THE ANCIENT HUTONG

Sadly Disappearing

Hutong is a Mongolian word meaning little street. Hutongs, old residential neighborhoods, contain acres of low, flat-roofed buildings that are crisscrossed by narrow lanes. They are also known as courtyard house. As a family grew a room would be added reducing the courtyard area. Houses face east to west to catch the breezes. These ancient neighborhoods are endangered as they are being torn down and replaced with high rise apartments. However, twenty hutongs have been designated as historical sites and will be preserved. I’m glad I was able to visit Beijing, China before the 700-year old neighborhoods are gone.

The streets are laid out in a symmetrical pattern from the center of the neighborhood. The doors are square compared to the drum doors in the Forbidden City. High thresholds keep out dragons and the higher the threshold the higher the rank of the person living in the house.

The wonderful aromas of food cooking  stimulated our gastric juices just as we entered the home of one of the residents. The pretty courtyard was a surprise and impressive. The residence we visited was 100 years old, had nine rooms, a western toilet and had been in the family for four generations. After a dumpling-making demonstration we had a chance to try our hand at that craft. We enjoyed a great meal while talking with our hosts.

After lunch we walked a short distance to visit a 90-year-old woman who had her feet bound at age five. The 1000-year-old custom of foot binding was outlawed in 1911, but was practiced in rural areas for some time afterward. Foot binding first started with concubines in the imperial court and spread to the city, then to rural areas. Tiny feet showed high class, and the thinking was that wealthy women would have servants to address their needs. Bound feet limited a woman’s mobility, therefore, keeping her under male control. Unable to walk long distances a woman was unlikely to get into trouble. The procedure of curling the toes under so they eventually grew into the foot was painful. The lady was charming and with some translating it was fun to talk to her.

The narrow streets cannot accommodate anything larger than bicycle trishaws which are run exclusively by hutong residents. The drivers rotate like taxi cabs do at airports.

A STRANGE DISMISSAL

THANK YOU, BYE!
In Switzerland we all took a book along for the nearly all-day ride on the Glacier Express from Davos to Interlaken. However, the scenery was so spectacular on the world’s slowest express that none of us ever opened our book! The full trainride runs from St. Moritz to Zermatt, Switzerland.

It was an extraordinary engineering feat to build this railroad with its 91 tunnels and 291 bridges. It was a little scary to look out the window at an approaching curve and see nothing but a bridge suspended over a gorge. After awhile it became a familiar sight. As we climbed up to the pass at 6668-feet the train went so slow that I thought it might stop. Oh, no, I don’t want to roll down backwards!

The train tracks switchback between alpine valleys and mountain passes. The scenery is fantabulous and it’s got to be the most scenic train ride in the world! Oohs and ashs peppered our conversation.

At noontime the steward came to our car to inform us that it was our time for dinner in the dining car. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch complete with wine and dessert served on linen covered tables and with real silverware and linen napkins. We continued to enjoy the scenery as we dined.

Engrossed in our good time it took us a minute or two to understand our waiter as he stood at the end of the table repeating, “Thank you, bye. Thank you, bye. Thank you, bye.”

Eventually we realized our dining hour had come to an end. With a smile and a thank you to the waiter, we got up and left the dining car.

TRAINS, SUBWAYS AND SUCH

Modes of Transportation

Traveling around the world has involved many different types of conveyances including subways, metros, undergrounds—whatever they are called where ever one is. When in Paris we hopped on the metro to go to Versailles. As we approached the transfer station to catch the train that would take us to our destination we made our way to the exit door and as the train stopped we waited for the door to open. It did not. Just as I was thinking about how slow the door was, a young man in the seat nearest to the door reached over and pushed down the lever or door handle.

Surprised we turned simultaneously saying thank you. Standing on the platform as the train pulled out we looked at each other and I asked, “Do you feel as stupid as I do?”

“You betcha!”

We were fast learners and had no further problems in France with the train or metro doors!


