NB REPORTING

HOLIDAYS: Memories & Traditions

2011-12-16T23:00:00.002-05:00

We often complain that Christmas and other holidays have become over-commercialized, where the religious or historical meaning is lost within a realm of retail madness. Yet, some of our favorite holiday memories are often associated with shopping.

For generations of Rochesterians, it was that trip downtown to Midtown Plaza. The concourse was transformed to capture children's imaginations, complete with Santa and his Magic Mountain, the Monorail, and the massive Christmas tree standing two stories tall.

The holiday window displays at McCurdy's and Sibley's were works of art, beckoning to passersby along East Main Street. Children begged parents to see Sibley's Santa's toyland display.These were the fond memories that brought thousands of people back to Midtown Plaza in 2007 for the final Christmas celebration before the wrecking ball and bulldozers showed up.

The last season was my first holiday visit to Midtown, and I'm so glad to have been a part of it. I talked to a lot of people that day, as I completed a final project for my college radio class about Midtown's closure.

And so when I saw the Macy's Holiday commercial above for the first time two years ago, it made me think of that day. While generations of shoppers elsewhere have memories of Macy's, Rochesterians have Midtown and Sibley's.

Ironically, Macy's in a way became the successor to Sibley's. The local department store was sold to May Department Stores in the 80's and later became Kaufmann's. May was later bought by Federated, and its local stores were rebranded as Macy's by 2006.

So I guess we are now part of that Macy's tradition, and while it will never have the same meaning as those local memories, the commercial still hits close to home.

Historic photos are from the collection of the Rochester City Hall Photo Lab, and from the collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History Division. Digital access to the "Rochester Images" database is maintained by the Monroe County Library System, and can be found by clicking HERE.

HOLIDAYS: Hitting the liquor store

2011-12-14T20:11:00.000-05:00

Pusser's Rum

Tis the season to hit up the liquor store before the holidays, and that's exactly what I did today on my day off from work. Browsing the wonderfully-wide aisles of Lisa's Liquor Barn in Penfield, I searched out some of my favorite drinks before making my decision. I chose a bottle of "Maker's Mark" bourbon for me, and my mom went for the "Baileys Irish Cream". Both will be nice additions to the liquor cabinet.

My "Maker's Mark" will go nicely alongside the half-gone bottle of my favorite rum - which is really the purpose of this blog post. I always hear people say how much they love "Captain" or one of the endless varieties of "Bacardi". When people ask which rum is my favorite, they get a bewildered expression when I reply "Pusser's".

If you enjoy a good rum and coke, or just plain rum as I do, I would definitely recommend trying "Pusser's" for something different. It's not a common name, and it's not made like the top-selling brands. It's the same recipe that was used for centuries by the British Navy - a blend of five West Indian rums with no coloring agents and no artificial ingredients or added sugar.

The biggest difference, however, is the type of still used. Pusser's is distilled in the same stills used by the Admiralty, which are more than 200 years old. The old wood adds flavor that can't be achieved with modern metal stills. The process takes more time and effort, but produces a better rum.

Pusser's is not without controversy though. The rum company made headlines over the summer when it sued a NYC tiki bar called "Painkiller" over its name. Pusser's trademarked the name "Painkiller" for a type of mixed drink that must use its rum. Pusser's apparently asked the owners to either use its rum, or change the name of the bar. When neither happened, a lawsuit was filed. Fellow bartenders started a facebook page urging other bars to boycott Pusser's. Bartenders were upset that a rum company would go after the little guy. That's understandable, but Pusser's in response said it probably makes the same or less money annually than a bar in a large a city like New York.

I'm not sure how significant the boycott is, or was, but the downside is any decrease in sales would impact Pusser's charitable contributions. A portion of each sale goes to a British charity helping naval veterans. This is now the largest source of income for the Royal Navy Sailors' Fund after its original bequest.

Regardless of the controversy, the rum is great. I would recommend trying it if you're looking for a new and unique taste. To learn more about Pusser's, the "Painkiller" controversy, or Royal Navy Sailors' Fund follow the links below.

LINKS:

Pusser's Rum

"Lawsuit Costs Painkiller its Name and Website"

Royal Naval Association

FALL FUN: Navigating a dinosaur corn maze

2011-11-07T00:06:00.000-05:00

This Sunday was the last day the Dinosaur corn maze was open at the Country Way Garden Center in Penfield. Luckily, me and my colleagues Caroline Tucker and Patrick Kelly were able to rise to the challenge last weekend. This was my first corn maze experience, and I was excited to put my navigation skills to the test despite dire warnings from our 11 o'clock producer (she was stuck in one at night at a young age and it took her three hours to get out. She continues to hate them to this day.)

So we paid the $10 admission fee, which I thought was very reasonable considering all of the activities (more on that later), and we went through an introduction to the various challenges in the maze, as well as the rules. "Repeat after me: I will not smoke in the corn!" a video proclaimed, and we repeated loudly. We were given our team flag, which was on a long pole in case they needed to send a search party after us, and headed to the entrance. Our first step: take a picture of the map at the beginning!

Our next strategy was to stay near the outer edge of the maze. It only worked for so long, and then we gave up on that idea. The ribbon not only guides you along the paths, it gives you an idea of where in the maze you are. The maze is divided up into a handful of color-coded sections, so in the picture above you can see we were in the white section. You can check your progress at several map stations hidden along the paths.

There are two additional challenges within the maze itself. In the word scramble game, you look for clue stations that will give you the answers to dinosaur trivia questions. Those answers then become part of a word scramble game to solve. We're at one of the trivia stations above, although I'll admit we did use our smartphones to look up some of the answers that we never found! The other game is a dinosaur rubbing challenge. In that one, you're looking for stations that have dinosaur etchings on the surface. You place your answer booklet on top and rub a crayon over the surface to produce images of different dinosaurs. We found about three quarters of those stations.

Several wrong turns eventually brought us back to the entrance, forcing us to turn around and try to guess where we went wrong. After going in a few circles, and seeing some familiar stations we had passed earlier, we finally got to a new section. And along with the uncharted territory came yet another challenge: mud! Parts of the field are lower than others, so despite not having rain for several days and most of the paths being dry, there were a couple of stretches that were rough going.

We finally reach an elevated bridge that provides two benefits: an aerial view, and an employee with a cheat sheet. We discover we're standing over the path that leads to the exit, but to get to it we need to go deeper into the maze. At this point we had already been walking for nearly two hours, so we swallowed our pride and decided to cheat. We traced out the correct route on a color-coded map, and wrote down all the turns on our answer sheet.

It turns out that the path to the exit started near the back of the maze. There was only one way to get on it, and once you were there was no way to mess up unless you turned around. On the home stretch, we finally passed under the bridge, and made our way out the exit. One of the fun parts of going through the maze is the tendency to develop rivals. We had entered at the same time as a mother and her sons, and bumped into each other on several occasions. We had a friendly rivalry going, but at some point they gained the upper-hand and beat us to the finish!

After the maze, the next stop was to ride the adult-sized trikes. Caroline and I raced around the track before she snapped this picture of me. We both had some near-miss tip overs, as it's hard to turn because your knees get in the way of the handlebar. Still, I was actually quite surprised how fast these things can move!

On the way over to the hayride, we passed the perfect alternative for our 11 o'clock producer! The mini-maze is a great option for the little ones, and for the faint of heart.

Once we reached the hayride, we were entertained by another attraction for the kids. This is a train of individual cars that look like cows that are pulled behind a tractor. The train zips around a separate track that weaves through the corn. The kids and the parents seemed to be having a blast.

The best part of the hayride was the chance to sit down and relax after a couple of hours walking through the maze.

Here we go! There was nothing scary about this ride, just a nice scenic trip around the farm.

Remember the mud I was telling you about? Yeah. Definitely will be wearing boots next year. Caroline, having been to these before, was the only one to plan ahead and wear appropriate footwear. Patrick and I would spend the next week picking dirt out of our treads.

It was neat to see the maze from the other side of the corn. We waved to several teams still inside. Although you can go through the maze at night with a flashlight, we were glad we opted for the mid-afternoon start. It turned out to be a much better choice than our original plan to go at four in the afternoon.

We couldn't resist one last bit of fun before calling it a day. Who could pass up the opportunity to have a duck race? I'm happy to report that I won the first round, but my luck ran out after that. At the end of the day, the $10 was well spent. We had about three hours of fun in the maze, on the trikes, enjoying the the hayride, and challenging one another to a duck race.

I would definitely recommend doing something like this, and for people of any age. Admission is less for kids, there are tables for picnics, and the owners even have an arrangement with a nearby pizzeria if you want to order one. There is a small concession stand, as well as pumpkins for sale. It's all a great way to enjoy a nice fall day. If you're interested for next year, be sure to bookmark the link provided below. I know I'll be going back, and maybe I'll even try the maze in the dark next time!

Link to Country Way Corn Maze in Penfield

TELEVISION: Remembering Andy Rooney, 1919 - 2011

2011-11-06T21:01:00.002-05:00

2008 photo by Stephenson Brown

Known for his grumpy end-of-show commentary, Andy Rooney has been a beloved mainstay of "60 Minutes" for more than 30 years, and a fixture at CBS for more than 60 years. Rooney died Friday night from complications from a minor surgery. His death came only weeks after announcing he would no longer appear regularly at the end of 60 minutes. In all, he wrote and delivered 1,097 essays for the news program. The Sunday after his death, Rooney took the spotlight at the end of the show one more time, as longtime colleague Morley Safer delivered a special tribute.

READ Andy Rooney's Obituary from CBS News

SNAPSHOT: Penfield Sunset

2011-10-01T23:51:00.001-04:00

I caught this neat sunset after dinner at the Penfield Four Corners. I snapped this photo with my phone from the parking lot of the Pattaya Thai restaurant.

ADORABLE: Getting ready for winter

2011-09-26T02:36:00.001-04:00

We've had a resident woodchuck in our backyard for several years now - and this is the time of year when they start to get really fat! This year momma woodchuck has two little ones, and they all seem to spend most of their time under our apple tree or our neighbor's pear tree. The best part is - they sit upright on they're hind legs and eat the fruit with they're paws. The way they eat is so human- like, they almost look like cartoon characters.

The Legacy of Peter Jennings

2011-08-08T02:02:00.002-04:00

It's hard to believe that six years have passed since the world lost Peter Jennings. The Canadian-born, American broadcaster - who later ~~obtained~~ earned U.S. Citizenship - is the reason I have always wanted to be in television journalism. As early as I can remember, before even the start of elementary school, Peter was part of my daily routine. Each night, after dinner, we would watch the end of the local news - and then sit tight for ABC's "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings".

His career was impressive: after several years of reporting for Canadian television - Jennings would come stateside to spend the next 40 years at ABC News. First as a reporter, then as chief foreign correspondent, and finally - for 22 years - as anchor and senior editor of "World News Tonight". During his tenure in that final role, he shaped the news coverage of the entire network - and became the face of the news division. He was adamant about covering events around the world - issues that mattered, whether they were popular or not.

He drew on his extensive reporting background to make editorial decisions when anchoring from New York ("from ABC News world headquarters in New York, this is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings"). When the story couldn't be told from behind a desk, he was on a plane to report and anchor from the field. It was that genuine drive to not only cover the story, but get to the bottom of it, that earned the respect of viewers, colleagues, and competitors alike. Peter's delivery conveyed a measured sense of importance and experience, yet wasn't sensational...and he could do it with or without a teleprompter. It was that skill that made him indispensable during breaking news special reports - in particular the week of 9/11.

That special relationship he formed with his viewers made the news of his death on August 7th, 2005, that much harder to take. He had announced in early April he had been diagnosed with lung cancer - admitting he had been a smoker for many years, had quit, and started back up during 9/11. The response was immediate. Messages of sadness and offers of condolences came pouring in to the comment section on the ABC News website - and not just from the United States, but all over the world. Viewers in Canada who have access to American television...and people in the UK who watched "World News Tonight" rebroadcast by the BBC.

The wide range of people Peter connected with during his long career speaks to the quality of his work. Everyone in television news can still learn from his story telling. By doing so, we can continue his legacy of telling stories that matter and that resonate - perhaps even changing people's lives. He set the bar high - and we should be inspired to follow his lead and not take the easy way out. To find ways to make important stories visual, and find characters who will make complex issues hit home. Yes, at the end of the day, the news is still a business that needs to remain viable - but it's also a public service, a duty to the viewers we serve. A true journalist won't lose sight of that.

The day after Peter died, ABC News began honoring his life and career. Below, in three parts, is the special edition of "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" that aired Monday, August 8th, 2005. Anchored by longtime friend and colleague Charles Gibson, the broadcast was just one of many well-done tributes to the legendary reporter and anchor.

LINKS TO ADDITIONAL PETER JENNINGS TRIBUTES:

ABC News obituary for Peter Jennings

Peter Jennings page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications

The Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution

The Documentary Group (succeeded "PJ Productions" - Jennings' production company)

Resources to quit smoking

HOW TO: Properly inflate your car's tires

2011-08-07T21:08:00.000-04:00

It seems like common sense! The tire looks a little flat, so you go to the gas station and put some air in it. That's all there is to it, right? Well - sort of. A tire can lose nearly half of its recommended pressure and still look properly inflated. That's why it's important to check tire pressure at least once a month. And while many of us grew up with dad whipping out the chrome cylindrical gauge - the one with the little tape measure thing that pops out when fitted to the tire - experts recommend more accurate digital gauges. So you go to the auto parts store and get one of the those - so now what? How do I know what the tire pressure is supposed to be? Many people look at the tire itself - which is wrong! The value on the tire is the maximum pressure it can safely handle - which typically is significantly higher than what is recommended for your particular car.

Every car manufacturer posts proper pressure values somewhere on the vehicle. Typically, a plaque like the one pictured above is located near the driver's door - either on the door itself, or in the door jamb. You are looking for the "cold tire inflation pressure", and there should be numeric values for the front and rear tires - measured in PSI (Pounds [of air pressure] per Square Inch). Now, it says "cold" because the pressure inside the tire changes as the temperature goes up and down. An accurate reading, or "cold" reading, is taken before the car has been driven, or within a few miles of driving. In other words, driving to the local gas station to use its air machine is fine, but checking pressure right after a trip down the thruway is not the time to do it.

Once you've determined what the pressure should be, and have found the need to add air after taking the cold pressure readings of all four tires - you're ready to pump some air. Simply inflate your tire until the gauge shows it's where it should be. And don't forget to check your spare once in a while. As your set of tires age, there may be one or two that will lose air faster than the others. I've now had this problem with two cars - which is why I've become quite experienced on this whole topic. It's important to recognize when this is happening, so you can be extra careful to check those particular tires - perhaps each time you fill up the gas tank. Eventually, you may want to consider having your mechanic try replacing the valve stem. I did this, and also purchased a small portable air pump that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. It cost less than $30 and prevents the hassle waiting in line for air at the gas station.

Regardless of what specific steps are taken to keep your tires properly inflated, it's important that you do it. Not doing so not only means reduced gas mileage, but greatly increases the risk of an accident. Over-inflating your tires reduces the amount of tread hitting the road - meaning worse handling, and making it harder to stop (especially on wet roads). Under-inflating tires means too much of the tire tread is in contact with the road, which creates increased friction and heat. This can lead to tire blowout and tread separation - either of which can cause a vehicle rollover.

ADORABLE: Deer Rest in the Backyard

2011-08-06T18:55:00.000-04:00

Several nights this summer we've gotten some four legged visitors to our backyard. This picture was taken earlier this week - one of two deer laying on the grass for at least 20 minutes. They're usually drawn the shade and the food provided by our apple tree. We're wondering if this deer was in a fight with another animal, or was in some sort of accident - there's a few spots near its rump (look for the light colored patches on the right) that look torn up. Overall, it seems pretty healthy.

Here's the second deer poking at the grass looking for anything tasty! I started keeping my camera on hand so I can take a few pictures on the nights they show up. These shots would probably have come out better if I didn't have to shoot through the screen of a sliding glass door.

This has been a common sight in our backyard for the past 20 years or so - ever since we moved in. Before several new sub-divisions popped up around us, there used to be a lot of orchards and fields in the area. The deer had a regular route from one to the other, that involved our backyard along the way. Despite the new home developments, there are still a lot of fruit trees left - so the deer continue to make their rounds. And we continue to enjoy their visits!

BOOKS: Not a happy ending for Borders

2011-08-05T20:58:00.001-04:00

Seeing as I'm on vacation this week, and have plenty of time on my hands, last night I decided to make a final trip to the Borders bookstore in Victor. I remember the first time stepping into a Borders back in elementary school. My father and grandfather had discovered the store in Henrietta, across from Marketplace Mall. This was several years before rival Barnes & Noble had opened up shop in Rochester. I've always loved books, and as a little kid - a store like Borders was almost magical. Seemingly endless titles spread across a massive sales floor.

Fast-forward to last night, and it was a much different scene. Still in the parking lot, I was greeted by a huge "store closing" banner stretched across the facade - in addition to many smaller signs shouting "25% off" that were plastered across the windows. After stepping inside, it was a similar story - yellow and red liquidation posters everywhere. The music was playing overhead, but gone was the aroma of fresh coffee and book-lovers milling around looking for the next great read. Nope - the cafe was closed, its furniture stacked and price-tagged. And the people - they were looking for deals, not necessarily for those hidden gems.

