STORY WALK: Reading is Fun Along the Trail, Marin County, California

 

Story Walk, Tennessee Valley, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, CA

Reading a book about taking a hike is one way for children to learn about nature.

Taking a hike on an outdoor trail is another.

At Tennessee Valley near Mill Valley. California, families with children can do both at the same time. (Even if you are not accompanied by children, you can still enjoy reading the story.)

Tennessee Valley is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. An offshoot of the Golden Gate Headlands, Tennessee Valley is a large undeveloped area of coastal hills and a variety of hiking trails, formerly used for ranching. The main trail leads from the parking lot to the beach, a distance of about 1.75 miles. I have taken this hike numerous times through the years, often spotting deer, soaring hawks, and once even a bobcat!

"We are going on a hike."

On a recent visit to the Bay Area, I went again to Tennessee Valley. I was intrigued to see something new-- a series of signs at the side of the trail (reminiscent of the old Burma Shave signs on the side of the road but closer together.) On closer look I discovered that these signs were the pages of a picture book mounted on boards, just the right height for a child to read. The book was The Hike by Alison Farrell (Chronicle Books, 2019.) Each panel showed a page spread as well as a guide to what to look for in the surrounding area.

"It's our favorite thing to do."

Altogether there are 19 panels stretched over a half mile near the beginning of the trail. It is a perfect activity for families as they start out on their hike. Here are a few sample panels:

"Wren's sketchbook."

"In no time, we get back on track."

"A deer walks past. Bean sneezes."

"A light rain comes and goes. The birds are happy. We listen to them cheep and chatter in the trees."

Story Walk is a cooperative project of the National Parks, Marin County Library, Mill Valley Public Library, Sausalito Library.

After reading the story we continued down the trail to the beach. It was a beautiful day to be out in nature!

End of the story. Continuing on the trail to the beach.

End of the trail. My brothers at the beach.

FOUR DAYS IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: Old and New Along the Canals

Copenhagen in Danish is Kobenhavn ("Koben Harbor")

Why Copenhagen? 1. We had never been there before. 2. We are big fans of Danish TV—Borgen, The Bridge, Seaside Hotel, The New Nurses—and 3. Copenhagen is an easy train ride to northern Germany where Art was scheduled to attend a conference in Hanover. With a nine-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Denmark, we needed a place to spend a few days to recover from jet lag before the conference started. So in early October, my husband Art and I spent four days in Copenhagen, Denmark--visiting museums, eating delicious food, immersing ourselves in Danish culture.

Drawbridge tower on the Knippel Bridge and
our hotel, the NH Collection, a modern glass structure at the side of the canal.

On our first morning, after a lavish breakfast at our hotel--eggs, meat, cheese, fruit and, of course, Danish pastries--we set out, crossing the Knippel Bridge into the center of the city. I had not previously realized that Copenhagen is a city of canals, much like Amsterdam, crisscrossed by bridges and waterways. 

Glass topped canal tour boat, Copenhagen

Tour boats circle through the canals and this seemed like a good way to get an overview of the city; so we bought tickets and joined the crowd waiting to board the next boat. The tour was narrated in English, which turns out to be the universal language in Denmark, since few people outside of Denmark speak Danish.

Colorful Nyhavn

The boat made two stops during the one-hour tour, one of them in Nyhavn, with its colorful houses, once filled with rowdy sailors, now with tourists and canal-side restaurants. 

National Library, its windows reflecting the water and  a passing ferry.

Among the other sites we saw in the course of our boat tour were: the Queen’s residence; the Opera House (where we were told a diving competition is held once a year from its roof overhanging the canal); the Little Mermaid (less impressive than in pictures); rows of old warehouses, now turned into expensive apartments; the National Library (known as the Black Diamond because of the way light from the water sparkles off the dark glass). Later that day we visited the library, taking an elevator to the top to view the canal from the inside.

Display of the Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates.

In the center of the city, two long streets lined with shops are dedicated to pedestrians. While shopping was not our goal, we were drawn into the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain shop, where we discovered a display of the classic Danish Christmas plates. We have three (from 1967, 1970 and 1972)—they hang in our kitchen at home—given to us by Art’s aunt, Carolyn T. Arnold, who collected them on her trips around the world. (Portions of Aunt Carolyn's travel memoir have appeared on this blog.)

View from the top of the Round Tower, with the bridge connecting Denmark to Sweden in the distance.