What's a Rotair?
In Switzerland, after getting tickets at the Titlis rail station we boarded gondolas. Half way up the mountain we transferred from the small gondolas to a large standup gondola for the ride to the next platform. Finally we transferred into the Rotair, the world’s only rotating gondola. Also a large standup gondola the floor  rotates 360 degrees in minutes. It was pretty impressive and when we came out of the clouds the gondola was filled with a chorus of oohs and aahs. The magnificent views were awesome!

At the top of this glacier people were playing in the snow, and of course we joined them and was surprised to find it was not as cold as one would think.

Many more transportation stories later.

A GOOD GLASS OF ICE TEA

How I Miss My Ice Tea When Traveling

When biking from Munich to Vienna we laid over a day in Linz. After a lecture on Austrian history and economy in the morning we were bused up a long steep hill to Maunthausen concentration camp. (More on that another day) I was sure glad we didn’t have to bike up that hill.

In the afternoon we did a walking tour of the city. We walked the town square and viewed the town hall where Hitler, in 1938, announced his 1000 year empire plan, then passed by the house Mozart lived in while he wrote the Linz Opera. We hiked the hill to visit the museum in the castle.

Late afternoon when we got back to the hotel I was dying for a nice big glass of ice tea, something unheard of in most of Europe. After entering the hotel I went directly to the bar and asked, “May I buy a cup of hot tea?”

“Certainly,” the young bartender replied.

After being given my tea I requested, “Now, may I have the largest container you have full of ice?”

“Really?” the surprised bartender questioned, as he gave me a strange look.

“Please. And may I take this all up to my room? I will return everything to you when I come down to dinner.”

And that is how I got my one and only delicious glass of ice tea on the entire trip. No doubt, I was probably labeled, ‘a crazy American’. But did I care? I’d had my fill of chilled juice and water. Barely chilled sodas just don’t do it for me, so I’d forgone them. Most of the world just doesn’t know that ice tea is the national drink of Texas!

ALASKA FLAG HISTORY

The Alaskan Flag

I’m sure all state flags have a story and history, but I found the story behind the Alaska flag an interesting one.

In 1927 the Alaskan American Legion decided the state should have a flag and opened a contest to school children. John Bell Benson (Benny), a 13-year old 7th grader living in an orphanage in Seward, Alaska, won the contest.

He explained his design: the blue background represents the sky and the for-get-me-not flower. The eight gold stars represent the gold rush and big dipper as the great bear, a source of great strength. The lone star in the upper right hand corner represents the North Star for the future of Alaska and the northern most state.

He was awarded a gold watch with his flag design engraved on it and $1000 toward a trip to Washington, DC to present the flag to President Coolidge. However, the trip never took place due to the president’s commitments, so the money was applied to a college fund for Benny.

There are several memorials to Benny around the state---streets named Benson, a school and statuary.

THE CURIOUS KILT

All About Kilts
I, for one, love the kilt and thoroughly enjoyed a visit to a kilt maker in Inverness, Scotland where I learned that over 3000 tartans are divided into three groups: clan tartans, army tartans, and city tartans. Today there are also tartans that can be worn by anyone. Often businesses design their own tartan. The advent of color TV made dress tartans very popular. Ancient tartans are very dark because of the lack and availability of dyes. All tartans are plaids, but not all plaids are tartans. A tartan has the same pattern of colors and strips, no matter from what direction it is viewed.

Originally tartan referred specifically to a mantle of cloth draped over the back and shoulder. Kilts can be traced back to 1471. Clans developed special dying and weaving techniques with colors and patterns. The craft of dying with various plants and bark was raised to an art form and was a source of pride to the clan. Tartans came into fashion during Queen Victoria’s time when Albert wore a kilt and made all things Scottish popular.

Originally the kilt was called a faelmor (sounds like filimore) and was simply a blanket of unwashed wool. Wrapped around the waist it formed a covering. With part of it tossed over the shoulder a pouch-purse could be formed in the front chest, and wrapped a different way it formed a knapsack in back for carrying articles. At night the faelmor substituted for a blanket.