Ashamed to admit it - I was among those looking for a bargain. I can't really remember the last time I was in a Borders - and I'm sure I wasn't the only one there with that particular memory lapse. I guess that's the problem in a nut shell - why the business failed. We're people who love books - but we couldn't show up to the bookstore until it was too late. While many have expressed sadness over the liquidation of the nation's second largest book seller - myself included - there are many good reasons why Borders failed. There's a reason why I can't remember the last time I was in a Borders, yet stopped in Barnes & Noble just a few weeks ago.

In a press release, Borders cited the changing book industry and e-readers as being among the challenges that led to the decision to close. These were longtime weak spots for Borders. Up until a few years ago - Borders' website was tied to Amazon.com (a website that is probably now the largest single threat to every book chain left). Amazon represents a dual-threat. By having central warehouses, or by placing orders directly with publishers, there's less of a supply-chain distribution system than what's required for brick and mortar stores. By sending items directly to the customer, Amazon can offer greater selection at a lower price. And for those who don't want to wait for a book to be delivered - they can download it in seconds on their Amazon Kindle (the most successful e-reader on the market).

The folks at Borders realized this threat too late. By the time they launched their independent online book store, many were already loyal to Amazon - or had been shopping at the Barnes & Noble's "bn.com" since its launch in 1997. Barnes & Noble was also quicker to embrace the e-reader market, with the company's "Nook" line now in second place behind the Kindle. How many people do you know with a "Kobo" - or have heard of it, for that matter? While Borders doesn't straight out own Kobo (it has 11% ownership - which is good news for Kobo owners, because the brand will continue), it was the e-reader the company invested in and promoted. Probably unfortunate, given Kobo's low popularity, and that only a fraction of the revenue went to Borders.

People like me didn't even consider the Kobo when selecting an e-reader. And while it was a tough decision between the Kindle and Nook, I bought the Nook - will all of the profits from the hardware going to Barnes & Noble, and the profits from the e-books being split between B&N and the publisher - no third party company to cut its own slice of the pie. That's a big deal, because more people every day are embracing e-readers. So much so, that e-books on Amazon are already outselling traditional books.

A few years ago, I never thought I would like reading on an electric tablet - not being able to turn the pages and take note of my progress as the pages in my left hand grew thicker. But I said the same thing about film cameras, and it wasn't long before I was clamoring for the ease of digital. While I think I can safely say "I'm done with film", the same can't be said for traditional books. There will always be a place in my life for those glossy pages filled with photographs, or over-sized diagrams of historic buildings. And it was in search of those types of books that drew me back to Borders for one last purchase, and as usual, the bookstore didn't disappoint. Hopefully all of the other traditional stores will learn how to adapt, and continue to serve generations of readers to come.

SCHOOLS: RCSD capital project may have hit snag

2011-08-05T15:00:00.086-04:00

An article in the Democrat and Chronicle today highlights a potential snag in the Rochester City School District's $1 Billion capital project to modernize facilities. The story really focuses on the red tape that's holding up payment to the company contracted to manage the construction and planning - which is interesting all by itself. You can read that article at the D&C's website by clicking HERE. But that's not the part of the story that got my attention.

The name of the building company the District contracted with is Gilbane, Inc. I knew I recognized that name before, so I did some searching on Google, and found what I was looking for. Gilbane is the same company handling a major school renovation project in Syracuse. The company stuck out because the project got a lot of attention, and scrutiny, from the Syracuse media. If how things are going there is any indication of what's in store here in Rochester - we'd all better fasten our seat belts.

Now, to be fair - the scope of the work that needs to be in both cities is significant. We're talking about some buildings that are nearly a century - or more - old. And amid massive deficits and cuts, neither district is in the best position to finance all the work that needs to be done. And at least in Syracuse, there was plenty of blame to go around - including the district and city hall.

I've dug up several articles from the Syracuse Post-Standard that shed some light on just some of the problems in Syracuse (links below). Hopefully Rochester can learn a few things.

Syracuse Post-Standard articles:

Joint board cuts fee for manager of troubled Syracuse school construction project

Schools on hold: construction project must get back on track - quickly

80 percent jump in Central Tech cost has officials bewildered

VIRAL: City pride, Grand Rapids style

2011-06-06T13:31:00.000-04:00

I saw this video pop up on Gawker more than a week ago, and have been fascinated ever since. The video - referred to as the "Grand Rapids LipDub" and set to the tune of Don McLean's "American Pie" - was made in response to a "Newsweek" article referring to Grand Rapids, MI as a "dying city." About 5,000 residents turned out for the making of the single-take film on May 22nd, which virtually shutdown downtown Grand Rapids for the afternoon.

I find it so remarkable and inspiring that a negative ranking brought and entire city together. A true community effort is what made this response so successful. The Mayor, firefighters, police officers, TV stations (their personalities and live trucks), radio DJs, recent college grads, and others from all walks of life took part.

The project was created and organized by Rob Bliss, who's been behind several other eccentric events in the Grand Rapids area (click HERE to read the Grand Rapids Press' profile on Bliss from a few years ago). Bliss was featured last Friday as the "Person of the Week" on ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer. Since it was uploaded on YouTube, the video has been viewed more than two and a half million times.

Hopefully this video will inspire residents of other cities to take pride in their community. There are so many people in Rochester and Syracuse who complain about the bad and are blind to all that's good. Every city has great, unique features that can't be found anywhere else. If Grand Rapids, a city of 192,000 people (that's smaller than Rochester), can be so creative in promoting itself, so can we.

HOW TO: Tie a bow tie with Christopher Seaman (and a fond farewell)

2011-06-05T01:09:00.002-04:00

Sure Christopher Seaman is a world-renowned conductor, who's led some of the finest orchestras on the planet. But he has another special gift outside the realm of music. He can tie a bow tie. Some people can just do it all! Could a person be any more amazing? As it turns out, yes - he's also British.

All the more reason to celebrate Seaman's 13-season tenure as Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. A tenure that came to a close Saturday, as he took the stage of the Eastman Theatre for the final time as music director. RPO fans know how fortunate they are to have had the pleasure of hearing an orchestra perform under the command of this man. They also know how fortunate this city has been to have recruited and retained such talent. To have a conductor who is in demand around the world. Who has conducted all of the major orchestras in London, in addition to orchestras in Israel, Australia, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw...to name a few.

While other orchestras across the country have declared bankruptcy, including the SSO in Syracuse, the RPO has held its own. The donors came through, and the patrons came season after season to watch and listen - to the orchestra, and to Christopher. They came to learn about the music in his pre-concert chats. They came for the passion he brought to the stage. Seaman will return for guest appearances in the future - as Conductor Laureate, a special title created just for him. And come next season, an equally accomplished conductor will take the helm - and will bring his own unique vision to the orchestra. But Christopher Seaman will be fondly remembered - in the halls of the Eastman Theatre, and in the mirror the next time we have to tackle a bow tie.

To learn more about Christopher Seaman's career, Click HERE to view his biography.

POLITICS: Sarah Palin & American History

2011-06-04T01:58:00.000-04:00

Since Memorial Day, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been touring historic hot spots along the east coast. In a stop in Boston on Thursday, she seemed a little confused on Paul Revere's exact role in the Revolutionary War. As you can see in the clip above, the media had a field day with it. A columnist from the Boston Globe really let her have it (you can read what he had to say by clicking HERE). Despite widespread speculation, Palin has yet to announced whether or not she intents to enter the 2012 Presidential race. I'm sure many in the media are hoping she does - it certainly would make the campaign trail a lot more interesting.

FESTIVAL: Roc City Rib Fest

2011-05-30T00:41:00.002-04:00

Somehow I've missed the first three years of this new Rochester tradition, so this time I was ready for the fourth annual Roc City Rib Fest. The four day event at Ontario Beach Park started Friday and wraps up on Memorial Day. The first sign that this is a popular event was the situation in the parking lot! Cars circling, darting, and stalking festival goers on their way out. Finally, an empty spot. Next: paying for the $5 (and very reasonable) entrance ticket - luckily there were no lines for this and we got right in. That would be the end of not having to wait! After circling the major food vendors, we decided to try "Alex's Place", a BBQ joint from Batavia. They won the best ribs award last year, so we figured we couldn't go wrong. The only down side - they had the longest line (as you can see above).

It took more than 30 minutes from the time my friend and I hopped in line to when we got our food. Yeah, it's a long time to wait, but what else would I be doing? Got a chance to talk, catch up, and listen to live music. In the end, it was worth the wait. As you can see above, I got a pulled pork sandwich with a cornbread muffin, and a quarter rack of ribs. Absolutely delicious! The sauce was amazing, and the meat was tender - the ribs fell right off the bone.

Despite being full from the ribs and pork, you can't go to Charlotte and not get Abbott's frozen custard. Luckily, they had a tent within the festival grounds - preventing having to wait in more lines at their shop across the street. And, yes, I'm boring and got plain old vanilla. It was the perfect end to a fun afternoon by the lake. And better yet, a portion of the proceeds is donated to four local resources: the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, the Ronald McDonald House of Rochester, the YMCA's Invest in Youth Campaign, and the Charlotte Community Association. I'm already looking forward to next year! For more information on the Roc City Rib Festival, click HERE.

FOOD: Pattaya Thai Restaurant

2011-05-29T01:02:00.003-04:00

Looking for a good Thai restaurant in the Rochester area? I highly recommend "Pattaya" in Penfield. The food is great, the portions are large, the prices are extremely reasonable, and the service is excellent. While I'm no expert on Thai food, I do enjoy it, and have tried similar dishes at Thai restaurants in other cities, including London. The dishes at Pattaya measure up, and are among the best I've had.

The ingredients always seem fresh, and my meal has always been delivered piping hot from the kitchen. I typically go on Saturday nights and have never had to wait to be seated - and the food is out in less than 10 minutes. Prices are very affordable - most dishes are ten dollars or less, and you can easily do a dinner for two for under $25. My favorite dishes are the Drunken Noodles with chicken (pictured above), and chicken Pad Thai. If you're a vegetarian, no problem - there is a menu just for you.

If you want to check it out, it's located in a former bank building on Rt. 441 in the Four Corners of Penfield (just east of the intersection of 441 and Five Mile Line Rd.). There is ample parking in the back, and handicapped spots near the doors. The restaurant does offer take out, but does not deliver. For a link to Pattaya's website, click HERE.

NEWS: Fire at Perinton Apartments

2011-03-27T02:31:00.000-04:00

I was just about to leave work Friday night when I heard over the scanner that there was an apparent structure fire in Perinton. It was about 11:30. The dispatch described flames coming from an apartment complex. Having nothing better to do, I headed over to the scene on Blackwatch Trail (across Rt. 31 from the Perinton Wegmans.

I could tell it must have been a good sized fire when I saw smoke in the distance as I got closer. I parked in a plaza next door and walked over. A firetruck was blocking the entrance to the complex, and was pumping water from a hydrant. There were no visible flames by the time I got there, but a good deal of smoke rising from the space once occupied by a roof.

Armed with a BlackBerry, I started taking pictures and shot about 5 minutes of video. Amazingly, the 3.2 MP, pen-tip-sized lens actually captured some half decent stuff. My hands were freezing (ironic - watching a fire with fingers so cold you could barely feel them), so there was no way I was going to try to get an interview. We could call the next day for that.

The details to be learned the next morning: multiple fire departments responded to the call, with flames from the roof by the time they got there. Luckily no injuries, but several units were destroyed, and about 6 families have been displaced. The Red Cross is providing assistance. No word on cause - although I did notice rolled up carpeting in multiple dumpsters around the complex. Makes me think a remodeling effort was underway - perhaps related somehow - but that's pure speculation. At the end of the day, a sad experience for residents. For me, an interesting Friday night that led to what I'm calling "cell phone journalism."

SCIENCE: "Super" Full Moon

2011-03-19T23:15:00.001-04:00

I dragged out the camera and captured the image above of tonight's Perigee Moon (click on image to enlarge). What is a Perigee Moon? The video below from NASA explains it nicely.

TELEVISION: Jeanne Moos celebrates 30 years at CNN

2011-03-07T00:41:00.004-05:00

She's known for her quirky reporting, unique voice, and creative story ideas on CNN. But when she started at the "Cable News Network" 30 years ago this weekend, Jeanne Moos was a serious hard-news reporter. Her coverage of the '91 Gulf War earned an international journalism award. Moos also covered the Beijing Student Uprising, interviewed Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, and reported on political corruption cases.

That all changed in the mid 90's, when a new segment debuted called "Making the MOOSt of it". From then on, her niche became odd, quirky, off-beat stories. Luckily, these reports, that usually range from 2 to 2 and half minutes, are available to CNN affiliate stations (which means I can put them in my local newscast in Rochester, NY). Since I began producing I have become a huge Jeanne Moos fan, and was excited to come across the behind the scenes video posted above. I was even more excited that she is a fellow Syracuse University grad!

To see the report marking her three decades at CNN, click HERE. Before CNN, Moos got her start at WPTZ-TV, the NBC affiliate in Plattsburgh, NY.

HOLLYWOOD: Behind the Scenes

2011-02-26T22:39:00.001-05:00

Stargate Studios 2010 Virtual Backlot Demo from Stargate Studios on Vimeo.

Ever wonder what everything looks like behind the scenes of your favorite TV show or movie? This video from Stargate Studios offers a glimpse of the smoke and mirrors that bring the sound-stage to life. Truly fascinating.

We use the same green-screen technology every night on the news, but obviously on a much more simple level. Smaller green-screens in television news studios allow us to put the meteorologist in front of full-screen weather maps, and give us the option of putting reporters in front of still or video images. You have to be careful though - no green clothing at all, or viewers at home will see right through you!

The whole thing works with computers that are calibrated to recognize a particular shade of green. The computers then replace the green with whatever image is desired, say a weather map for example. A person standing in front of the screen blocks the green, and therefore appears in front of the image.

I came across this by accident. About two years ago, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper stopped the presses, cut staff, and went to an all digital format. I wanted to see what the website, seattlepi.com, and came across this video.

TECH: Motorola's Super Bowl jab at Apple

2011-02-06T23:01:00.002-05:00

In a play on Apple's legendary "1984" commercial in which the computer company unveiled the Macintosh, Motorola is now accusing it's tablet rival of having become "Big Brother." It's no secret that Apple's Ipad dominates the tablet PC market. With Motorola gearing up for the launch of it's Google Android-based "Xoom" tablet, the Super Bowl proved the perfect venue for a 1984 rematch. The ad shows the open-source Android tablet as non-conformist, and portrays Apple users as mindless consumers accepting the latest Apple products. To see Apple's classic 1984 commercial, play the video below.

SNOW: Doesn't get in the way of Rochesterians

2011-01-30T23:56:00.001-05:00

I saw this leaving my Grandmother's townhouse in Penfield tonight. The plow left a huge snowbank that blocked the sidewalk to front doors. Not for long! Not sure who made the tunnel, but looks pretty cool. I wouldn't want to be walking under it when it starts to get warmer. It doesn't look like that will happen any time soon though - the 7 day forecast doesn't show highs anywhere near 32 degrees until next weekend. Good thing I got a snuggie for Christmas this year.

TELEVISION: Syracuse station now in HD

2011-01-30T12:24:00.002-05:00

News Channel 9 (WSYR-TV ABC) in Syracuse debuted it's new HD studio, graphics package, and website this weekend. Above is a clip of the station's morning news "on the go". Channel 9 is the dominate local station in Central New York, and is the first to switch to HD. It's owned by Newport Television, the same owner of 13 WHAM in Rochester - which started broadcasting in HD this past September.

Above is a promo the station has has been running for the past month. Aside from the new studio and graphics, going HD means many other changes. New cameras in the field and in the studio, new broadcasting equipment behind the scenes, new makeup for the on-air talent, and even more limited wardrobes. The amount of white and certain other bright colors needs to be limited on set so the viewer is distracted or blinded by how they come across on the TV.

Included with the other upgrades, Channel 9 got a refreshed logo and new slogan (The Local Station). The logo, the style of the "9" in particular - harkens back to the loco used in the late eighties and early nineties. Channel 9 had advertised that HD newscasts would begin in February. As typical when stations debut new sets and graphics, management has elected to roll out a "soft launch" over the weekend to work out the bugs before the more formal debut on Monday. Click HERE to visit the station's refreshed website.

DEVELOPMENT: Townhomes Coming to Downtown

2011-01-30T03:05:00.000-05:00

There's more good news for downtown Rochester. In a unanimous vote at its January 25th meeting, City Council approved the sale of 116 West Main Street to a developer for $1. The current site - a city-owned surface parking lot - will be turned into 24 market-rate townhomes and a mixed-use commercial development.

The city is selling the property to Plymouth Terrace, LLC - headed up by John Summers, of Graywood Custom Homes. This is a departure from the suburban housing tracts that Graywood has already developed in the area - Kensington Woods and Auburn Estates in Pittsford, and Bristol Harbour in Canandaigua.

The Plymouth Terrace project will be going up in what's referred to as "Scott Alley", across the street from the Hochstein School of Music, and two blocks west of City Hall. The diagram above shows how the plots have been divided up (this could always change). There are 24 narrow parcels, each containing an approximately 1,850 square foot, two and a half story townhome with a 2-car detached garage.

So far, the developer has not released any schematics, but with the parcels being so long and narrow, a logical possibility is a row-house look on the front (which I would assume would be the N. Plymouth Ave. side) with patios and detached garages at the back, facing Scott Alley. This is pure speculation, but it would make sense. The city is retaining a right of way in the middle of the block, to eventually connect Scott Alley and N. Plymouth. This would approximately align with Church Street.

A commercial development would anchor the project on the south side, along West Main Street. That building will be at least two and a half stories as well, and will include office and/or retail space, along with parking space.

