovered in 1991 upon the construction of a federal office building. The excavated remains were reinterred in seven burial mounds at the African Burial Ground National Monument. Located on a parcel of land surrounded by federal buildings just north of City Hall on 290 Broadway, the monument’s most poignant reminder of slavery’s ominous past is an imposing granite building called the Ancestral Chamber, tapered to mimic the cramped quarters of the slave ships that would bring Africans on their perilous transatlantic journey to America. A narrow opening in its roof reveals to visitors just a glimpse of sky.