A kilt uses eight yards of fabric and is specially measured and handmade. Kilts have 27-29 pleats in the back. After pleating, the fabric is cut away about four inches down from the top to allow for a facing and to reduce the bulk around the waist. The kilt just covers the knee. The straps and buckle are the last things attached before pressing. It takes 8-10 hours to make a kilt and 3-5 years of training before a kilt maker is left on her own.

There are strict rules for wearing a kilt; however, there are no rules for how women can wear a tartan.

The purse-like sporran is worn in the front of the kilt. The number and kind of tassels on the sporran identifies the regiment.

Wine Stories

A COUPLE WINE STORIES

Normally in Europe drinks are not included with your meal. One even pays for water and 95% of the time it will be bottled water. When I was biking Bordeaux, France we had the company boss biking along with us. Every evening we were served wine with our meal. The fellows were not at all shy about raising an empty bottle to be replaced. The wine flowed the whole trip. We assumed all the neat boutique hotels were saying thank you to the boss for his business. Although in a region where wine was plentiful and reasonable, some would say cheap, it was nice to be the beneficiary of their generosity.

Tug of the Cork
Late in the afternoon of the first day in Warsaw we walked a couple of blocks to a local store to buy bottled water in large containers. While there we also bought a bottle of wine.
It took both Jan and me to open that bottle of wine. It was the year before 9/11 and the changes that event brought to travel. I had packed my handy dandy Swiss army knife, but wished I had packed my good cork screw. I was afraid that I would ruin the cork.

It was a struggle, but with each of us pulling in a different direction, with Jan holding the bottle at its base and my pulling in the opposite direction on the corkscrew, we eventually popped the cork.
Jan remarked, “Hey we didn’t even get cork pieces in the bottle.”

We even had ice in the room which was a plus as I really like my wine cold.

After tasting the wine I said, “For a $2.50 bottle of wine, this isn’t bad.”

We celebrated out arrival in Poland and the start of three weeks in Eastern Europe.

Watering the Vineyard
We had dinner one evening in the Hungarian countryside at a winery.

Dinner was very good, but the wines from this award winning vintner left a lot to be desired for my palate. This was a surprise as we had drunk some very good Hungarian wines. We were seated on a large wrap-around porch at the edge of the vineyard. Fortunately I was seated at the rail which gave me easy access to the plants that I watered with each successive glass of wine that came my way.

The gal pouring the varieties of wine held a handled glass container with a 30” long spout which she covered with her finger to stop the flow of wine as she move from glass to glass.. We did note that a few more rules would apply to this process in the states. Even though I did not indulge in more than tasting the wines, it was a fun and different evening.

In the Czech Republic we visited a Mozart museum where we also had the privilege to attend a private concert. After the concert we were given a glass of champagne and had a chance to wander the lovely manicured grounds. I’m not much of a champagne drinker so after a sip or two I watered the lawn. I needed to be sober to climb the hill and touch that concrete table where Mozart sat while he composed Don Giovanni in 1787.

I have several wine and many ice stories which I’ll eventually relate to you my readers.

An Island State

TASMANIA HIGHLIGHTS

Tasmania is the only island state of Australia’s seven states. We had an early morning flight from Sydney to Hobart, Tasmania’s capitol. The population of a half million occupies one of its four cities. Much of the island is impenetrable rain forest and unexplored. The entire Tasmanian aboriginal population was wiped out 73 years after the first Europeans arrived. The last, a female, of the 6000 full-blooded aborigines died in 1876.

Our first stop was at the lovely botanical gardens. Azaleas and rhododendrons were in bloom and simply gorgeous, the blooms the largest I’ve ever seen. In the true English tradition, the gardens were well kept, spacious, and filled with both native and imported plants. The park just got prettier and prettier as we walked along. There were ponds, bridges, specialty gardens, flower gardens in bloom, and green lawns. There were many benches where one could sit and rest, contemplate, whatever. Colorful Eastern Rosellas were flying around everywhere. We all wanted to spend more time in the peaceful gardens.