This comes as the City is trying to bring new life into the Cascade District - an area of old warehouses on the west end of downtown inside the inner loop. Once along the original route of the Erie Canal, the neighborhood has declined in recent years. It boarders rougher neighborhoods to the west of 490, and an area of downtown that's home to many government buildings. This development is part of the Cascade Area Urban Renewal District.

The Plymouth Terrace project is the latest announcement in a series of encouraging developments for the area. Just down the street, Nothnagle - the Rochester area's largest realty firm - is renovating a series of old buildings that will become the company's new headquarters. There are also reports that the City is close to making an announcement on the former Josh Lofton High School Building, across the street from Nothnagle.

The property being sold to Plymouth Terrace, LLC for $1 has an appraised value of $1,176,000. The City gives several reasons for the bargain-basement price tag. While recent housing studies show there is a demand for owner-occupied units in downtown Rochester, the cost of building them is not attractive for developers without incentives. This tactic of offering "dollar deals" has been used in many large downtown projects, and was key in sealing the deal with Christa Development / Morgan Management to re-purpose Midtown Tower, as well as attracting ESL to build its new headquarters downtown (which also went up on a city-owned parking lot).

Construction on the Plymouth Terrace project is scheduled to begin this spring, and is expected to take about 18 months to complete.

A Walk Through the Woods

2010-11-22T00:36:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I had a nice getaway up to the woods of southern New Hampshire to close the family's summer home. My Uncle Roger (Plug: need to get in shape? He's a personal fitness trainer - rogerbense.com) left Rochester at 6 am Saturday for the 5 and a half hour drive. As tradition requires, the trip started with breakfast at Ricky's Restaurant in Fairport.

The weather was perfect for the whole weekend, so I got some great pictures. Our property is on a wooded reserve that includes a man-made, but natural looking, pond. "Larry's Pond" has several secluded homes along one side, none of which can really be seen from the water. On the other side, there's a trail that loops around, connecting the end of a dead-end access road back to the other side. The picture above was taken where the road ends and the trail begins.

Most of forest is made up of pine trees. Because the bottoms of the trees get starved for light, all of the branches grow at the very top - making the trese top-heavy. That means when the wind picks up, or when there's an ice storm (had a bad one up there last year) the picture above is the result. As you can see, it makes a nice place for a spider's web!

Ever since I was little, I have memories of walking the "red-dot trail". This is the unofficial name we have for the trail that connects the end of the service road back to the other side of the pond. Since the trail is narrow and not heavily used, it can sometimes be hard to stay on course - hence the red dots every so often painted on trees. This is one of the more clearly marked ones. There are several that are hard to see and should be repainted.

A little more than halfway down the trail, a stream crosses the path and feeds into the pond. I'm not sure what draws people to water, but this is one of my favorite parts of the hike. With the weather being so nice, and the sun streaming through the trees, it was nice to stop and listen. The sound of the water splashing over the rocks, and the sounds of birds and other creatures scurrying through the woods. Even with all the leaves off the trees, it not quite time for the quiet of winter!

One of my favorite pictures of the pond, this was taken right out at the beginning of the trail. We're at the far end of the pond, looking back to the end that we started at. I love how still the water is. Every now and then you can spot ripples where fish have come near the surface. During summer vacations here, we spend hours everyday in this pond - floating around, jumping off wooden rafts, or reading on the beach. Nothing like a nice cold beer on the beach on a hot day!

This picture was taken while standing on the wooden bridge, looking toward the pond. The lighting was just perfect, coming in from the pond and shining through the trees. This picture doesn't give it justice. Funny - in high school I always thought Thoreau's account of Walden Pond was a load of crap. Still do, but I guess I can at least appreciate some elements of what he was getting at.

The road back to the house. Not a long walk from the pond - maybe a quarter of a mile, if that. It always seems a lot longer in the summer though, when we're dragging a cooler and foam rafts to float around on. This is pretty much what the whole reserve looks like. Most of the houses are set back and not too visible from the road. To the left of this shot, through the trees, there is a big meadow that is mowed once or twice a year. It's always worth checking over for deer - especially at this time of year. We didn't see any on this trip though.

Finally, back to the house after a nice walk. It's looking good after a fresh coat of stain over the summer and some new red paint for the doors and trim. This house has been a work in progress for several decades on my dad's side of the family. It started with an empty lot and a camper for long weekends - a retreat that my grandparents bought when my dad and my aunts and uncles were growing up. Eventually, the shell of the main part of the house was built. It started as just a saltbox, with the interior completed during weekend work sessions over a series of years.

The sunroom was added in the mid 90's, adding more space to make it easier for more people to come up at the same time. The bell on time came from my great-grandfather, who had worked on the railroad. I'm not sure if the bell was once on a locomotive, or if it was something at a station, but it had something to do with the railroad. There's a rope that runs down to the back deck to a tie-off so that it can be rung. When I was little, that was the cue to come back from the pond for dinner.

Finally, the workshop. This was added at about the same time as the sunroom. This was always my grandfather's space. "Papa" loved to work with tin - making lamps, chandeliers...sconces. We all have something that he made with tin. He built this as a place to practice his craft during the summer months when he and "Nana" lived up there. He died in 2006, but his tools remain in the family. Hopefully someone will pick up the tin-making tradition where he left off.

My uncle and I agreed that there was a strange feeling up in the woods this trip. It wasn't our house - it was the whole area in general. I'm not sure if it just because we're not used to being up there this late in the season or what. You could definitely feel winter approaching. Instead of the weekend concerts in the town squares, people were busy getting their homes ready for the change of season. It was also clear that people up there are getting hit hard by the recession. There are a lot of houses for sale, and some businesses have closed. I can imagine that a lot of people are out of work as well. This is a pretty rural area, so jobs can be scarce even during good times. It doesn't help that very wealthy families from Boston and New York are building large summer homes in the area - and driving up the property values of locals who can't afford the added tax burden. We can only hope things get better soon, for their sake and ours.

Morning News Fail (With a Great Sense of Humor)

2010-11-20T12:42:00.001-05:00

This is great, and anyone in TV can sympathize! The morning news on WGN in Chicago was covering a bridge implosion, and waiting, waiting, waiting...cut away for 5 seconds, and boom! There is goes. They missed it. This is always the risk when covering live events. Have to say, I love how the anchors handled it. A sense of humor goes a long way in the news business.

Wegmans, other retailers going green

2010-07-19T22:01:00.000-04:00

Wegmans has been joining other retailers in making their stores more green. The Eastway store in Penfield recently completed the installation of new lights (shown above). Gone are the old, round dome warehouse-style lamps that were harsh on the eyes and hard on the environment. All recently built stores already have them, and other locations such as Penfield Rd and Dewitt have been retrofitted for some time now. A display near the checkout lanes describes the benefits:

7,335,540 kWh saved over the ten year life of the system
11,296,732 lbs of Carbon Dioxide avoided
22,007 lbs of Nitrogen Oxides avoided
44,013 lbs of Sulfur Dioxide

Or, in terms that we can understand, that's the equivalent of:

5,483,850 lbs of coal not burned
1,401 acres of trees added
98 cars removed from the road each year
61 homes powered with electricity for a year

Now, in case you can tell that something is different, but can't remember what the old lights look like, here is a picture of the "before and after":

This is only one of several efforts being made by Wegmans to be more environmentally friendly. Reusable bags are being promoted to eliminate plastic waste, and for those who have to have the plastic, there are receptacles near the carts where they can be recycled. Customer demand is in part driving these changes, as was the case this winter when, at the recommendation of customers, stores replaced Styrofoam egg crates with paperboard packaging made from recycled materials.

Wegmans is not the only retailer to be making changes...Target Corporation has also begun retrofitting all of it's stores with new lights. The new fixtures will look the same, but will use two fluorescent bulbs instead of the current four. They will offer the same amount of light, while cutting the amount of energy used. Target says it will be a "zero waste" project - all of the current metal fixtures will be recycled, along with all of the cardboard packaging from the new ones.

While such action should be encouraged, one should keep in mind that many of these companies are probably more concerned with saving money than just being environmentally friendly. Both of these lighting projects will save money along with energy. Other changes are the result of new laws - for example, California now requires stores to offer reusable bags. With other states considering similar legislation, companies like Target decided to offer them at all of their stores. Going green also means good PR. Still, whatever the motive, the end result is good for all involved.

Refreshed: Welcome to the NEW nb reporting

2010-07-18T23:10:00.001-04:00

Well hello, and welcome (back) to the new nb reporting. It certainly has been a while since the last post! In fact, the last time I logged on, it was the end of April, 2009, and I was still in London. A lot has happened over the past year, some of which I will include in future posts. But to get caught up from last year, here are the basics: I just graduated this past May from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and am currently looking to start my career in television news (check out my professional website at http://nathanbense.com).

In between writing cover letters and sending out resumes, I look forward to injecting new energy into this blog. Expect more stories, adventures, and great photos in the weeks to come. And also, a new feature...mobile blogging! I have already embedded my twitter feed in the upper right hand corner, but I want to take it a step further. Thanks to new features offered by Blogger, I can now post directly from my blackberry. In fact, this is the first test. This entire post was entered from my phone! I can't wait to get blogging again, and I hope you'll join me on this latest installment of nb reporting. Please feel free to comment on any post - I look forward to hearing from you!

Saturday morning walk through Paris

2009-04-09T17:46:00.022-04:00

Arenes de Lutece is a Roman amphitheater constructed in the 1st century AD. It is one of the longest ever built by the Romans, and it's estimated that it once held between 15,000 and 17,000 spectators. It would have originally been used for gladiator fights, and there is evidence that several animal holding cells were located in notches below parts of the seating area. Although significant portions of the arena have been lost over the centuries, what remains has been restored and now serves as a public park.

The best part of the walk, led by Professor Reuter and his Russian nuclear physicist friend Dimitri, was that we got to see many of the quaint backstreets of Paris. While the grand avenues and boulevards are great, it is on these small streets that you get closer to the French people and the true culture of Paris.

One of the great features of Paris is it's numerous sidewalk restaurants and cafes. They have these in London too, but with a more modern twist with metal chairs and bright lights. Places likes these seem stuck in a previous time, where life was slower and it was nothing to spend time eating outside enjoying each other's company. Late at night and early in the morning you can see the owners of restaurants and storekeepers sweeping up in front of their shops. They take such pride in the businesses they keep, and their hospitality is evident as you walk by.

On each trip I tend to be drawn to a certain theme when taking in pictures. In Cambridge, for example, it was bikes. In Paris it seems to be windows. There are so many old buildings that have so much character. Aside from being fascinating architectural features, windows are symbolic of the building's history. When you think about all of the people who looked out of them for hundreds of years...you try to imagine what they saw. What did the city look like to a person looking out a hundred years ago? There will be more window pictures coming up. I also liked this building in particular because of its texture - the peeling paint on the shutters and the varying colors of the stone blocks in the wall especially.

This is a courtyard at one of the Paris Universities. Norman and Dimitri told us that the French educational system is much different from education in England, and that there is a huge emphasis on math and science. This is one of the reasons that Dimitre lives in Paris as a nuclear physicist. In fact, on Sunday we passed a massive complex that was designed as a sort of science museum to teach the public and children from an early age about fundamental scientific principles.

The Pantheon in Paris is in the city's Latin Quarter. It is an example of Neoclassical architecture and was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Originally it was a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, and since has also served as a famous burial site. Construction began in 1758 and, after delays due to financial difficulties, it was completed in 1789. Certain design flaws led to significant structural problems with the dome, and the iron reinforcements that help hold it up have started to corrode. Several measures have been taken over the years to stabilize the dome and ensure the safety of visitors below it. Among the famous people that rest here are Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Victor Hugo.

As we walked into the entrance to a park, we looked to the left and there was a bride and groom posing for a picture. It was really funny as half of our group stopped to take pictures of our own. What a great souvenir to remember how romantic Paris is.

This is the path that took us into the park that surrounds Luxembourg Palace. The bride and groom were up and to the right from where this picture was taken. It was so nice to finally see leaves on the trees - they haven't fully come out in London yet, only the blossoming trees. The interesting thing is, because different avenues were planted with different types of trees, some streets have all of their leaves out while others are still completely bare.

Luxembourg Palace is the seat of the French Senate. It was finished in 1631, and is surrounded by large gardens full of statues and fountains. Today the gardens are open as a public park, and there are lawn chairs for people to sit, read, and relax. And below, as promised, are pictures of more windows:

I was reading in the New York Times this fall about this unique public bike sharing program that Paris has implemented. All around the city there are these bike renting stations. The bikes are locked into a post, and released when you put a deposit in the machine. The bike is then yours for the day until you return it to any other nearby bike station. I'm pretty sure that you get your deposit back. The program has been well received, and the bikes are immensely popular. Indeed, we saw them all over the place. There are certain problems though - several of the bikes have been returned damaged, and many not returned at all. The article mentioned that the program was starting to run out of money, and planners are looking at ways to keep the service viable. There is at least one major east coast city in the US looking to follow this example and start a service like this of their own.

Like in London, musicians in Paris set up anywhere from the metro to public squares. We came across this accordion player in one of the squares. I was surprised at how early he was out playing - it must have been a little after 11 am. There weren't even that many people out on the streets yet. Usually you see musicians during rush hour and in the afternoons. Not that I'm complaining - it's nice to have music any time of the day!

A little further down from the accordion player was a couple out enjoying the nice weather. It was a little colder though on Saturday, not like Friday where we were roasting in the afternoon sun in the gardens at Versailles. I personally enjoyed the cool breeze during our walk.

I don't remember what this building was...I want to say it was a museum, but I couldn't find it when I did a search online. Maybe it's just a church. Either way, we saw it for the cute little garden in the back. There is a steel sculpture in the middle of some of the plants that was pretty interesting too.

Something I've noticed in London, that's even more apparent in France, is that there are a lot more older cars on the road than in the United States. In Paris there are tons of cars that I would place from the at least in the early 90s. Obviously not as old as this Mini Cooper in the picture, but still it is very noticeable. I think that the reason for this might be a more temperate climate (being from upstate NY, I personally am used to the salt used on the roads in the winter eating through cars and preventing them from lasting too long). Also, I think the European countries have less of that "disposable society" mindset that is so prevalent in the US.

This church is distinctly French. You can tell by looking at the large window over the front door. We learned in my "history through architecture" class that windows with that flame-like design in the windows are unique to French designs. There some examples of this in London, and they are much different from the straight rectangular windows used by the English.

I have a feeling that this is near where we would have dinner later in the day. This wasn't too far from Notre Dame Cathedral, which I know we were near at dinner. There were a lot of nice narrow little streets in this section that were full of shops and places to eat.

Fun and frustration on the Metro

2009-04-08T14:17:00.004-04:00

The Metro is the subway system in Paris. Compared to London's Tube, it's a much more extensive system, less crowded, and filthy! There was a prominent smell of sewage in many parts, litter all over the place, and it was generally not clean looking. But, there was no way around it, so we were given 2-day passes to make our way around the city. After dinner Friday night was our first encounter. We went to the station just down the street from the restaurant, went down the stairs and through the stalls, and were immediately confused! So there we stood, against the wall with the big fold-out map of all of the different lines and stations. After a good minute of staring with little still little success at figuring out how to get back to the hotel, a nice young Frenchman stopped and asked if he could help. He apologized for his "crappy English" (which was far better than our French) and showed us which lines to take and where we had to transfer. We thanked him and went to the platform.

Once on the platform, we noticed some other major differences from the Tube in London. With the Tube, we are used to separate tunnels for each direction (with some exceptions - like the older district and circle lines have dual tracks and platforms on both sides of the tracks, and separate outside of the station. In Paris, the two tracks for each direction are side by side within one large tunnel. The trains are different too. The doors of the trains on the Tube all open automatically at each station. In Paris, you have to either push a button or pull up on a lever to open the door. One of the trains that we were on in Paris had no doors between each car - you could walk the entire length of the train with no doors. The cars were attached like the center of a bendy bus.

The worst part of the Metro - and the whole trip - was getting my wallet pick-pocketed on Sunday morning. We were starting the day with a walking tour of the Latin Quarter, among other areas, and needed to take the Metro to get to our starting point. I had put my pass in my wallet that morning, so I knew that I must have had my wallet when I entered the first station. We had been warned at the beginning of the semester in London that pick-pocketing is a big problem in European cities, and that it was better for guys to keep their wallets in their side pocket. I followed this advice and have never had a problem in London, but Paris does have a particularly bad reputation for this sort of crime. After we had transferred to another train, I was reaching for something and noticed things didn't feel right...that's when I noticed that my wallet wasn't in my pocket. I checked my other pockets and my messenger bag, and it was nowhere to be found. I knew that it was gone for good, and called home to get my card canceled. I wasn't thrilled, but I was determined not to let it ruin Paris. In the scheme of things, it wasn't that much cash, and my friends covered me for the rest of the weekend. The bank confirmed that the last time my card was used was when I had taken cash out of the ATM the day before. So that's my wonderful introduction to the Paris Metro!

First dinner in Paris

2009-04-08T14:13:00.003-04:00

After we got out of the architecture museum, we were all starving and looked for a place to eat in the area. We assumed that this was a tourist area, seeing as we were right near the Eiffel Tower, but were too hungry to care. We found this nice place on a street corner that had outdoor seating. There were 5 of us: myself and Jessica, and our new friends Kayli and Sarah (who are our upstairs roommates in London - Sarah is the one the picture), and Diane. The food was really good and we had a great time. We would have an even better time later that night at an Irish bar down the street from our hotel!

