Category: Museums/Memorials

HERE'S TO ANOTHER TWO YEARS!

7/2/2014

Two years! That’s 24 months, 104 weeks, 730 days, 403 posts.

That’s right. Today marks exactly two years for A Place Called Roam; by design, a travel blog, but if you’ve been reading between the lines for the last two years, by default, it’s my lifeline to understanding where I’ve been and where I’m going. Thanks for listening. I need all the help I can get!

I’ve never been sixty (and then some) before; never been retired before, either. My life has always been filled to the brim with purpose, kids, chaos.

I’m evolving, again, morphing into the new me, shedding my skin (alas, not nearly as effectively as my younger self did) along with the kids and the chaos. It’s been as liberating as it has been frightening.

KITTY HAWK, NC: FIRST FLIGHT & A FIGHT FOR FAME

5/15/2014

It is one of the most famous photographs of all time, a twentieth-century dream that provided mankind the wings to soar.

Neil Armstrong carried a piece of the muslin fabric from the wing in his pocket during his flight to the moon.

Who knew one hundred years later, planes would be crisscrossing the skies, satellites circling the globe, manned space craft landing on the moon.

I knew the Wright brothers spent years building castles in the sand at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to give birth to aviation; I just had no idea they spent almost as much time defending and protecting the patents to their aeronautical designs once their dreams were realized; or that the U.S. government contributed significantly to that struggle.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

THE HOLY LAND: MOSES, MOSAICS & MOUNT NEBO

5/9/2014

I know today is Friday, which usually means Fun Fotos, but the rollercoaster ride of this past week still has me unsure of what’s up and what’s down. The good news: my brother-in-law is alive after five hours of brain surgery!

God is good!

And so, given I have been working on today’s post for the last few days with obviously very little success (I’ve been a bit distracted) I intend to deviate from the norm (yes, I’m now a deviant) and return to my favorite subject of late, the Holy Land.

I hope you don't mind.

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I’m not sure I want to live for 120 years. Not at the rate I'm falling apart.

“May you live to 120” is a common blessing among Jews, based on the life and time of Moses and one interpretation of Genesis 6:3.

I’ve been a little lax of late when it comes to my Bible studies (but lots of prayers); and I’m not a Jew, which may suggest my expiration date is much closer than I think, especially having crossed the halfway mark several years back.

Yes, when the time comes (blessedly, it’s out of my hands), just give me a room with a heavenly view.

If Mount Nebo is any indication, Moses got his room with a view.

MOSES, MONKS & ST. CATHERINE'S MONASTERY

5/7/2014

The monastery is sacred to three world religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

The door to the monastery was a tiny sliver of an opening in an otherwise massive wall of granite stone.

No doubt about it; St. Catherine’s Monastery was a fortress, purportedly built on holy ground that to this day harbors the Burning Bush “that was consumed by fire, but was not burned” when God spoke to Moses for the first time.

Holy heart-to-heart!

If the monks believed it to be gospel, who was I, a humble, modern-day pilgrim, to question three thousand years of religious history and the oldest continuously working monastery (and the smallest diocese) in the world; a monastery that just happens to sit at the foot of Mount Sinai/Jebel Musa/Mount Musa/Mountain of Moses. Yes, the Ten Commandments Mount Sinai! The same 7,494-foot peak on which Muslims believe Mohammad’s horse, Boraq, ascended to heaven.

Oh, yea of little faith.

It was a modern-day miracle, me standing inside the 60-foot walls of this medieval enclave, snapping at least three thousand pictures of the Burning Bush.

THE HOLY LAND: CAPERNAUM, CHRIST & SAINT PETER

4/24/2014

It's one thing to follow in His footsteps via the written word; that's been a life-long struggle, humbling at best, downright crushing in moments apparently necessary for personal growth, particularly given my propensity for stubbornness. That’s the least of my failings, but the only one I’m prepared to share publicly.

It’s quite another story to really follow in His footsteps, as in walk the Via Dolorosa; stand on Mount Olive; sail the Sea of Galilee; visit Capernaum.

I see that question mark hovering from your side of the World Wide Web. Capernaum?

THE SEA OF GALILEE'S JESUS BOAT

4/23/2014

I love a good mystery with my history.

I think that’s what was missing back in the day when memorizing all those dates and dynasties, bastions and battles made history feel as dead as the civilizations that had come and gone. The only mystery at the time was how I managed a passing grade in World History.

On the other hand, the Sea of Galilee's “The Jesus Boat" has been and will always be, shrouded in as much mystery as history.

Did this boat witness the events sweeping over the Sea of Galilee in Jesus’ time?

Was this the boat that bore the Nazarene and his disciples to the surrounding villages to preach the gospel to the people?

Finding and preserving this fragile and now famous boat was truly a miracle.

MIAMI'S MAGICAL VIZCAYA MUSEUM & GARDENS

3/18/2014

The villa was as colorful as it was charming, the formal gardens, among the most elaborate in the United States, serene and green. I think I might have just died and gone to a subtropical heaven.

Just a little cottage by the bay.

Actually, Jimmy and I, along with Lynda/my sister/host/activities director had gone to see this twentieth century “jewel among Miami’s skyscrapers and subdivisions” on a winter day this past January, a day magically and wonderfully bereft of polar vortexes and grey skies.

Magically, the place was also bereft of the usual crowds of people that typically flock to see stunning and culturally significant National Historical Landmarks (2,528 in the US alone). It was our lucky day, as in a “Very Vizcaya” day!

PERPETUATING URBAN MYTHS AT CHICAGO'S MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY

3/13/2014

He looked good, all things considered. I felt a momentary twinge of nostalgia.

We’d lost touch after college; separate paths, new interests, different lifestyles; marriage, kids, commitments.

I’d heard he’d nearly died back in 2012. His status as an urban legend would have simply faded away.

No way! Some might say he’s just a cream puff, but most know him to be made of much sturdier stuff. Stuff like . . .

METROPOLIS, ILLINOIS: SUPERMAN ON A SHTICK

2/20/2014

Every once in a while, when I overdose on culture with one too many castles, abbeys, museums, and opera houses, I require a destination with a little less substance; a place that offers less mental challenge and a little more shtick.

Yes! Occasionally I simply need something that tickles my funny bone, challenges the establishment, or simply leaves no doubt in my mind that destiny is decidedly disheveled.

Voila! Metropolis, Illinois.

Philadelphia has Rocky; Milwaukee has Winkler, the Bronze Fonz; Metropolis was destined to have . . . ?

GET SURREAL AT ST. PETERSBURG'S DALI MUSEUM

2/18/2014

Apparently, I’m not much of a dreamer, at least where it counts. Had I been a patient of Sigmund Freud, he’d still be wallowing in obscurity; and the Surrealist Art Movement would have simply faded along with the majority of my dreams every morning.

Salvador Dali; now there’s a dreamer if this Spaniard's art is any indication!

Watching Camembert cheese melt proved inspirational for Dali’s famous "The Persistence of Memory."

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