At Hobart's waterfront stands Salamanca, a series of old warehouses. Built in 1930, they stored apples, corn, and wheat for export. At one time there was a jam factory in the building. The area was easy walking distance from our hotel. Warm sandstone buildings line the uncrowded waterfront. Once abandoned, now the area is filled with trendy restaurants, sidewalk cafes, stores, and art studios.

While in Tasmania we stayed at Lenna of Hobart, a stately mansion located on a hill in the heart of historic Battery Point. Well located, it was easy walking distance to the city center. The mansion had a widow’s walk, and since I’d never been on one, we walked up a stair-ladder and was amazed at the fantastic view it offered. The area was encased in glass panels, including the roof and it was quite warm inside. One couldn’t help but think about how many women might have watched for their man to come home from the sea.

History

INFAMOUS ROOM 600

I always wondered why Nuremberg was selected for the infamous war trials. I learned the city center was bombed during WW II, but the court house outside the city was unharmed. Next to the court house was a prison that connected to the courthouse by a tunnel. That was a big security factor. And lastly the city was in the American zone. Also the large courthouse contained 530 offices and 80 courtrooms.

Although it was a Sunday, we were met and allowed into Room 600 in the 1916 sandstone courthouse. Since the elevator was silent on a Sunday we walked up a couple of flights of stairs to reach the famous Room 600.

The docent said, “For the trial, the back wall was moved back and a balcony added to accommodate the press and spectators. Remember this was before instant communication when the press used the wire services. The tables were turned from front to back rather than side to side. All the windows were covered. After the trial was over the room was returned to its former size and configuration as you see it now.

“Those on trial faced four charges: conspiracy, crimes against peace, crimes of war, and crimes against humanity. The defense was that because of the Nazi size, bureaucracy and fragmentation each defendant was aware only of what his section was doing and not the whole plan/operation. Written memos and documents eventually proved otherwise.

“Officially 24 were tried, but only 21 were present. One was old and too feeble to attend, one had committed suicide, and the whereabouts of one was unknown. However, his body was later found and identified. American soldiers guarded the prisons 24 hours a day. There was no jury; instead there were four judges, one from each Allied nation.”

The trial lasted 218 days, had 236 witnesses and over 200,000 affidavits. 1000 people were involved in the trials including translators, recorders, and secretaries. On October 1, 1946 twelve were sentenced to death, three were acquitted, and seven were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Early in the morning on October 16, 1946 eleven of the twelve sentenced to death were hung in the old gym. Herman Goring committed suicide the night before by swallowing a cyanide capsule. The source of the poison or how he obtained it is unknown. The bodies were cremated in Munich and the ashes spread over the Isar River.

The last prisoner committed suicide at age 93 in 1987. The docent was informative making for a memorable visit. It was awesome to visit and stand in this historic room.

Birds Everywhere

GOONIES

When I arrived at Midway Island , 1200 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii, I knew nothing about a gooney bird other than people thought they were a crazy bird  They got their nickname from the often crazy landings they make, but they are actually the Laysan Albatross. Rather awkward on land, they are beautiful and graceful in flight.

The gooney bird mates for life, and every late October/early November returns to the same spot to wait its mate’s return. With a 6 ½ foot wing span they weigh 7-8 pounds. Unlike other albatross who feed during the day, the Laysan gooney is a night feeder. Albatross are synchronous breeders. As seabirds, they live and feed at sea. A small hole on each side of their beak allows the bird to excrete salt.

Mama lays a single ½ pound egg in early December. Dad immediately begins to incubate the egg while Mama goes to sea to feed for a couple of weeks. When she returns to take over the sitting duties, Dad leaves to feed. This alternating behavior goes on for 60 days, until the chick hatches.

It takes both parents to raise the chick. If one parent dies, the chick dies. Both parents continue to alternate going to sea to feed the chick. A chick taps the beak of the parent to stimulate regurgitation, then places its beak inside that of the parent catching every single drop. The chick is ready to fledge at 5 months and goes to sea for 3-5 years before returning to find a mate of his own.