After dinner we headed for the Metro (the Paris subway) to go back to the hotel. Not too far from the restaurant we came across this mess. Paris is known for the rows of beautiful trees that line both sides of its wide boulevards and avenues. Well, I guess in this case beauty comes at a price! All of the these trees seem to attract lots of birds, and where there are birds and cars together, we all know what happens. Usually this wouldn't phase me, but never in my life have I ever seen a car that has been bombed this badly! I just had to take a picture and share.

Cite de l'architecture & du patrimoine (architecture museum)

2009-04-08T13:53:00.006-04:00

This was our last organized group stop on Friday. The museum was completely redone inside and reopened in 2007. The picture above is part of the permanent collection of French architectural casts from the 12th to 18th centuries. These casts wonderfully preserve samples of the country's best historic architecture all in one place where people can go see them together. After the destruction of WWI and II, these casts helped in the rebuilding process in instances where the originals were damaged or destroyed.

The museum also has an excellent collection of detailed architectural models. This one is of Notre Dame Cathedral. Upstairs there were many more models (that we were not allowed to photograph) of modern buildings. There was also a full-scale replica of an apartment from one of Le Corbusier's mixed-use residential buildings. It reminded many of us of the student apartments on Syracuse University's south campus - which are also built with concrete.

Napoleon's Tomb at Les Invalides

2009-04-08T13:26:00.008-04:00

Our next stop after Versailles was to see Napoleon's tomb. It is located within a complex called "Les Invalides" that contains several museums and a burial site for French war heroes. The dome was completed in 1708 and is one of the best examples of French Baroque Architecture

Napoleon's sarcophagus is directly under the dome and sits one level below the main floor. It is the most famous attraction of the complex, and visitors can view the tomb from both levels.

This is the main level looking under the dome. Napoleon's tomb is in the center of the circular opening in the floor. The natural light coming in from the windows above creates beautiful dramatic lighting that highlights the distinctive architectural features as well as the tomb itself.

As mentioned before, there are several war heroes also buried here. This is the tomb of Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929). He was a general in the French Army during WWI, and was later made commander of the Allied armies. He famously remarked after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles: "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years". He died before the start of WWII proved him right.

Here is a view of the inside of the dome, where you can see one of the several paintings that adorn the edge. It was inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Palace of Versailles

2009-04-08T12:33:00.007-04:00

The Palace is located in the suburb of Versailles, about 20 kilometers southwest of Paris. The Palace itself began as a small (relative to its current size) hunting lodge for King Louis XIII in 1624. When Louis XIV came to power, he took a great interest in this lodge. Starting in 1669, he began a major expansion project that would turn it into one of the largest palaces in the world. The court officially moved to the Palace in 1682.

This is part of the original chateau before it was enlarged by Louis XIV. The expansion was seen as a symbol of the monarch's absolute power. It became the center of all power in France, and housed all of the government offices. It allowed Louis to keep close watch on the nobility, as he required many of the nobles to spend a significant part of the year at Versailles. This prevented them from gaining too much regional loyalty that would threaten Louis' scheme of centralizing power.

The chapel is one of the first things you see when you go through the visitor's entrance. There was such a crowd around the doorway on the first floor you could barely see in. This picture was taken from the second floor where there were less people and you could get a better view. The organ was playing and filled the adjacent hallways with music.

Even the smallest details of the Palace are interesting, with the most insignificant features being incredibly ornate. This is a window latch on the second floor. If you click on the photo and enlarge it you will see how amazing the detail is for an object with such a simple function as latching a window.

The Hall of Mirrors is one of the most famous rooms in the world. It serves as the central gallery of the Palace and is lined with an impressive array of chandeliers and mirrored arches. In addition, on each side are sculpted "gueridons" that are gilded and support additional light fixtures. The ones here were made to replace the originals that had been solid silver. Louis XIV had them melted down in 1689 to pay for a war.

Connecting two sets of state apartments, this space was well used by the king. Louis walked through it everyday as he made his way from his private apartment to the chapel. Mirrors were one of the most expensive things you could own in the 17th century because the art of glass making was just starting to allow large clear pains to be produced. What better way to show off your wealth than filling an entire room with them! Each arch along the wall holds 21 mirrors. This room would have been much more impressive when it was lit by candles, with the hundreds of flickering flames being reflected in the mirrors to dazzle anyone walking through.

The Hall of Mirrors, like many other rooms in the Palace, has an impressive painted and gilded ceiling. Below is a collection of pictures from several other rooms in the Palace with painted, carved, and sculpted ceilings. They are truly remarkable.

This is another one of the Palace's large halls. On the walls are huge paintings of battles - presumably French victories. The scale of these works is immense, and as you look at the picture you can see that the room continues on for quite a way. One can only imagine how long it must have taken to complete all of the paintings in this room.

Throughout its history, the Palace has seen many renovation and restoration projects. The most recent restoration effort began in 2003 and is called the "Grand Versailles". It will continue for the next 17 years, and has a government endowment of 135 million euros for the first seven years. One of the visible parts of the renovation that we saw was the application of new gilding along the roof of the building. In the picture above, you can see the difference it makes on the left hand side of the roof. The section opposite this (behind where I was standing) is covered in scaffolding as they work on that side.

The gardens of Versailles are just as impressive as the Palace itself. They are massive. Just to give you an idea, there are 200 thousand trees, 210 thousand flowers planted each year, 50 fountains, and 620 water jets.

There are two large reflecting pools that are immediately behind the central portion of the Palace. There are large gardens on either side, and a large section that is on a lower elevation beyond the pools.

This is the view from when you reach the end of reflecting pools. Unfortunately, we were on a time crunch and had only a little over 2 hours to see the Palace, the gardens, and to get something to eat for lunch. This was as far as we got, but still it was a great view.

Here is the view looking back the other way toward the Palace, with the reflecting pools in the foreground. This gives you a good idea of how huge this place is - especially considering that you still can't see either end! From here we walked back through and out the front entrance to go search for some food in town.

By the time we exited the Palace and crossed the parking lot to the large street, we had about 20-25 minutes to get lunch. As much as we hated the idea, Norman had told us that there was a McDonald's two blocks down and to the left. Given that Jessica and I don't know French at all, we decided that would be the fastest and easiest way to go. As it turned out, someone there spoke a little English and understood our order of two chicken sandwiches. We had ten minutes to make it back to the bus, and I snapped this picture on the way.

Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye

2009-04-06T18:04:00.014-04:00

If you had to guess what year this house was built, when would it be? It bet you wouldn't suppose that it is nearly 80 years old! One of the most famous houses of the 20th century, and one of the most recognizable examples of the International Style of architecture - Villa Savoye was completed between 1929 and 1930. Designed by Le Corbusier, it was built as a weekend home outside of Paris for Mr. and Mrs. Savoye and their son. Today it is a museum open to the public.

Professor Norman Reuter, who teaches our architecture course and led the trip, explained the significance of the building. It represents Le Corbusier's "Five Points" of modern architecture incorporating reinforced concrete:

1) Raising the building up on columns preserves usable land underneath the structure for practical purposes
2) A flat room also reclaims space and actually increases the property's usable outside space
3) The elimination of interior load-bearing walls allows for more freedom in layout decisions
4) Horizontal windows allow for increased natural lighting that is even across the room
5) Facades are not load-bearing and can act as a thin skin with windows over a frame

These "Five Points" had already been tested after WWI. Le Corbusier designed a simple 2- story reinforced concrete shell, including a concrete roof and stairs, that could be finished into houses to replace those lost in during the war. Families would start out by finishing off the second story, and later when they had enough money, they could do the lower level. Hundreds of these were constructed across Europe after WWI.

As you enter the front door, there is a front foyer that now serves as a desk and gift shop for the museum. Originally, the driver would have driven the family to the front door, and they would enter while the car was parked in a built in garage around the corner. While this spiral staircase connects all levels of the house, it is not the intended route up to the second floor where the living quarters are (the servants lived on the first floor). To the right of the staircase is a long ramp that leads upstairs. This feature is something that first dates back from the ancient Greeks - you were never supposed to walk up to a Greek temple straight on. It is more impressive to approach a building at an angle so that you can see its depth. There is another ramp that leads up to the rooftop terrace - making the whole house essentially handicapped accessible, although that was not the purpose of doing it.

This combination of sun/living room predates today's mainstream concept of the "great room". On the left next to my classmates in the photo you can see an example of Le Corbusier's design for a leather chase lounge. For the past several decades, a company owned the copyright for this design and one would cost you $3,000. Fortunately, the patent recently expired and now you can get one for $300. They are supposed to be very comfortable, as several members of my class on the trip verified! On the ceiling you will notice the long shiny metal fixture running the length of the room. Florescent tube lighting had just been invented, and this is perhaps one of the first designs for up lighting where the light is reflected off the ceiling rather than shine down directly. This building was truly ahead of its time, it is just incredible to walk through this knowing it is 80 years old. Other than the aging of the materials, this building would be very modern even today.

The kitchen is off one end of the great room shown above. The family would not have done their own cooking most of the time, but they would be served their meals at the dining table in the great room. It has a very practical layout, which is customary of Le Corbusier's designs. He viewed houses and all buildings as "machines for living". For this reason, he made no effort to hide structural elements such as columns as well as other useful fixtures like the radiators you can see under the counters here.

This is the view looking out from the great room onto the lower level of the outside terrace. You can see how columns like the one to the right allow for the elimination of load-bearing walls. Instead, plate glass windows create a seamless blend of inside and out and let natural light flood the room. Outside you can see the ramp to the left that goes up to the roof-level terrace. The floor tiles are placed on the ramp at an angle so the water can drain down the grooves in between.

Mrs. Savoye's bathroom flows right into the room, with a privacy curtain that can be closed if desired. I took this picture from where the bed would have been. The tiled lounge is electrically heated underneath so you could lay there and dry off. The toilet was in a separate little room behind the black door. Again, natural light is allowed to enter through a skylight in the ceiling.

Looking from the lower lever terrace at the ramps up to the roof, you can't help but notice the ocean liner inspired elements. There is a ship-like railing on the ramp, and on the roof there is a privacy wall that looks like ship's funnel. Le Corbusier was fascinated by the modern day ocean liner, which he viewed as a floating city...a machine that supported life and fostered interaction. As a result, many of his buildings have similar elements, especially the funnel. The funnel shaped wall here gave privacy to members of the family who wanted to sunbathe - a trend that was new in the 1920s. It had been a popular activity in Roman times, but had fallen out of style for several centuries until the beginning of the 20th century.

Finally, this is a storage area of the son's room. The empty room is a reminder of this house's sad history. The Savoye's were Jewish, and during WWII when the Nazis invaded France all three members of the family were sent to concentration camps. Only the mother survived, and when the war was over she never returned to this house. By the end of the war there wasn't much to come back to anyway. Hitler hated Le Corbusier and his modern architecture - he considered it fit only for Arabs, who he also didn't like. The Nazis took over the house and used it for storage. By the 1960s, it had fallen into complete disrepair. In fact, the school next door bought the property and planned to demolish it for a playground. Luckily a high ranking government official heard what was about to happen, and realizing its historical significance, put a stop to it and made it a landmark. Over the past several decades it has been restored to its current state, and stands for thousands of visitors to appreciate as one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century.

The Grande Arche

2009-04-06T17:13:00.005-04:00

In the United States, presidents build libraries. In France, presidents build monuments. The Grande Arche was commissioned by French President Mitterrand, and the winning design was by a Dutch architect. Construction started in 1982 and it was completed in 1990. Each side is 30 stories high and houses government offices and the top is an exhibition space. It was designed to be a modern version of the Arche de Triomphe, which is directly in line with the Grande Arche with a long boulevard connecting them.

Visitors can take elevators up to the top (we didn't) to see some spectacular views of the city. At the top of the stairs are staggered plexi-glass panels that go all of the way across in several rows. Norman explained that when the building first opened, there was a wind tunnel effect and that these prevent people from getting blown over. Tall buildings like these are rare in Paris. Skyscrapers are actually banned in the central city area. There is only one, which was built I think in the 60s. When it was done Parisians decided it was so ugly that there would be no more. The Grande Arche is in a cluster of modern office buildings on the other side of the highway that goes around the perimeter of the center city area. These office towers started going up in the 70s, and Norman said that despite loving modern architecture, that most of them are complete crap. He says that new ones have been getting better in recent years.

Building height has long given Paris a distinct look. Before elevators were invented, officials set a limit of six stories (mainly to assist fire fighting). That stuck, and now almost all buildings are the same height - between 5 and 6 stories. Having long boulevards with lines of equal height buildings on each side is a beloved feature of Parisian streetscapes, and is something you usually don't see anywhere else.

Weekend trip to Paris

2009-04-06T16:04:00.002-04:00

Last Thursday was a busy day - one that was full of multitasking and organizing in preparation for a trip to Paris. I got up around 11 in the morning, put a load in the wash and went out to grab a sandwich from Sticklers - my favorite little lunch cafe right down the street. I came back, ate lunch, and threw my clothes in the dryer before I left to get a haircut. I also had time to stop in a couple of shops before coming back to the flat to pack. We had to be at St. Pancras Station by 5 pm to check in for the Eurostar high speed train to France.

Jessica and I made it in plenty of time, and got dinner at one of the sandwich bars at the international terminal. There were 30 students and three leaders. The trip was in association with the one of my classes: London - History through Architecture, and was led by our professor, Norman Reuter. Because of this, we were able to see many interesting sights that we never would have found on our own, and got to see a lot of great architectural features of Paris.

The train left at around 6pm London time. The high-speed train travels at speeds up to 186 mph and the trip from London to Paris via the Chunnel takes about 2 and half hours. Since Paris is one hour ahead of London, we arrived at Gare du Nord ("Paris North Station") a little after 9:30 local time. Norman led us down several streets for about 20 minutes until we arrived at our hotel a little after 10. It was called "Hotel Victoria" off of Rue Bergere near Grands Boulevards. The hotel looked okay at first, but we soon realized it was kind of a dump. There was mold in between the bathroom tiles, the hallways smelled like cigarette smoke, and some of the ladies on the trip complained that they couldn't leave at night! They tried to go out with some friends sometime after midnight, and the man at the front desk said they couldn't. For several hours overnight there is no one at the desk and the front doors are locked.

Each morning we had breakfast in the basement - plain yogurt, coffee, a croissant and baguette, and juice. We had to meet out front at 9 to either board a bus or start a walking tour. It was a busy weekend to be sure, with many stops and lots of walking! Norman had prepared a note packet highlighting each of our group stops and giving us all of the background information we needed to appreciate what we were looking at. A lot of the stuff we had also learned about in his lecture, but those who were not part of the class were filled in. See the posts above for details on the individual stops and sites we experienced.

Hampton Court Palace

2009-03-28T09:24:00.039-04:00

Yesterday we had a school field trip to Hampton Court Palace. It was mandatory for my Crime and Punishment class, and our professor gave us a thorough tour of the complex. He explained its past importance as a center of power. The original part of the palace (from the beginning its purpose was as a grand palace and not as a defensive castle - it was built after England's castle-building period had ended) was constructed for Cardinal Wolsey around 1514. The palace was much nicer than that of King Henry VIII at Whitehall, then called York Palace. In 1529, the King took over the Hampton Court as his personal residence and began expanding it.

The Palace would see many more changes starting in the late 17th century when William and Mary came to power. They began a major development project where they planned to replace all but the Great Hall of the Tudor Palace. They charged Sir Christopher Wren with the task of transforming Hampton Court into a new Baroque-style residence to compete with Versailles. Work was half done when Queen Mary died and William lost interest. Work stopped and the palace was left mostly the way it is today, with the front half in the Tudor style and the rear in Baroque.

This is the original Tudor-style entrance that was built for Cardinal Wolsey. Almost all of what Wolsey built remains today. The front was made to look grand, and to leave an impression of power with any visitor to the Palace. The only major changes that have been made are the chimneys, which were added in the 18th or 19th century. Originally there was a mote that went around the palace. The trench is still there on the other side of the low brick wall behind the grass.

As we went in, we saw this old car come out from one of the side driveways. I have no idea what kind it is or when it's from, but sure looks nice!

When you walk through the main gate, this is what you see. It is a large rectangular courtyard called Base Court that leads to the next gate. The large section on the far left of the picture is King Henry VIII's Grand Hall.

Walking through the next gate takes you into Clock Court. This side was modified with the columns under Wren's design. Most of this court retains it's original Tudor-period construction, and this is as far as Wren's alterations go.

This post-Copernican astronomical clock was installed over the second gate (the one that leads into Clock Court) in 1540. It still works, and tells the time of day, month, moon phase, quarter of the year, date, star and sun sign, and high water at London Bridge. It is considered to be one of the finest astrological clocks in England.

The kitchens originally were designed to prepare enough food for everyone in the King's Court and any guests visiting (this would have amounted to at least 1,000 people). The enormous fireplace speaks to the huge amounts of food prepared each day. Notice the loft on the top right: most of the people who worked in the kitchen also lived there, with the exception of the top chef. There would have originally been several more levels (you can see the holes in the wall were support beams used to be), each filled with straw to provide a place to sleep.

"The Kitchen" was actually made of up several different areas that were linked together with little alleyways, which are common all around the Tudor half of the castle.

The next room contained this arrangement that functioned like a huge stove. Charcoal was burned in the hollowed-out areas below and heated the kettles on top. Charcoal was used because it produced a better taste that wood-fired stoves, and it was cheaper than coal.