Also in the city center is the Round Tower, where from the top one gets a 360 view of the city--a sea of tile-topped roofs punctuated by skinny, church steeples. Tourists walk to the top of the tower, but King Frederick famously rode his horse up the ramp.

Danish Design Museum. Model of collapseable housing for use in emergency centers. Exhibits at the museum include both state-of-the-art products made with new materials as well as historic examples of fabrics, furniture, and so on.

Over the next three days we visited several museums, including the Danish Design Museum; the old Natural History Museum, which was featuring an exhibit of Neanderthal discoveries; the Palm House and Butterfly House at the Botanical Garden; and the National Historical Museum, with exhibits beginning with prehistory and progressing to Vikings and beyond. 

Meteorite in courtyard of Natural History Museum. Inside was a Neanderthal Exhibit

At all of the museums, helpful explanatory labels were in both Danish and English.

At the Butterfly House in the Botanical Garden.

We devoted a whole day to the Louisiana Modern Art museum, a forty-minute train ride north of Copenhagen—worth its own blogpost.  It, like all of the museums, has a nice cafe—the perfect stop for lunch or afternoon coffee.

Walkway along the canal. Copenhagen is a mix of old and new.

Copenhagen is a very walkable city. By law, all the canals must have pedestrian walkways along the side and streets through the neighborhoods generally have little traffic. However, as a pedestrian, one has to watch out for both bicycles and cars. Bicycles are a preferred mode of transport and get a separate lane on main roadways.

As a major port in the North Sea, boats and shipping are at the center of Copenhagen's history.

We dressed in layers for the cool fall weather and always carried an umbrella for the occasional shower. But overall, the weather was perfect for exploring the city. 

King Frederick on his horse.

We didn't see everything on our visit to Copenhagen (for instance, Tivoli, the famous amusement park, was closed for the season) but we got a good taste of Danish culture. At the end of our four days we knew a lot more about Denmark than before and had significantly reduced our jet lag. 

Inside the dome of the Marble Church.

 

 

 

THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL SHRINE AND SMILEY LIBRARY in REDLANDS, CA

When we think of monuments to Abraham Lincoln we look to Washington, DC and the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, or perhaps to Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln lived and worked before he became President. But we don’t think of Redlands, California, a small city surrounded by orange groves in the heart of the “Inland Empire” as a special place to honor Lincoln.

The Lincoln Memorial Shrine, constructed in 1932 by British-born businessman Robert Watchorn in honor of Lincoln, sits in a tree-filled park adjacent to downtown Redlands' main street. It houses Watchorn’s personal collection of Lincoln memorabilia ranging from artworks, manuscripts, copper pennies, Civil War weapons, to a lock of Lincoln’s hair. A history of Watchorn’s  family and his career before building the shrine are also part of the exhibits. But most of the items on display are objects he collected in connection with his fascination and admiration of Lincoln.

Robert, Emory Ewart, and Alma Watchorn, donors of the Lincoln Memorial Shrine, a gift honoring Abraham Lincoln and memorializing their son.

In early March I attended a conference held at The University of Redlands, and when it was over had the chance to explore the historic downtown, visiting the Lincoln Memorial Shrine and Smiley Library with my friend and fellow author Alexis O'Neill and her husband David Boeshaar.

Bust of Lincoln. "He being dead, yet speaketh."

A bust of Lincoln mounted on a pedestal is the first thing you see as you enter the building. The formal setting and darkened room give it almost a religious aura. More than 3000 books are in the shrine collection and are available to researchers. Here are just two examples of the hundreds of items on view in the shrine.

Examples of the Lincoln penny.

In 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth, he became the first person to have his portrait featured on an official United States coin, the copper penny.

The President's Emancipation March.

President Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September, 1862 after the Battle of Antietam. Composer George Fawcett was so moved that he wrote a piece he called “The President’s Emancipation March” dedicating it to Abraham Lincoln.

Caroline and Alexis at entrance to the Smiley Public Library

After viewing the Lincoln Shrine, we crossed the street to tour the Smiley Public Library, a magnificent structure featuring a tower over the front entrance.

Reading room of the library.

The large rooms inside are filled with light coming through beautiful stained glass windows. I couldn’t resist checking the card catalogue (now online) to see if they had any of my books on their shelves and discovered that they had quite a few.

Winnie the Pooh window in the children's room.