Twenty percent of the chicks die before fledging and 7-10 % of the fledging chicks are eaten by tiger sharks that come into the lagoon during fledging season just for that reason. The oldest known tagged bird is 43 years old. It is unusual for birds to mate in winter, but the Midway summer is very hot and it is difficult for the birds to stay cool. Their webbed feet are very vascular and the birds thermo-regulate through them by sitting on the backs of their feet with the webbed toes off the ground.

The mating ritual is fascinating to watch. The gooney makes many different noises. The most common are the clacking of their beaks and sky pointing called sky mooing--- and they really do sound like a cow.

MIDWAY’S GOONEY BIRDS

A CRAZY BIRD
When Kelly called me about doing a couple of research projects on Midway Island, I figured why not. It turned out to be a fantastic three weeks.We went to help with both spinner dolphin and Hawaiian monk seal research projects, but the big bonus was the gooney birds.

Our first day we were surprised at how excited the residents were   when the first gooney flew in. The second day there were about 5 birds, then 15, and after that they were too numerous to count. We spent a lot of time on the beach watching them come in---it was busier than the busiest airport.

Every morning when we got up the first thing I did was look out the window to see how many birds were out on the lawn. After ten days the ground everywhere was covered not only with Laysan Albatross but also Black Footed Albatross. Eventually a half million mating pairs had returned home. The inn was full, and we no longer could walk a straight line anywhere!

Midway has the largest colony of Laysan Albatross in the world . Seventy percent of the world’s population of this beautiful, sometimes comical,  bird lives here. I did not know the gooney goes to sea in July for four months returning in mid-late October. We couldn’t have timed our visit any better. I really would have been disappointed if we were there while the birds were all at sea

They are absolutely beautiful gliding in the air. The underside of their wings is a beautiful white with black accents and trims. In the air they are most graceful. When landing into the wind, the landing is graceful and upright, but when they misjudge and land with the wind they often make a nosedive landing and the antics are funny beyond description. They were a lot of fun to watch and we spent many an hour observing not only the above but also their intricate mating rituals.

Details about the gooney will follow another day.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING NEW

SOMETHING NEW

Everywhere I travel I try to find and learn something new. In Slovenia I was rather fascinated with the roofed hay-drying racks. They are unique to the area and  very different from how  hay is dried in Texas. The racks are spotted all along the fields. Under the roof are three or four boards of perhaps 2 X 6 or 8 inch and the length of the roof. Hay is simply strung or hung over the boards like a grass skirt to dry. I never could determine what happens to the hay when it is dry, so your guess is as good as mine.

It seems all Adriatic cities have promenades and the one in Zadar, Croatia is tree lined. It was a beastly hot day, but a sea breeze made the walk to the wave organ bearable. The original purpose was to extend the sea wall to accommodate cruise ships. The wave organ was a wonderful and creative bonus. Thirty-five horizontal pipes of various lengths and widths lie in the Zadar channel. Holes in the concrete pier whistle as the waves hit the pipes below. It creates a sound similar to that of blowing across a cola bottle. It was delightful to listen to the unusual concert created by the waves. It is the first wave organ in the world and I’d guess as the news about it spreads it will not be the last. Several rows of steps/seats to the water's edge are available so one can enjoy the tranquility and concert. Many sit here to watch the sun set.

It’s kind of fun to be able to see and learn about the first of something. I saw one of the first water ballets at the Orchid Gardens in Rotarura, New Zealand. Built in 1985 at a cost of 1.3 million dollars, the water organ contains 700 pipes and has 14 pumps. The pipes,  made in Germany,  cost of $250,000. Water shoots dramatically from the pipes simulating a ballet while the whole performance is set to computerized music. I was so fascinated that I had to sit through the performance a second time.
Today many people call such performances dancing waters and they are pretty common, seen in many places.