This table sits in front of a smaller fireplace. Our professor told us that in the past there was a display of a rotisserie mechanism that worked much like a grandfather clock. A combination of a pendulum and moving weights would automatically turn the meat on the spit so the kitchen workers could attend to other things. The display also gives you an idea of what some of the bowls and pottery looked like in Tudor times.

This cellar is where the drinks were stored. I'm not sure if this was all wine, or ale. I think it was probably a combination...ale for the workers and wine for the King and the aristocratic members of the court.

King Henry VIII's Great Hall was used for dining and probably for entertaining as well. It was built between 1532 and 1535, and features one of the best hammer-beam ceilings in England. It was the last medieval great hall built for an English monarch.

This is where the King and his wife would dine in state at the head of the Great Hall.

I love the old brickwork in the palace, and the lighting in this picture does a nice job of showing it. If only these walls could talk...

I took this picture through a second story window that faces one of many sections of gardens. Our professor tells us this is a recreation that was built about 15 years ago. The original had become so overgrown and inaccurate that it was necessary to start over. I believe that this is supposed to be one King Henry VIII's gardens.

This is the public bedroom where the King would be ceremonially put to bed each night. After all of the people left, he would go to a real bedroom nearby where he would sleep. In the morning another waking up ceremony would take place back in the room shown here.

This is a study in the state apartments near the bedrooms.

This what King Henry VIII's toilet looked like.

Back on the ground floor is a dining room in the Wren-designed portion of the palace. During the time of William and Mary, it was common to dine in front of members of the public on Sundays. Normal people would be allowed in to see their King and Queen, and their family, eat. There were some reports that hundreds of people sometimes showed up and bleachers were set up to accommodate everyone.

One of the many grand Baroque staircases in the palace.

The Fountain Court - the major court designed by Wren (the other two big ones are original Tudor).

The two pictures above are the Baroque gardens designed to compliment Wren's vision. The garden photos below are from a side garden. I'm not sure which era the side garden is from, but I suspect it is from the Tudor period. There is also a hedge maze in this section, but unfortunately it had closed for the day by the time we got there. This is a great time of year to see the gardens though, with all of the flowers out and the trees blossoming.

One last look at the entrance on the way back to the bus. It was strange to see nobody there! Although it was supposedly a quiet day, we had run into elementary school groups several times during the course of our tour.

The weather was very strange. Sometimes there was a beautiful blue sky, and other times...

...the dark clouds rolled in and we had to get out the umbrellas. It did allow for a great combination of cloud and sky shots though.

Finally, my favorite picture of the day saved for last. I took this as I crossed the bridge over the River Thames that runs right next to the Palace. I was walking back to the bus and I happened to look over and see this amazing lighting...dark clouds in the background and the last rays of sun illuminating the Palace. I had to take a picture, and here it is.

London Transport Museum

2009-03-27T17:58:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday I walked over to Covent Garden to visit the London Transport Museum. I have wanted to go for a while now, and I have a paper coming up on London's Tube stations, so I decided it was time to stop by. I walked in the front door and paid the 5 pound reduced entry fee for students, and was handed the green card pictured above. The woman at the desk explained that the museum was testing a new interactive feature to help guide visitors through the exhibits. In each of the 13 areas, there would be a hole punch machine that would mark your progress. She acknowledged that it seemed childish, but promised that it would be addicting. Indeed it was.

I headed through the door and up the ramp to the elevator. The building is set up so that you start at the 2nd floor (really the third, floor because what we call the first floor in the US is the ground floor in Europe, so the second floor is the first, and so on) and work your way back down. The top floor was all about the days of transportation before cars and electricity. To get across the River Thames, you took a steamboat or the London Bridge. To get around the city streets you took either a horse-drawn cab or bus. For long distance trips between cities, you could travel by stagecoach. Each of the horse-drawn vehicles were on display. They were either restorations or exact replicas, but I think that they were restorations.

The next level down was all about the birth of the steam locomotive and the development of the first railroads in England. Again, they had a real steam engine and several passenger cars on display that you could look in...a few you could even go inside. The exhibit also explained how railroads allowed for the expansion of London and the growth of its suburbs. What used to be far off country land became easily accessible communities for those who wanted to continue working in London but move the family outside of the harsh conditions within the city.

Finally, I reached the ground floor where the exhibits were more relevant to today's world. It described the evolution of the London Underground (the world's oldest subway system) from competing individually owned lines to one unified system. That system would eventually grow to include the bus and cab system. They had restored motor-driven buses on display, including the most famous London bus: the Routemaster. There were also displays on the future of London transport - in particular the extension of the Tube to the 2012 Olympic site. I spent about 3 hours there and had a great time...I have a feeling that I might have to go back before I leave, especially since I left my camera at home on this trip!

Friday field trip: Cambridge

2009-03-21T17:53:00.037-04:00

Yesterday we went on a school field trip to Cambridge. We left Faraday House at 9 am, and took the back roads into the city so we could see the beautiful country side and many traditional English houses. It was a scary ride at times! Our rather wide tour bus was speeding down these narrow country roads, with tons of blind turns. We all thanked our lucky stars after each bend that there was not a car coming from the other direction. We finally made it in one piece. After getting off the bus and walking down the street, we started seeing all of these Cambridge University banners on the light poles that took pride in the school's 800+ year history. This was one of the first ones we saw. I loved the place right away!

Our guide, one of our professors, quickly took us off the main roads and down some of the quiet side streets. This little lane ran along the side of one of many small churchyards. Flowering trees lined one side, and there were cute row houses on the other side. In the picture above Jackie, one of our chaperons, pauses to look at the beautiful garden on the other side of the wall.

We made our way into the center of town and into the heart of the academic area. Above is King's College, with the chapel on the right and more of the complex on the left. It is important to note that the 31 colleges of Cambridge University assume very independent identities. Students apply to the individual colleges, not to the University, and take pride in their college rather than the whole University. You know that anyone wearing a "Cambridge University" shirt is tourist because students would be wearing something with the name of their college. King's College is one of the more elite colleges, and was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI.

While the exact date of the founding of Cambridge University is not known, it was early in the 13th century. There is a historic dispute between Oxford and Cambridge over which institution is older, but it is generally accepted now that Oxford is slightly older. Oxford tends to specialize in the arts and humanities, while Cambridge specializes in science. There are major research centers here that specialize in DNA and the human genome.

We are told that it is fairly common for students to try to jump this gap between these two buildings. They look closer together in this photo than they really are. Not something that I would want to try!

The classical facade on some of these University buildings make them look younger than they really are. The wall on the far left of the photo is much newer than the part that has the windows. This original part was built in the 13th century when the University would have been in its first 100 years. This is the same building that is pictured in the two photos above. Looking at the first one really shows the full effect of the facade...hard to believe what is behind it!

This is looking through a piazza that surrounds a courtyard at one of the colleges. I'm not sure which one this is, but access was restricted.

The landscape around the colleges is breathtaking. This picture was taken from approximately the same spot as the picture above looking the other way. It gives you an idea of how close this is to the academic area.

"Punting" is a common sight along the canals in Cambridge. A punt is a small boat that is propelled by a pole pushing against the bottom of a canal or river. They were originally built for fishing, but now are almost exclusively used for recreation and competition in Cambridge and Oxford.

This is another view of a college courtyard. I'm not sure which college this was.

Here is the entrance to one of the colleges. While once again I don't know which one, I do know a story about the statue of one of the kings over the main doors. In the statue, the king is holding the ceremonial orb and sceptre. Apparently it has become a common end of the year prank for students to climb up there at night and replace the sceptre with a wooden chair leg.

We stopped at The Eagle for lunch, a popular pub in town. The pub has a rich history and has often been a place for celebratory drinks after major scientific research breakthroughs in the University labs. It was also a popular stop for British and American airmen in WWII. It was a tradition for these airmen to burn their names and squadron numbers into the wooden ceiling with their lighters. While we didn't see that part of the pub, that ceiling has been preserved as a tribute to their service.

Our guide mentioned during the bus ride there that this area had many airfields during WWII, including many American fields for the B-17 "Flying Fortress". Designed by Boeing, this was America's premier bomber in WWII. Over 12,000 were built. Today, only about 40 are still intact, and only about 12 are fully operational and capable of flight. One of these is the Memphis Belle - probably the most famous B-17 after it starred in the movie of the same name. While now undergoing extensive restoration in the United States, it was based during the war in Bassingbourn - just outside of Cambridge.

The bartender expertly pours my extra-cold drought (draft) Guinness.

...And, my pub food lunch. I ordered some sort of beef pie (I don't remember the exact name of it, but it was good!).

Across the street from The Eagle is a Norman-era church (the Normans invaded England in 1066, the last time the England was successfully invaded).

There is a beautiful little churchyard with several tombstones. Many of them are so old that they can barely be read, if at all. I don't believe the graves are as old as the church though, but I'm not sure.

After leaving the church, we walked down the street while just kind of looking around. We came across this house with a fish for a door-knocker. We thought that was strange, but then noticed that a sign proclaiming that it was the "Fisher House." That's all I know about it, but I liked the picture so here it is.

A little bit further down the street was an open square with a market in the middle. It wasn't huge, but had a good variety of food and things like jewelry and books. The nice weather seemed to attract a lot of people out to the street and the many little shops in the center of the city.

I split off at the market and went off on my own to do some exploring. I walked down some of the side streets leading away from the center of town where all of the shops are. I came across this old church and couldn't resist stopping in. I was the only one inside, and it was really peaceful and calming. It was hard to capture the softness of the natural light pouring in from the windows along this one side. This picture gives you an idea, but doesn't do it full justice. I found a display that described the history of the church:

"All Saints was designed by George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), one of the most distinguished and influential Victorian church architects and a close friend of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. The east window has glass by Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, and William Morris and the influence of Morris can be seen throughout the church."

"All Saints replaced a medieval church opposite the main gate of St. John's College. Consecrated in 1864, its congregation was moving elsewhere only a century later. In 1981, after a dramatic campaign for its preservation, it was vested in what is now the Churches Conservation Trust."

"Damp and neglect had led to the state of disrepair illustrated here. Gradually, over the intervening twenty five years, the Trust has brought the church back into good condition. There is still work to be done and we hope now to concentrate on conserving the fabrics and organ."

As alluded to above, this is St. John's College across the street from All Saints Church. It was founded in 1511, and has fixes assets in excess of 550 million pounds - the highest per-student endowment of any of the Cambridge colleges. Among its graduates are 9 Nobel Prize winners, 6 Prime Ministers, 3 archbishops, at least 2 princes, and 1 Saint. The College focuses on education, religion, learning, and research. It also known for the quality of its choir.

Here is one of the side streets that took me away from the central shopping area. I saw many young people coming and going, so I assume that this street is primarily student housing, and that this is typical of student accommodations in Cambridge.

Just in case you haven't noticed, bicycles are everywhere! It is by far the most popular method of transportation. This is probably due to a combination of the high student population and the fact that there aren't very many detinations immediately around Cambridge. In addtion, the narrow streets and many vehicle restricted areas make travel by bike easier and faster. There were rows of usually at least 30 bikes on almost every block. I've never seen anything like it!

Back in the middle of town, more punts awaited tourists and others looking for a relaxing ride down the canal

With all of the courtyards and pristine lawns, there were many examples of finely crafted wrought iron fences and gates to keep people out! I came across this one after stopping at an ice cream stand (double vanilla, just how the Bense family likes it!). Can you imagine how long it must take to make something like this, and how tedious it must be? It certainly looks great though.

On the way to Cambridge, we passed many English cottage style homes, some even had thatched roofs. Our guide told us that they were more authentic than the tudor buildings you normally see. For one, the stucco walls were not traditionally white. The natural color of the material was a yellow or cream color. If not left the natural color, varying amounts of pig's blood was added to the mixture as it was applied to create different tints of pink. Many of these houses would have had a pattern stamped into the stucco as well. The photo above, taken in Cambridge, is a good example of these stamped patterns.

This is a small road between two college buildings. We are told that Prince Charles, when he studied here, lived in one of the rooms in that row of chimneys.

St. Mary the Great Church stands in the center of town right across the street from King's College. It serves as the University Church, hosting school sermons and housing the University organ and clock. The current building was built between 1478 and 1519, with the tower being finished later in 1608.

This is another view of the King's College Chapel seen in earlier pictures. It was built in three stages between 1446 and 1531. It is used for worship, concerts, and other school events. The world-famous Chapel choir, made up of all male students, sings here for services and for special concerts. The BBC broadcasts the choir's annual Christmas Eve concert over the radio to listeners all over the country. The Chapel serves as a popular symbol for Cambridge, and is used as the logo for the city council.

Corpus Christi College has the smallest enrollment of the Cambridge colleges. It is unique in that it's the only college founded by the local townspeople, which happened in 1352. It is home to the Parker Library that houses one of the best collections of medieval manuscripts in the world. It contains over 600 manuscripts, and some of the oldest bound books in existence.

This is a view of the ceiling in the entry way leading to the courtyard of Corpus Christi College.

One more bicycle picture before heading back to the bus - this one all alone!

It's like a secret garden in the middle of blooming trees! It's actually the same churchyard next to that little lane that appears in the second picture of this blog entry. I love this angle though...I almost walked right by it.

Taken on the way back to the bus...the Mathematical Bridge - the common name for this bridge crossing the River Cam. It was originally built in the 18th century and has since been rebuilt twice keeping the same design - most recently in 1905.

Thursday at the cartoon museum and Royal Albert Hall

2009-03-21T16:25:00.003-04:00

I spent this past Thursday out and about, stopping first at the Cartoon Museum that's just down the street near the British Museum. I only expected to be in there for about an hour, but I think it was at least 2 and a half by the time I left. The museum is a charity run by a trust that works to preserve historic cartoons (they call them cartoons, but Americans would call them comics and caricatures). The current space is considered temporary, as the trust is working towards the eventual establishment of a permanent facility where more of their collections can be displayed and accessed by the public.

The current exhibit "A peep into clubland" runs from February to early May and features cartoons from several of London's premier social clubs. The cartoons range from the end of the 17th century to the present, and many of them have never been on display before. There were also regular permanent displays featuring other cartoons spanning several centuries. I was amazed at how much was in there considering the place is tucked away in the middle of a small side street. I get the impression that many people have no idea that it's there. Even better, admission for students is free with ID - although I felt guilty and made a 1 pound donation. To learn more about this museum and its collection, visit its website by clicking here.

I arrived back to the flat around a little before 5, just in time to intercept Kevin and Jessica as they left for the Science Museum in South Kensington (next to the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum). I tagged along, as we all had tickets to a classical music concert for that night at Royal Albert Hall - just 5 minutes away from the Science Museum. The museum closed at 6, so we only had a little over a half hour to walk around. The place is huge and there are tons of neat looking exhibits. We didn't really have time to even see one full exhibit, but walked through displays of some of the first computers, and another section on the history of ship-building technology. I plan to go back soon to actually see the whole thing, or at least most of it.

When the museum closed at 6, we made our way to Royal Albert Hall. After finding the right door (there are at least 12 entrances), we went inside and had drinks at the bar. The show didn't start until 7:30 and you couldn't even get into the auditorium until 6:45, so we had some time to kill. I had a double gin and tonic and a bag of cashews that would have to serve as dinner until after the show. Finally an announcement was made (and by the tone of the woman speaking, she was clearly not having a good day) that said they were opening the inner doors and that you start making your way to your seats.

After making some wrong turns and a little back-tracking (the place is huge), we finally found our seats. The whole building is round - on the outside and on the inside. At one end of the circle there is a massive organ, with a stage in front of it. The seats and balconies go almost all the way around, only interrupted by the organ. That's were we were, to the left of the organ looking down on the stage (we were actually behind the orchestra, so that we were facing the conductor). Built in the second half of the 19th century, this iconic music and entertainment hall is one of the best venues in the country. It's first concert was held in 1871, and since then over 150,000 performances and events have taken place there. Since cameras are not allowed inside, I don't have any pictures. To see what it looks like, take a look at its wikipedia entry by clicking here. For more information about its history, visit its official website by clicking here.

Finally, there is the concert itself. It's called "Classical Spectacular" and is performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, along with the Band of the Welsh Guards, The Royal Choral Society, and the Moscow Militia. The concert is made up of several classical favorites, but presented in way that classical music never has been before. Complementing the music is a state-of-the-art lights and laser show. They play the patriotic piece "Britannia!" twice, where many of the regulars have come prepared with purchased British flags that they wave back and forth. The second time, red, white, and blue balloons are dropped from the ceiling. The most impressive piece is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, complete with real cannon and musket fire along the upper rim of the auditorium, as well as indoor fireworks. This was truly amazing - I don't think I will ever have so much fun again at a classical concert (or any concert, for that matter). For more information on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, click here to visit its official website.

Notting Hill & Portobello Road

2009-03-20T18:50:00.013-04:00

Last Sunday after Kevin and I went to the Natural Science Museum, we headed over to Notting Hill (Yes...this is THE "Notting Hill" from the movie). It is quickly becoming one of the most fashionable and upscale sections of London. It is known especially for its Portobello Road market - a whole street lined with shops and vendors. As you can see, it was a beautiful spring day...really the first one we have had.

Many of the houses are painted in various pastel colors. Like in much of London, many of the streets feature row-housing. My architecture professor says that the English have always preferred their own house with its own entrance, while the French have historically favored apartment buildings in their cities. The old car is symbolic of this neighborhood's vintage charm. There are many vintage shops in the market area.

Here is the beginning of the market section of Portobello Road. It is less crowded on Sundays, and there are fewer vendors as well. Saturday's draw the biggest crowds, and stalls line both sides of the street all of the way down. There is a definite trade-off: the relative ease and quite of a Sunday is nice, but there is significantly less of a selection.