I especially enjoyed touring the children’s room and seeing the windows depicting characters from some of my favorite children’s books such as Winnie the Pooh and Charlotte’s web.

Smiley brothers, Albert K. and Alfred H., and library.

Redlands, California, a city of 71,000 people lies about an hour and a half east of Los Angeles, at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. The Lincoln Memorial Shrine is at 125 West Vine Street, Redlands, CA 92373. The Smiley Lib rary is across the street from the shrine.

TURKEY: EPHESUS AND SIGHTS AROUND SELKUK, by Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist

The Ancient Greek City of Ephesus, Temple of Hadrianus

WEEK 3: 52 Places to Go

Until I visited Turkey, I never realized the breadth of the ancient Greek and Roman empires.  A little over a year ago, after spending a week in Istanbul for a writer’s workshop, I signed up for an add-on tour of Ephesus and other sights in Selkuk, plus a trip to the ancient city of Hierapolis and thermal baths of Pamukkele.  We flew from Istanbul to Izmir (the ancient Greek city of Smyrna) and boarded a bus from there to Selkuk, about an hour’s scenic ride along a river valley to the south. There we spent two and a half days, jam packed with sightseeing.

View of Selkuk from the path to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers on Mount Pion

Our first day included a visit to the Temple of Artemis, the caves of the Seven Sleepers, the Ephesus Museum (where many of the sculptures from the the ancient city are displayed), the House of the Virgin Mary (said to be the final resting place of Mary the mother of Jesus), and finally, a tour of the ancient city of Ephesus itself, which is just two kilometers outside the city.  Our English speaking guide narrated as we went.  Here are some selected photos from our first day:

Statue on grounds of the House of the Virgin Mary

Beginning of the mile-long ancient road through the city of Ephesus.  We walked from from parking lot at the top of the hill, down through the city to what had been the ancient port, now silted in, passing the remains of temples, fountains, public baths and lavatories, amphiteaters, a library and more along the way.

Facade of the Library of Celcus at Ephesus.  It initally housed 12,000 books.  The first human settlements at Ephesus were around 6,000 B.C. and it gradually grew into a city/state.  Alexander the Great conquered Ephesus in 304 B.C.  In the Augustan period of the Roman Empire, Ephesus was one of the most important cities of Roman Asia.  The library was built after the death of Celcus, the Roman Governor of Asia Minor, who died in 114 A.D.

Ephesus Museum in Selkuk.  Sculpture from one of the fountains at Ephesus.  In ancient times three rivers provided water at the rate of 100 liters per second.  Water was used for public baths and lavatories, fountains, and for daily use.

Ephesus, upper amphitheater, the Odeion, with the Stoa Basileios (the Royal Walk) to the left.

Mosaic floor, Ephesus

A report of our excursion to Pamukkele will be in a future post (8/12/2013).
Other posts on Turkey:

8/18/2014 Ephesus Turkey, Guest Post by Kathryn Mohrman
4/8/2013  Room With a View
8/27/2012  Ephesus: Temple of Artemis
8/20/2012  Letter from Istanbul
8/6/2012  Istanbul: A Food Lover's Delight
5/28/2012  Istanbul:  Museum of Innocence

All text and photos copyright Caroline Arnold.

21 COLLECTIONS at the Los Angeles Public Library: Every Object Has a Story

A life-size elephant made of walnuts dominates the first room of the 21 Collections Exhibit at the Central Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library

From Tom Hanks’ typewriters to a life-size elephant made of walnuts, to bird eggs and photos of men in rows, the 21 Collections exhibit at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles is an amazing variety of the diverse and surprising things that people collect. If you live in the Los Angeles area, and haven’t seen it, it's worth a trip to the library. Truly, every object has a story. 21 Collections will be on view until Sunday, March 24, 2019. Here is a sample of some of my favorites in the exhibit:

Typewriter, one of many in Tom Hanks typewriter collection. This is the first time the collection has been on public view.

Close-up of walnut elephant. This is a reproduction of the first walnut elephant, made by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair from 6100 pounds of large walnuts.

Eggs from the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, home of the world's largest collection of bird eggs and nests.

Anonymous vintage photographs of men in rows.

Artist Karen Collins and one of her dioramas from the African American Museum of Miniatures.

Doll hats collected by Olive Percival.

Straw horse.

Candy wrapper collection.

And these are just samples from the exhibit! They go to show that one can collect just about anything!