It's important to remember that this is a heavy residential area as well, and that seems to really add to the community feeling that you get while walking down the street. People live above, behind, and next to all of these shops. There are plenty of restaurants and grocery stores as well. This apartment complex is in the heart of the shopping area, and this balcony is only a few feet away from the sidewalks and the shoppers.

The British are huge fans of caricatures (as I saw when I visited the cartoon museum). These masks have been on display every week at the far end of the street where there is a flea-market under a big tent. From left to right we have Prince Charles, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (google image search her and take a look at some of the caricatures that the London newspapers have published - warning: they might keep you up at night!), and finally, it's either the Queen or a man. Kevin and I aren't sure.

Here is a view of the flea-market underneath the huge canopy. I assume that placement is on a lottery or something like that because the vendors seem to move around each week. There are all sorts of neat things for sale in here, including books, old pins, records, CDs, DVDs, vintage clothes, old magazines, and so many other neat random things that people want to sell.

Small alleys cut in between sections of shops. Many of them lead to houses and apartments that are tucked away from the street. Many also serve as staging and parking areas for the vendors. At the entrance to this one there is a man there every week selling various antiques and things from WWII. He has authentic hats, uniforms, medals, and all sorts of other things.

Crepes are a favorite of shoppers, and there are several stands up and down the street. Kevin and I couldn't resist stopping for a Nutella crepe. They are so delicious, and incredibly filling. It's fun to watch them being made - its amazing how easy they make it look. I'm sure that if I were to try it at home it would be a disaster. The temperature has to be just right, and the batter has to be just the right amount and of a certain thickness. As you can see in the picture, they use round electric hotplates to make them.

After shopping, we walked down a side street to see a little more of the neighborhood. There were flowers everywhere - more evidence that spring is just about here. You see the bike in the picture - this is a popular method of transportation here and all around London. I'm amazed how cyclists - on bikes or motorcycles / motorbikes - weave in and out of traffic, even in the heart of the bustling city. I expect to see someone get run over everyday, but somehow I've only seen one near-miss, and that was with a pedestrian on Oxford Street (which makes sense, the street and sidewalks on Oxford are always a zoo during the day). At night, bicyclists are required to have flashing lights mounted to the front so they can be seen.

Here are some of the grander row-houses, evidence of the money in this neighborhood. It wasn't always this way. One of my professors - an expert on London history who has written over 30 books on the city - explained how it has only been in the last twenty years or so that Notting Hill has been making a comeback. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, it became quite seedy and rundown, and was the center of the anti-war movement and the hippy population. Always having been a big immigrant area (as it still is), racial tensions escalated in 1958 to the Notting Hill Riots that took place over several nights. The famous Notting Hill Carnival was started the following year to try to bring the community back together and resolve differences.

The immigrant population is always changing, with new groups always coming into the neighborhood and replacing others that have dwindled. Churches are one of the ways you can see which groups are here now, as typically it takes a substantial community to open an ethnically-centered place of worship. I don't believe that the church above is one of these, as many are closer to Portobello Road or on the other side of it. As an assignment to make up for a missed class due to our snow day, our Ethnic History professor had us (made us - but it was fun!) come here on our own time and write down all of the examples of entrenched ethnic populations in Notting Hill that we saw. It was really interesting, but I'll save that for a separate post.

Finally, it was time to go back to the flat so I took one last picture reminding us that spring was almost here. It also reminds us of how creative these people are in finding new places to stick flowers - these are on the top of a retaining wall, where a trench was left in the middle of the top rows of bricks to form one long flower bed. Maybe they saw the jungle-like balcony pictured earlier and got inspired!

Seattle newspaper closes

2009-03-20T18:47:00.000-04:00

Seattle Post-Intelligencer to print final edition tomorrow

2009-03-16T14:46:00.002-04:00

Hearst Newspapers announced today that the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer will print its final edition tomorrow. The paper will continue in a reduced online-only format. This is the second big city daily newspaper to close in the past three weeks, following the complete shutdown of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Check back tomorrow for full coverage.

100th Blog Post! London's Natural History Museum

2009-03-15T14:37:00.016-04:00

It felt like spring today as my roommate Kevin and I left out flat a little after 10 this morning. We were headed to the Kensington section of London to visit the Natural History Museum. A lot of people were out enjoying the warm and sunny weather. It's starting to look like spring too...many of the flowering trees are starting to open up.

Located on Exhibition Road next to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum opened in 1881. Its collections had originated within the British Museum until it was decided that a separate facility was needed. This world class museum has over 70 million items. It is organized into five primary collections: Botany, Entomology (study of insects), Mineralogy, Palaeontology, and Zoology. Many of its artifacts are historically as well as scientifically significant, including specimens collected by Charles Darwin.

There are elevated walkways through several parts of the museum, as seen above in the dinosaur exhibit. Being an old building, all of the rooms were designed with high ceilings. As time went on and as more space was needed, the solution became building these elevated platforms to increase exhibition space without comprising the historic integrity of the building. You will notice that the suspension support system does not meet the side walls and is built around support columns, leaving the room untouched. The Victoria and Albert Museum next door has done the same thing in certain areas.

The dinosaur exhibit is one of the more popular collections in the museum, with several different dinosaur skeletons. This seemed to be a favorite among little kids...as the entire thing was clogged with parents and their children.

At the end of the raised platform, you enter a separate room and a ramp leads you down to the first floor. You hear loud screeching noises and roars, with danger signs on the walls (you can't see into the middle of the room - a high wall separates the ramp along the perimeter of the room from the center). When you get to the end, you are looking at the tail end of a teen-aged T-Rex who is moving about and showing his big teeth to the crowd.

The mammal exhibit has some really neat things. Some of the animals looked like they were real while others were obviously well done models. My favorite was the polar bear of course...see the resemblance? This one looked happy to see me - must have recognized me as his North American cousin.

There was a huge section on dolphins and whales. The museum does a great job of explaining not just what the animals look like and where they live, but how they move and how that ties in with how they eat and perform other basic functions. There were also true stories shown on a different display that explain how intelligent these animals are. Here are three true stories:

"Mary Lou McBride, on holiday from New York, was today saved from drowning by a most unlikely Sir Galahad. A 200 pound bottle-nosed dolphin swept Mary Lou to safety after her dinghy had capsized."

"When a performing dolphin died in Florida its tank-mate took over the act - without any training! It performed each trick perfectly."

"These West African fishermen have a novel way of fishing. They set their nets, and slap the water with sticks. Apparently in response, dolphins appear and drive the fishes towards the nets. Then both the dolphins and fishermen can feed..."

Here is a view of the whale display that is part of the mammal exhibit. This is looking down on the gallery from the second floor. The largest model in the center is of a blue whale. It brings back memories of elementary school, when in third grade during our unit on whaling our class made a fourteen foot-long papier-mache whale and hung it from the ceiling. Last I knew it was still there. My teacher was British - I wonder if this was where she got her inspiration?

...Just in case you ever wanted to know how to make whale noises, here you go. Who said museums are boring?

What a picture when it's out of context! This was actually part of an interactive exhibit about human behavior. This particular display was about using your senses, and asked kids what they would tell a reporter if they saw an alien (a light up model of a stereotypical looking alien life form was to the left of this picture). Kids would press the button and the alien display would light up for a minute and then go black. They would have to use their memories to try to explain what they had seen. As a journalism student, I found it especially relevant seeing as this is something we have to deal with all of the time! When we have to talk to witnesses at the scene of an event, many people tell different stories of what's going on. Sometimes it can be a real pain!

The next installment of Kevin jumping! We came across a display on perception, and it mentioned how little kids don't understand why a shadow forms and how they will try to jump on their shadow's head. Kevin, never missing such an opportunity, took his cue and I took the picture. I've yet to hear an explanation of how his picture-jumping tradition started, but I'll be sure to get one eventually!

This was a really cool entrance to one of the exhibits. It one bank of screens in the center that is 4 screens by 5 screens. The mirrors on the sides, top, and bottom, create the visual effect of a globe made up of these screens - representing the earth. If you look at the clouds and triangles on the edge on the lower half of the picture, you can see where the reflections start.

And finally, if you wanted to know what the insides of your lungs look like, this is your chance. This was the last exhibit we looked at - our next stop was Notting Hill and Portobello Road.

Closure of Seattle newspaper imminent

2009-03-12T19:59:00.002-04:00

Hearst Newspapers says that an announcement on its Seattle Post-Intelligencer will come next week. The company announced that it was putting the 146 year-old newspaper up for sale on January 9th. The company said at the time that after 60 days if no buyer was found the newspaper would either close completely or would continue online only.

That 60 day deadline has now passed with no buyer, and it is expected that Hearst will announce next week that the paper will close. It is also expected that the announcement will address whether the website will continue. The company has already identified at least some of the staff members who would be retained if the website remains, but it was made clear that no decision on whether that will happen had been made. Either way, many of the paper's approximately 170 employees would be let go.

The Seattle P-I has been losing money since 2000, and lost about $14 million last year. It is the oldest newspaper in the state of Washington, and is one of two papers in Seattle. The P-I is the latest victim in the struggling newspaper industry, and is further proof that soon many of America's major cities will be reduced to one daily newspaper. It was only a few weeks ago that the Rocky Mountain News, the oldest newspaper in Colorado, closed in Denver after 150 years in print. As loses in the industry continue, this story will be repeated in cities across the county.

Below is video from January 9th of management announcing that the Seattle P-I was being put up for sale:

SPECIAL REPORT: changing media & news

2009-03-07T16:02:00.000-05:00

I was my intent during my semester abroad to refrain from commenting on things at home. But over the past week there have been some major changes in the news industry that I cannot ignore. Over the past week and a half, we have seen the ends of eras in television, newspaper, and radio. Some of these changes are local, others national, but they all are relevant to the future of how Americans get their news.

Syracuse CBS affiliate closes newsroom, merges with competing station

2009-03-07T14:27:00.002-05:00

WTVH-TV (CBS) Syracuse, NY announced at a staff meeting this past Monday morning that effective immediately, the station's day to day operations would be outsourced to another station in town. Granite Broadcasting, the owner of WTVH, has entered a joint sales agreement and a shared services agreement with Barrington Broadcasting, the owner of the Syracuse NBC affiliate WSTM-TV. As a part of the deal, 40 people where laid off from WTVH and the newsroom has been shut down. Only a small transition team remains to continue producing television and website content. Eventually, all operations will move to WSTM's studios just a block or two away on the same street. The current WTVH studios will be closed and sold.

This sounds confusing, but is actually pretty simple. Granite will continue to own the broadcasting license for WTVH and collect revenue from it. The difference now is that it will no longer operate the station. That's what the deal with Barrington and WSTM is all about. Granite will pay them to run their station and to produce their news content. On the air, television programing will not change on either station except for the local newscasts, where both stations will have the same reporters. Behind the scenes, the same people will do all of the work for both stations. There is a similar arrangement in Rochester, NY between where the local fox station is run by the CBS affiliate.

Any good professional journalist would say that this is a bad thing for the Syracuse community. It is important to have various sources of news in a community, with each source having an independent newsroom. Each newsroom can develop biases, and so having a variety ensures that the public gets complete coverage of local news. The news release from WTVH claimed that “This arrangement provides opportunities for substantial operating efficiencies by allowing us to use existing infrastructure to expand the breadth of local news and services provided to the viewers of Central NY, while enhancing the revenue and profitability of both stations." How is having one newsroom instead of two producing newscasts increasing the "breadth" of local news? It's not like they are combining them...usually what happens is only a few (like one or two) reporters move to the new station under these types of agreements.

There is also the emotional and historical loss to the community. WTVH was the first TV station in Syracuse, beginning as WHEN in 1948. It was the first station to incorporate live reporting from remote locations away from the studio. For so many years it was the best station in town, blowing away the competition with talent who would move on to make it big. The Today Show's Al Roker got his start here. So did ESPN sportscaster Mike Tirico, and ABC News anchor David Muir. And there was the face of Central New York who generations of viewers will never forget. Ron Curtis is the local anchor who could have made it big but was too dedicated to his local viewers. After over 40 years of excellence at the station, it is probably a good thing that he did not live to see his newsroom closed, and his station reduced to this.

Sure, it's true that WTVH has been declining for at least the last decade. It slipped from first to last in the ratings as its newsroom acted like "revolving door," with a constant change of anchors, reporters, and managers. Perhaps the fatal last straw came last year, when the station fired its most senior anchor with 22 years at the station, Maureen Green. They abandoned the last person viewers tuned in to see, and so the viewers abandoned them. In hindsight, there was a clue that it could come to this. I blogged actually blogged about it (click here to see the entry). One of the biggest local sports stories of the year in Syracuse was SU's firing of football coach Greg Robinson. It was the headline on every local news website, except there was something that caught my eye on WTVH. Their story was by the Associated Press. This was one of the biggest stories of the year - the ABC affiliate in Rochester, an hour and a half away, wrote it's own story. I knew then how bad things were there. It was clear that it was a station more concerned about increasing its profit than staffing its newsroom. One might argue that this new agreement doesn't make any difference then, considering how bad their news was. My response is that the newsroom should never have been allowed to slide that far in the first place. That is the part that is sad and frightening for the future of local news in America.

Below are some videos from the WTVH archive that show better times at the station, and the excellent newscasts they were once known for. The first video is from 1998 - the station's 50th anniversary. It looks back at the history of the station and some of the major stories they covered. The second video is their Emmy award-winning newscast from Syracuse University on the bombing of Pan-Am flight 103. The third video is a tribute to Ron Curtis that aired on his last day at the station in December of 2000.

50 Years of WTVH:

Emmy-winning Pan-Am 103 newscast (3 parts):

Ron Curtis Farewell - 41 years at WTVH:

Remembering Paul Harvey, 1918 - 2009

2009-03-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

"Stand by for...News!" That was how Paul Harvey opened each of his radio broadcasts. Listeners will also remember him for offering "the rest of the story." Harvey grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and began his career in radio while still in high school. His program has been carried to national audiences by ABC Radio Networks for over 50 years. He was heard on over 1,000 stations and had a weekly audience of over 25 million people - making him the most listened-to personality on radio. His passing marks another sad benchmark in the decline of quality radio programming in America. He represented the best of radio, and he was one of the last of his kind. Below is a tribute from ABC News. You can also visit the website for Harvey's radio show, now a tribute page, by clicking here.

Rocky Mountain News closes after 150 years

2009-03-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

Even before the latest economic troubles it has been a tough time for newspapers around the country. Last week it became clear just how troubled the industry is when the E.W. Scripps Company announced that Friday, February 27th would be the final edition of Denver's Rocky Mountain News. The newspaper was just a few months short of celebrating 150 years. It is sad to see such a historic institution close, and to know that this is likely just the start of many prominent newspapers that will fail. Even worse, the toll on local communities from these closures and cut-backs is enormous. The question now is: how will these voids be filled so that communities can remain well-informed of local news? Below are two videos related to the closure of the Rocky Mountain News. The first is from ABC World News. The second is a video produced by the Rocky Mountain News team as they prepared for their last day. It's long, but it's very well done.

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

Sam Donaldson retires from ABC News

2009-03-07T13:24:00.001-05:00

After 42 years of reporting for ABC News, veteran political correspondent Sam Donaldson retired from his full time duties at the network. His last day was Friday, February 27th. He will be missed as a fixture of political reporting in America. He will be remembered for his lively exchanges with former presidents (especially Reagan) and for his signature hair. View the goodbye piece posted at ABC News by clicking here. Charles Gibson also reflected on Sam's long career at ABC News at the end of World News - see the video below.

Evening walk along the Thames

2009-03-06T21:36:00.001-05:00

The day after our trip to the Tate and all of the other adventures, we decided to try to go see the sun set over the Thames and Parliament. We took the tube to the Green Park station and got off. We were a little too late thought, and were in the middle of Green Park as the sun was going down.

This was the most of the sunset that we saw, but it was pretty just the same. The park was a great place to watch, and there were a lot of other people sitting on benches doing the same thing. Unlike Hyde Park, Green Park is more planned. Almost all of the trees are in straight rows, with paths, benches, and street lamps going down the middle. In a way, I kind of like it better. We decided to keep walking to Thames anyway, despite missing the sunset.

There will be more to this post than trees in the park, I swear! But these street lamps were interesting. You will notice that they do not have the normal bulb, but instead are gas fed and have mantles like the coleman lantern you use for camping. This style of streetlamp has been maintained in certain areas of many European cities to preserve a historic look.

This is the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace. It was built in 1911 as a tribute to Queen Victoria who died in 1901.

Westminster Abbey at night.

Here is the clock tower at Houses of Parliament. Most people would call this "Big Ben," which is incorrect. "Big Ben" is actually the name of the bell, not the clock or the tower.

Looking at the Houses of Parliament from the over the Thames.

Kevin and Jessica posing for a picture!

Allow me to explain. My roommate Kevin has a tradition of having his picture taken while jumping in front of various famous places around the world. I'm not sure how this started, but here is the British Parliament edition. While the blue bag on the left is not ours and had been there already, I think it's fitting that there is a bag with an empty bottle in it in this particular shot!

The London Eye! We are definitely going to shell out the money to do this before we leave. We'll do it during the day though when you can actually see something and take pictures. We had dinner at an all you can eat Chinese buffet in the building on the right. The food wasn't great, but we were starving and the price was right. This has pretty much been the case for all of the Chinese buffets we have encountered so far in London - even in Chinatown.

Along the Thames near the Eye there all sorts of attractions. We stopped in a game arcade, passed by the London Aquarium, and got ice cream at one of the many little food stands. There was also this carousel. I like the motion effects that came out in this picture, especially with Kevin's silhouette as he walked towards the edge of the frame on the left.

It was getting late, so we made our way back to the nearest Tube station to take the train home. We crosses another cool pedestrian bridge over the Thames. This one had a rail bridge that was either part of it or built right next to it.

Finally, a nice picture to capture the essence of nightlife along the river.

Post Tate stroll to St. Paul's

2009-03-06T19:35:00.013-05:00

The Millennium Bridge connects the Tate Modern with the St. Paul's neighborhood. That's the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on the left. We decided to check it out when we left the art gallery.

The construction of the bridge is really interesting. It seems to be some sort of modern suspension bridge, but not like any I have ever seen before.

The bridge is heavily used and many tourists take advantage of the wonderful river views by stopping to take pictures (as I have done below).

Looking east, I believe, down the river. You can just barely see the Tower Bridge in the far distance.

Between the river and St. Paul's is an office for the Salvation Army. I include this picture for two reasons. One, it reminds us that it was founded in Britain. Two, what many of us think of as a charitable organization is in fact a Christian-based religion. I don't know if this is common knowledge and somehow my generation missed this memo, but I had no idea that it was a religion until last semester when our reporting professor filled us in. Neither had anyone else in that class. I just found that very interesting, that with all of the red kettle campaign every year during the holidays, that so many people don't know this.

This is the fourth St. Paul's Cathedral to stand on this sight. The previous structured, referred to as "Old St. Paul's" was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. One of my professors shared an interesting story about that. When the fire first broke out and it became obvious that much of the city was at risk of burning, many people brought their most valuable things to St. Paul's Cathedral in the belief that God would protect the church. Ironically, they were right to a degree. The fire did not burn its way into the church. Instead, the heat from the nearby flames melted the lead roof, it collapsed, and the church burned down from the inside out before the actual flames ever reached it.

The current structure was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was completed between 1675 and 1710. It was unique in that it was the first Cathedral to have ever been designed and built under the watch and within the lifetime of its architect. Wren knew as he designed it that this would become his masterpiece (as it has). His first two proposals were rejected. His third, the one that received approval, called for a minor dome with a tall spire on top of it. But Wren cleverly wrote into the contract that the architect could take minor liberties with the aesthetics of the building during the construction process. So along with other not-so-minor changes, they ended up with a massive dome and no spire. Wren had another trick too. He had a suspicion that he would get halfway done with construction and they would want to cut costs and scale back parts of the design. So to ensure that his masterpiece would be completed the way he wanted, he started construction at the back of the church and worked his way forward. The impressive front of the church is the most important part, so by building that last there was nothing they could do but to let him finish it.

Finally, we returned back to Bloomsbury for a nice dinner out at an Italian restaurant. This actually served as my belated birthday dinner. The restaurant is on the corner of this little pedestrian street called "Sicilian Avenue" that is right across from Bloomsbury Square (the public green at one end of our street). The food was amazing - I had Fettuccine alfredo with a glass of house red wine, and an amaretto ice cream dessert. Hyde Park, Tate Modern, walk through St. Paul's, and dinner out - what a fine way to spend a day.

A visit to the Tate Modern

2009-03-06T15:43:00.012-05:00

The walk to the Tate Modern from the Tube station is neat. There are orange street lights that guide you there, and there are all sorts of modern buildings going up in the neighborhood around the museum. This is a new office building.

It looks like this building was inspired by a barn - with the rounded roof and the silo-like towers. I think it is a new residential unit. It's right in front of the entrance to the Tate Modern.

I think this clever barricade is referring to roadwork, but it certainly fits the building in the background as well. This neighborhood is definitely one in transition, and with many of the new buildings appearing to be only a few years old, it seems that the Tate Modern is the force behind the change.

Here is the main entrance to the Tate Modern. Established in 2000, this is latest of addition to the Tate family of art museums. The original is the Tate Britain, which contains more traditional artwork. That one was founded in 1897 as the National Gallery of British Art. The building housing the Tate Modern was built between 1947 and 1963 as the Bankside Power Station, which closed in 1981.

After walking through the front doors, you walk down a long sloping ramp that leads directly into the temporary exhibition hall. Like many public museums in London (and for the most part all of Britain), general admission is free with a recommended donation of three pounds. There are a few exhibits that do require a fee to enter, but usually only one or two at a time.

Apparently putting the "please do not touch" sign on the floor isn't too effective.

This is looking down at the major temporary exhibition space at the end of the main entrance ramp. It is called Turbine Hall because it used to house the electricity generators of the old power plant. It is five stories tall and is used to display specially commissioned large modern works of art. There art in this hall has changed each year in a series sponsored by Unilever. The series was only supposed to last for the first 5 years, but it has been so successful that it has been extended through at least 2012.

This picture is looking up and was taken from the same place that I was standing for the picture above. You can see the remnants from the old power station that were left in place as a tribute to the building's past. I personally found this more interesting that half of the "art" in the museum, but that's just me.

The museum has a very open feel to it, and it very easy to navigate and move from exhibit to exhibit. The quality design aspect of how the building was laid out was the topic of a recent New York Times article. The article was comparing the Tate Modern's building to either the MET or the MOMA in New York (I forget which - it was the one that recently had a major addition that cost a lot of money). The Time's critic was complementing the Tate Modern for spending a lot less money and achieving what he thought was a much better result. The Tate Modern's collections are still on the weak side, however, because of its relative youth - but it is quickly establishing a name for itself.

Looking back at the full Tate Modern building from the Millenium Bridge that carries pedestrians across the Thames to St. Paul's Cathedral. The historic building was at risk of being demolished until the Tate announced in 1994 that the building would become the home of its newly conceived "Tate Modern." The conversion process cost 134 million pounds, and construction started in 1995. It opened to the public in 2000.

Saturday afternoon in Hyde Park

2009-03-06T14:13:00.008-05:00

Hyde Park is huge, and at one end of it is this pond. There are hundreds of ducks and other birds, and the benches along the edge are popular during the lunch hour. We brought our lunches to a have a picnic in the park. After 15 minutes of waling looking for an empty bench next to the water, we gave up and moved inward on one of the winding paths.

We found a nice bench that encircled a tree down the path on the left in the picture. A few hundred feet away was a large rock with text carved into it. Kevin went up to look at and it and reported that it was a gift from Norway in honor of the British troops that served in WWII. The British were obviously very thankful for the memorial boulder to have put it in a place of such prominence - on a random path somewhere in the middle of Hyde Park.

No need for those boats here!

I love this picture - those feathers are just so beautiful. That duck knows it too, that why it takes care to maintain perfect grooming!

This mother and her two kids were just too cute. They had made little paper boats and brought them along to put in the pond. I hesitated to take the picture at first because I didn't want to seem like a creeper, but once we got further away they didn't notice me and I couldn't resist.

There are several sections with nice gardens. Here you also see the winding paths that twist and turn all through the park. Around the perimeter there is one big straight path for runners and bikers, as well as a dirt path presumably for horseback riding, but I'm not sure.

Sunday: last day in Edinburgh

2009-03-06T13:20:00.009-05:00

This was the view out the back window of our fourth floor hotel room. This section of the new city is heavily residential. The building that our hotel occupied was originally the large house of wealthy aristocrat.

The Elephant House Cafe is where J.K. Rowling started to write the first Harry Potter books. She sat at a table in the back next to a window that offered a clear view of Edinburgh Castle...the inspiration for the Hogwarts castle. We stopped in for lunch.

The view from the edge of the cemetery looking out over rooftops of the old city. I love how the buildings looked like they are stacked together. It was a very nice day - the sky stayed like that all afternoon.

Harry Potter fans will recognize the top name on this tombstone! It is said that author J.K. Rowling found inspiration for several of the name in the series from this cemetery behind the Elephant Cafe. We found this one and I think one more, but I can't remember.

It wouldn't be an official trip to Scotland without someone playing the bagpipes!

Here you are looking out over the train station that runs through the valley in the center of the city, between the new and old sections.

There is a lot of green space between the new and old cities. This is part of a nice long park near the base of the cliff that Edinburgh Castle is built on. On the other side (behind the camera) is the main street through the new city. I took this as we walked back to the hotel to meet and before continuing on to catch the train back to London.

Day trip from Edinburgh: Scottish castles and countryside

2009-02-21T11:22:00.027-05:00

On the way to our first castle, we pulled over to look at two impressive bridges spanning the Firth of Forth, or the estuary of the Forth River in Scotland. This is the river that can be seen in the distance in my previous picture of the new city taken from Edinburgh Castle. This bridge opened in 1964, replacing an earlier ferry service that ran for over 800 years. The bridge was built to last 120 years, but recent structural inspections have found that the steel cables are starting to rust underneath their casings. There is no way to fix this, so there is now a major debate in the Scottish Parliament over who will pay to have the bridge replaced. With 8-10% of the cable strength already lost, officials may have to divert some traffic to decrease the daily load by 2014. It may have to be closed completely by 2020.

Right next to the Forth Road Bridge is the Forth Railway Bridge. Situated just to the east, the rail bridge remains an engineering marvel and is something that Scotland takes great pride in (it's even on some of their money). Construction started in 1883 and was completed in 1890. It is the first major steel bridge in the world, and is still only the second longest bridge using cantilevered construction. It took more than 54,000 tons of steel and over 6 million rivets to build it. It was massively over-engineered to regain public confidence after a different bridge failed and collapsed, killing 75 people on the passenger train that was crossing it at the time. Like the Golden Gate Bridge, it needs frequent paint jobs to prevent corrosion. It has lead to the local phrase "Painting the Forth Bridge" referring to a task that is never complete.

After stopping to see the bridges, we continued on to Doune Castle. It will look familiar to fans of Monty Python and the Holy Grail as this castle was used extensively in the filming of the movie. The most famous scene that took place here was likely the one where King Arthur and Patsy arrive at the entrance banging the coconuts together to imitate the sound of a horse. The gift shop and ticket office has a pair of coconut shells that visitors can sign out to go take pictures with and recreate the scene for themselves.

In addition to the prominent role that Doune Castle played in the movie, it does have a significant historic value. It was built during the 14th Century by the Duke of Albany, and is one of the few examples of a castle that was completed in a single building period that has remained relatively untouched and complete. Many other castles were started in one period and later added on to gradually over hundreds of years to fit current needs. The windows in the curtain wall in the background of the picture above indicate that when the castle was designed it was intended to have more internal towers and personal quarters than were ever built. There would have been rooms in front of where the windows are, but for whatever reason that part of the castle was never built.

Doune fell into disrepair during the 18th century. The wooden roof caved in and by 1800 it was a ruin. It wasn't until the 1880s that the restoration began. The roofs were rebuilt and the interior rooms, like the Lord's Hall in the picture above, were restored. Today the castle is owned and maintained by Historic Scotland, a government agency that oversees historic buildings and monuments. The picture above is very strange in that there is that mysterious smoke in the center of the room. I had fallen behind the rest of the group and was alone in the room when I took the picture. What makes it even more strange is that the picture I took right after this one came out clear. Fog on the lens wouldn't look like that nor would it go away so quickly. I thought maybe it was my breath, but if so it should have appeared in more of my pictures. Jessica took a picture with a similar smoke in it in a different room of the castle. I like to think that there is more to it than a simple breath...certainly is creepy!

After Doune Castle, we continued into the city of Stirling to see the Wallace Monument. It stands tall at the top of a hill over the city. It commemorates Sir William Wallace, a Scottish Knight who became a national hero in the Scottish Wars of Independence. One of his major victories happened at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, where he defeated the invading English army...something that was unheard of at the time.

Not only can you walk up to the top of the hill, but you can also climb the 246 step spiral staircase to the top of the monument. Along the way there are two or three rooms to stop in that serve as a museum honor William Wallace. They have some objects believed to have belonged to Wallace, including his sword.

The monument itself was constructed in a period of only 8 years and was finished in 1869 during a time of high national pride. The total cost was 18,000 pounds. The tower stands 220 feet tall and is made out of sandstone in the Victorian Gothic style. At the base, there is a bathroom, a cafe, and a gift shop. You can definitely tell how important this monument was to the Scottish people by the size and complexity of the building.

It was very foggy, as you can see, the day we visited. I can only imagine what the view from the top here would be like on a clear day. The fog was really neat to see though and, as one of the other students in our group pointed out, it was certainly an authentic Scottish climate experience.

After the monument, it was only about to 20 minutes to get to lunch. We ate at Nicky Tams, supposedly the most haunted pub in Stirling. Our group leaders always aim to provide the most authentic eating experiences and to avoid the chain restaurants. To make this possible, we called in our orders a few hours ahead of time so that they could accommodate our large group.

I had macaroni and cheese for lunch with a nice cold pint of Guinness. Syracuse paid for the food, but seeing as it's against school policy to buy students alcohol, we had to buy our own drinks at the bar. One of the waitresses was from California. I don't remember what brought her to Scotland...I think it may have been for school and then she wanted to stay. She described the challenges for Americans to get permission to live in the UK permanently. I think she said that she could only stay for up to 2 years to work and then she would basically have to get married to be able to stay. Britain has agreements with several other countries where they will allow citizens of the other country to come to live and work in the UK and British citizens can do the same in the other country. Britain and the United States do not have such an agreement.

A fitting picture to hang on the wall of a pub! Looks like the perfect size drinking glass to me.

After lunch we walked through a little more of the city and up the hill to Stirling Castle. From the parking lot of the castle, this was the view looking out over the city. That's the Wallace Monument sticking up in the distance.

This is Sterling Castle which, like Edinburgh Castle, isn't all that interesting on the inside but does provide great views of the surrounding countryside. It is also a historically and architecturally significant building. This has long been a strategically important site for defense because Stirling sits at what until recently was the last downstream crossing of the Forth River. Mary, Queen of Scots was among several Scottish Kings and Queens to have been crowned here. Like Doune, it is also owned and maintained by Historic Scotland.

One of the views from the castle.

The trees in front of the hills almost look like they are painted in. It is amazing to have such a view that remains for the most part unspoiled by development. That is one of the things that is so nice about Scotland...not only do you have beautiful historic buildings, but so much of the landscape has been preserved as well.

Looking across one of the castle yards...still within the walls.

All of the pictures of the countryside above were taken from the walkways behind the outer walls as seen here.

Even in the wintertime, everything is so green. This is another one of the yards inside the castle.

After Stirling Castle we made our final stop at Argyll's Lodging, just a block down the hill from the castle. I believe it is operated by Historic Scotland as well. It is the most complete example left of what a 17th century Scottish town house would have looked like.

This is the dining room. The wall covering on the far wall around the door is original, the rest of the room was restored to look authentic.

Finally, our bus driver (on the left) to take us home. Syracuse tries to use him for as many tours as possible because he is such a fun guy and always dresses up in tradtional Scottish attire. That is his brother on the right. It is amazing how paths cross. His brother (also a tour bus driver) took a group from Glasgow to Stirling Castle the same day as us, AND had a couple of Syracuse students with him that had elected to go to Glasgow rather than Edinburgh who had no idea we would be there too.

Friday night in Edinburgh: dinner and a ghost walk

2009-02-21T10:49:00.009-05:00

You have seen this hotel twice already in the previous post, but its even more incredible at night. No, this was not the one that we stayed in...ours was really nice, but much more quaint. I took this picture as we made our way to the underground ghost walk, somewhere between 8 and 9 pm.

St. Giles Cathedral is considered the head church for the Church of Scotland, the equivalent of the role Westminster Abbey plays in the Anglican Church in England. While England and Scotland have separate state churches, the Queen is the head of both of them. The Anglican Church (of England) is known in America as the Episcopal Church, while the Church of Scotland is known as the Presbyterian Church. I will likely have pictures of the inside in an upcoming post, but I like this shot at night that I took while on the tour.

This is looking up the street that the entrance to the underground tunnels is off of. You enter through what looks like a regular store front and take stairs down to below street level.

At the bottom of the stairs you are in a long tunnel with many rooms and other passages off of it. In one of the first rooms there were displays of some of the artifacts that have been found here.

This is what most of the main tunnels looked like. There are storage rooms off to the side. Most of these rooms would have been used for storage and things of that nature.

The Discovery Channel has been here to do a segment for one of their shows about underground parts of cities. I think there may have been one of the ghost hunter shows here as well to see if it's haunted. We didn't find anything out of the ordinary, but it was still a great experience to explore old Edinburgh's past.

This is the Royal Mile at night, as we were looking for a place to eat after the tour. This area at night is full of young people out on the town looking for their next pub. The funniest thing we saw that night was a group of young women scantily dressed walking around with an inflatable sex doll and singing loudly. We assume (hope) it was a bachelorette party.

Jessica and I decided to grab dinner at the Pizza Express. It is kind of like a luxurious Pizza Hut that serves classy pasta dishes and nice wines with your meal. Interestingly, they do have Pizza Hut and a sister chain Pasta Hut over here as well, but they are much more upscale than in the US - only offering full sit down table service and more gourmet menus. Our waiter was very nice, and was interested to hear where what part of the States we are from (all Americans stick out like sore thumbs, even when we try to blend in) and what we are studying. It was a nice finish to an exhausting day, and from there we went back to the hotel and went to bed in preparation for the next day's trip to see castles and the countryside.

Last weekend's visit to Edinburgh

2009-02-21T09:12:00.023-05:00

Our trip to Edinburgh started at King's Cross Station at 5:40...our train departed a little after for what would be about a 4 hour trip. King's Cross station is featured in the Harry Potter books where students board the Hogwarts Express to go back to school. In the book, the train leaves from platform 9 and 3-quarters. The secret platform is only accessible to people with magical powers who run through a brick wall that separates the Hogwarts Express from the rest of the station. After the books were released, a special sign was erected inside London's King's Cross, and a luggage trolley sawed in half was placed coming out of the wall so that children and tourists could take pictures "pushing the cart through the wall." We didn't have time to see it then, but plan to go back for pictures!

The train was great...nice and comfortable, plenty of room, and free wifi and power outlets for computers. A snack cart came around several times that we took advantage of to get some tea. Kevin and Darren (pictured above) decided to skip the tea and went for rum and Coke. The trains between London and Edinburgh are part of the National Express rail service...a national consortium made of up most of Britain's passenger train companies. They travel up to 120 mph...it is quite something when 2 trains pass each other going opposite directions. It makes a huge "whoosh" and only last for 3-4 seconds (and these are long trains)! The British government just awarded the contract to several companies to replace the current trains with newer ones that are more efficient and can carry 20% more passengers. The deal is worth 7.5 billion pounds, and will safeguard over 12,000 jobs. The trains will be phased in between 2013 and 2015.

We arrived in Edinburgh around 11. The platform is pictured above. The train station and rail lines divide the new and the old cities. We had to walk up a huge flight of stairs to reach one of the main streets through the new city. From there, the walk to our hotel was only about 5-10 minutes. We checked in, and many people went straight out to the pubs. Jessica and I took a walk over to the old city, as I remembered walking down many of these streets when we were here in 2000 (it's not that big of a city). Then we made our way back to the hotel to turn in early for the night...we had to be up and have breakfast early because our walking tour (led by one of our professors) started at 9 am sharp.

A nice view of a clock tower in the morning sun. This is part of an elegant hotel in the new city right near the train station. Along the street there are trimmed hedges with large flower boxes full of flowers down the length of the building. It is also in the picture below...the building on the right hand side.

The view looking from the new city across to the old city. The bridge carries traffic over the rail lines below. It was a beautiful sunny morning, nice and cold out and a little misty...perfect to start our morning walk.

One of the first stops was a graveyard. Scotland has a lot of these little cemeteries tucked around their cities...they liked to honor their past, especially important members of society. This applies to Edinburgh in particular because it historically has been known as bourgeois city. There may have been more significance, but I stopped paying attention at certain points to take pictures and to make sure that I wouldn't break my neck while standing on the icy hill.

Mountains and rolling hills surround the city on three sides, making Edinburgh one of the most picturesque urban centers in Scotland. Along with a rich history, it also accounts for a lot of tourism that benefits the city's economy.

Looking out at Arthur's Seat (the cliff in the background). The top is supposed to provide great views of the city. It is supposed to be easy to climb, as there are sloping paths that take visitors to the top. It is a popular attraction for tourists. I did not climb it, electing instead do some more exploring of the city, but several people from our group did and said it was amazing.

The gate in front of the Queen's official residence in Scotland.

This is the Queen's Palace itself. There is more to it than this, but having to stick my camera lens through the bars of the gate, this was the most I could get. While it is very nice, it certainly is not one of the grandest of the Royal palaces.

Completed in 2004, the Scottish Parliament Building was very controversial. There were public disagreements on nearly every part of it, including its location, design, architect, and even its construction company. To top it off, it opened three years late and 10 times over budget (original estimate: 40 million pounds, final cost: 414 million pounds). At least it won several architectural awards once it was finally finished and the dust settled.

The Debating Chamber is where Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs, as opposed to MPs who meet at the British Parliament at Westminster in London) convene to make decisions and discuss issues. While Scotland is still represented by MPs in London, a referendum in 1997 restored limited authority back to a separate Scottish Parliament (hence the need for the new building). This new governing body mostly deals with domestic issues, such as the healthcare, education, and infrastructure systems in Scotland. Education has always been a big issue in Scotland - something the country takes great pride in. Scotland historically has had more colleges and universities than England, and to this day many of the UK's top leaders where schooled in Scotland (former and current Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, respectively, among them).

I seem to have a fascination with taking pictures of gates and doors. I really liked this gate that I saw along the Royal Mile (the main drag through the old city). And I will like it even more when I get around to cropping the garbage can out that appears in the background to the right.

Already saw the gate, so here is a door to prove my obsession. This was in a little church yard that is in the valley (if you go back to the earlier picture of Arthur's Seat, you can see the church yard in the lower left. Not really sure why we stopped here, but I liked how the red door pops.

I should have mentioned that I like alleyways too, and Edinburgh is full of them. There are a lot more of them once you get up on top of the hill (the old city is built on a hill) because they were originally used as garbage and waste chutes. People would dump their garbage and their chamber pots out the window into these channels, and when it rained it would wash the waste down the hill and out of the city.

Edinburgh Castle is at the top of the hill. The castle itself isn't all that interesting, but does provide amazing areal views of the city. It is also the inspiration for the Hogwarts castle in Harry Potter.

Looking out over the new city from Edinburgh Castle.

And looking out over the old city from the castle. I love the mountains in the background, it makes it almost look like we're in Switzerland!

Only in Scotland: Scotch flavored condoms. What can I say...

After we walked through the old city, we stopped in the National Portrait Gallery and then continued on to walk around the new city. We finished at this really elegant luxury tea house called the Dome. Syracuse was nice enough to pay for it, which made it even better.

So there could have been nothing better than to end the afternoon with a nice cup of tea, and a table discussion with Forbes, our professor guide for the trip who was always down for a nice chat.

Jack the Ripper walk

2009-02-07T14:10:00.011-05:00

This was another school field trip...this one was Thursday night at 6pm. We met at the Tower Hill tube station right across from the Tower of London (pictured above). This was only a day after Jessica and I went to the Tower for our history of London through architecture class. I didn't bring my camera on that trip because it was kind of rainy that morning and I didn't want to take a chance. But back to Jack the Ripper...we met on an observation platform and were introduced to our guide. Don Rumbelow is the leading expert on Jack the Ripper, is a certified London Blue Guide, and was our host for the evening. He even spent some time with Johnny Depp during the making of the movie "From Hell" - an outstanding Ripper movie in my opinion. You can get more information on Don's book by clicking here.

One of the problems authorities had in trying to catch Jack the Ripper was that the murders took place in two different police jurisdictions. The City of London proper has the City of London Police, and the Greater London area is protected by the Metropolitan Police (that's the one based out of Scotland Yard). The wall pictured above is part of the old Roman wall that marks part of the boundary of London proper. These two police forces had a historic rivalry and were not willing to work together on the case, making it even harder to find the person responsible for the murders. Theories of who the real Jack the Ripper was continue to this day and the list of suspects grows longer each year as people come up with new ideas (most of them stupid).

This church served as a major hub for the prostitutes of the late 19th century. They, and the other undesirable members of society were left to the east end of the city. The prostitutes could not stop walking while they were working or they would be subject to arrest for solicitation. So they would walk in a big circle around this church, slowing on the side that faced the street to try to pick up a customer and quickening around the back. It was like a huge traffic round about for the women of the night. At least one of the Ripper's victims frequented this area - her body was found a block away in a small public square.

We walked down several alleys and side streets around Brick Lane (now a major public market on the weekends). This was the heart of the area where the murders took place. Many of the streets are nearly the same as they would have been when the murders took place near the turn of the last century. It was neat to almost take a step back in time to the world that Jack the Ripper knew.

This is a very old church a few blocks away from Brick Lane and the side streets that we were walking down. We had already been to this area a few weeks ago when we had a tour of the east end markets. The inside has recently been restored and is beautiful. The church was recreated on the set of the movie "From Hell".

This is the original "Ten Bells" - a pub that had a big role in the movie. That part of the movie is true - the Ripper's victims were known to frequent this pub, which was old even then! The sign says it was established in 1666 (the year of the Great Fire of London). This was pretty much the last stop on our tour.

After the tour we made our way to the Liverpool Street tube station. The area was familiar from the east end market tour. This was once a major center for banking in the city before many of them moved to the Canary Wharf section of London. Recently local leaders have been trying to lure more of the banks and other businesses back. As you can see from the picture of this large office building above, they have had some success. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has a building across the street.

We are almost back to the tube station, but the night sky was just so nice with the famous London fog rolling in and obscuring the tops of buildings. You can almost see the cold hanging in the air, as this was a very chilly night.

On our way home! This is the inside of the Liverpool Street station - by far my favorite station so far. It has beautiful ceilings with ornate beams and columns. The place is quite large, and on the upper level on the right hand side of the picture there is a line of stores including a small Marks & Spencer (a high end grocery and clothing store, although this one just had food). We of course stopped and got a snack for the tube ride home.

Windsor Castle

2009-02-07T07:53:00.013-05:00

I'm still running a little behind, but last Friday we had a school field trip to Windsor Castle, not too far outside London. Windsor Castle, the favorite of the Royal Family, was severely damaged by a fire in 1992. It started in the Queen's private chapel when a workman's lamp apparently ignited a nearby curtain. The fire quickly spread to some of the most treasured state rooms of the castle - over 100 were either destroyed or damaged. A huge salvage operation made up of human chains saved many of the priceless historic artifacts in the castle, including all but four of the important paintings in the Royal collections. The videos below show the extent of the fire, the aftermath, and describe some of the history and importance of the castle.

Windsor Castle is the largest and the oldest castle in the world to still be occupied. After the fire, a massive restoration of the damaged area began. The state would pay for the structural work, while the monarchy would pay to replace objects that were part of the Royal Collection. After an uproar from the public, the Queen promised that the cost of the restoration would in no way fall on taxpayers. In fact, 70% of the the total cost (37 million British Pounds) was made up by allowing the public to see the staterooms of Buckingham Palace - something that had never been done before - for a fee. The restoration was finally completed in 1997. It was done so well that it is hard to tell which rooms were affected by the fire. In one room, the original floor was preserved by lifting up the wood panels, turning them upside down, and putting them back in place. In many cases, the rooms were restored to be more historically accurate to their original appearance. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside many parts of the castle so I was limited in my picture taking abilities. I don't think the beauty of these rooms would be able to come through in a photograph anyway.

Like many large castles in England, Windsor was added on to many times. With the exception of one small section, the entire castle was rebuilt be King Henry III starting in 1350. The tower shown above, called "the Round Tower", replaced the original round tower which would have been the oldest part of the original castle. Castle building at that time involved constructing a large central tower on a raised hill with a ditch dug out around it (making the tower itself stand seemingly taller and making it easier to defend). This was called a "keep", which was the most heavily defended part of the castle. Outer defensive walls and towers would be built in a circle around the keep.

We missed the big changing of the guard ceremony that usually is a daily occurrence - for some reason they were not doing it that day. We did see several times though these guards in uniform walking in a procession up and down a central path through the castle grounds. Not a huge loss, the main changing of the guards ceremony that everyone goes to see is at Buckingham Palace, and that always happens everyday. I will be sure to stop by one day and get pictures of that.

St. George's Chapel has a long history and is the chapel of the Order of the Garter, a medieval order of knights that continues to be the highest honor in the United Kingdom. It is also the final resting place of many famous monarchs, including King Henry VIII (we walked across his tomb on the floor inside), Jane Seymour, King George III, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth - The Queen Mother, and is the assumed chosen resting place of the current Queen Elizabeth II.

The castle is absolutely huge. It's floor area is about 484,000 square feet. The land immediately surrounding the castle is called "Home Park" and includes two working farms. Also adjacent is the "Windsor Great Park" that used to be the private hunting grounds of the castle. The 5,000 acre deer park is now mostly open to the public.

After touring the castle, we had about an hour to walk around the town of Windsor. On the way into a pub for lunch, we ran into this character, who immediately started up a conversation. He claims to be the owner of an upscale night club in Greenwich Village in NY that has a 6-month wait list to get in. He also claims to have known personally Frank Sinatra. Jessica and I don't really believe him, but he was fun to listen to anyway. Once inside the pub, we found out that he has been banned from coming inside because he likes to sing really loudly. So every once in a while he will find someone to bring in his money and an empty glass to be refilled. Notice the brandy glass next to him on the left.

This is inside the pub, where Jessica and I ordered some take-away (British for take out) fish and chips to eat on the bus. The older fellow to the left of the cash register struck up a conversation, although between his local accent and his drunkenness he was hard to understand. Apparently he lives way out in the middle of nowhere, and between walking and the bus it takes about an hour to get to the pub (which I assume is a somewhat daily occurrence).

On the way back to the bus, we passed this interested building, "the crooked house of Windsor". Formally known as the Market Cross House, the original structure was built in 1592. Then in 1687 the town council ordered the building to be demolished because of a land dispute. The new building erected in its place soon after (shown in the picture above) got its famous lean in 1718 when it was restructured with unseasoned green oak. And an interesting note: there used to be a secret passage from the basement leading to Windsor Castle - a short block away. It was apparently used for King Charles to meet with his mistress,Nell Gywn, and for taking food to the castle kitchens. After starting out as a butcher shop, it has also been home to a jewelry shop, brewery, antique shop, and gift shop. The 300 year old building is now a restaurant and tea room.

Just when we thought we'd escaped Syracuse, Syracuse came to us

2009-02-02T16:01:00.015-05:00

SNOW DAY! We were shocked to wake up to an email saying not to come to class, that due to the weather the Faraday House would be closed. It's amazing how five inches of snow brings such a huge city to a grinding halt. London is not used to ever getting much snow accumulation, and today's is being called the worst snow storm in 18 years.

This is Russell Square - a park at the end of our street. It, like many other things, was closed today - the iron gates having never been opened this morning.

This is looking southeast down Southampton Row. We live one street over to the right; the Faraday House stretches between this street and the street one over to the left.

This is what the park in the middle of Russell Square looks like. Just yesterday Jessica and I cut through it and it was all green. The fountains were going, and joggers looped around the winding paths. There is also a nice little indoor/outdoor cafe in the middle of it. No one would be stopping to eat lunch there today...the park gates were not even unlocked this morning.

This is looking northwest up Southampton Row. Usually this section is full of cars and people. Transportation in London was a nightmare today. All bus service was suspended, rail service and the underground tube system saw heavy delays, and over 200 flights at Heathrow airport were canceled because the runways were not clear

Snowman building seemed to be the sport of the day...for children and adults. I think it was the latter responsible for this snow boulder that was pushed into the middle of an intersection!

There were cars all over the place that looked like this. Many offices closed for the day and a lot of workers either stayed in or walked where they needed to go.

Snow collects on the top of the iron fence that surrounds the park in Russell Square.

I don't think too many people would want to be on the phone for very long in one of these today!

Another snowman...this one holding a can of Rock Star energy drink. Or so the can says, I don't know...looks a "tipsy" to me, if ya know what I mean. Definitely an English snow man in that case.

Several of the places that were open at all decided to close early. This Starbucks on Great Russell Street was one of them. The British Museum across the street also closed early.

This is Old Gloucester Street, where the entrance to the Faraday House is. We received an email saying the forecast doesn't look good tomorrow either, and to check the website at 7:30 am to see if there will be classes.

Finally, this is how it all started: the snow coming down hard last night. This picture was taken from the front door of our building looking south down Bedford Place.

Who says college students can't cook?

2009-02-02T15:42:00.002-05:00

A few nights ago, Jessica and I decided to put a little extra effort into our meal and come up with something different and fun. The result (above) was amazing. We took chicken, sliced it up and cooked it most of the way through just heating it up in a pan with the olive oil. When it was almost done, we added a sauce made from simply mixing up some reduced-sodium soy sauce and honey. We also threw in some salted roasted cashews to add some crunchy goodness. We kept on low heat for a while until the sauce thickened up and formed almost a glaze. Jessica made a salad, and we collaborated on couscous. The couscous was the pre-seasoned kit deal and all we had to do was add water. I spiced it up a bit by also including fresh basil leaves and feta cheese. It turned out to be really good (I was about 85% percent sure it would, although Jessica had her doubts about the idea of soy sauce mixed with honey at first. She is now a strong believer). I'll keep you posted on our future cooking endevours!

London urban market

2009-01-29T19:16:00.001-05:00

This market is in the heart of the central business district in London. It's owned by the City of London and is designed to accommodate the busy lives of office workers. Many of the people who work in this section put in 12 hour days and then have to make their way home. For those who live outside the city especially, other stores might be closed by the time they get there. This provides a solution - workers can stop off here right after work or on their lunch breaks and get anything they need. This is not bargain shopping by any means. The place is filled with expensive wine shops and other stores to cater to the needs of the upper class. It is beautiful inside though, which is why our professor took us through for a detour on our tour of Roman ruins in the city.

Church with American ties

2009-01-29T18:57:00.000-05:00

The All Hallows-by-the-Tower Church is the oldest Church in the City of London and is located across the river from the Tower of London. It is full of history, having been founded in 675. The building itself was rebuilt multiple times between the 11th and 15th centuries. It's west tower was destroyed by an explosion in 1649 and almost burned in the Great Fire of London in 1666. William Penn Sr. (the father of the founder of Pennsylvania) had several buildings around the church demolished to create a fire break so the church could be saved from the flames. The Church was heavily damaged by German bombs in WWII and had to be partially reconstructed. The outer walls remain from the 15th century, and it retains a 7th century Saxon doorway that was part of the original building. Parts of a Roman building along with other artifacts have been discovered in the church crypt in 1926. Now for the American connection: President John Quincy Adams was married here in 1797 and William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was baptized here in 1644.