10 latest experiences http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara en-us Most people don’t think of nature when they think of Manhattan, but if you visit the Big Apple without venturing into the country’s first landscaped public park, you’ve missed a key part of New York life. Central Park spans more than 800 green acres in the midst of concrete and tar, a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the ultimate metropolis. On the early October day I spent there, the sun was shining like it was summer; people played Frisbee and suntanned in bikinis when they should have been rushing from building to building in sweaters and scarves. The park was full of people and dogs enjoying a fine New York Indian summer. One of the delights of Central Park is fairy tale motif that runs throughout the many trails. On the way to Belvedere Castle, my friend and I stopped to look at a map. “Okay,” I said, “we need to pass Strawberry Fields and then turn right at the Swedish Cottage.” How often does one get to say that? Upon turning right at the Swedish ... New York City, United States sara Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:41:20 +0000 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/1064 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/1064 The rolling hills and green mountains of East Tennessee are full of history that I rarely take the time to explore. Recently, however, I decided to check out the 18th-century Trade Faire at Fort Loudon, which was built by the British, at the request of the Cherokee, to protect the frontier from the French and their own Native American allies during the French and Indian War (part of the Seven Years War). The current site is actually a reconstruction since Cherokee and British relations broke down, leading to a siege of the fort. At the time, it was part of the colony of South Carolina but is now Monroe County, Tennessee. The Cherokee capital of Chota (the former location of a smaller town called Tanase, for which Tennessee is named) existed nearby. In fact, just a short walk from Fort Loudon sits a museum in honor of Sequoyah, who created the Cherokee alphabet. The Cherokee were eventually forced to cede their land, and centuries later Tennessee Valley Authority flooded the area ... Fort Loudon, United States sara Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:35:34 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/927 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/927 One of the things every tourist must do while in Greece is check out the ancient sites, and I was particularly keen on seeing those related to Greek goddesses. Since my boyfriend and I were traveling around the Peloponnese, Olympia was an obvious choice. And thank goodness we got the chance to see it, considering the recent wildfires along the peninsula have come dangerously close to destroying the home of the Olympic games. Modern Olympia is small and touristy. It's fine for popping into a shop or grabbing a meal, but don't get bogged down here. Book a room if you must, get whatever foodstuffs you require, and move along to the ancient site, as we did. Ancient Olympia was originally a sanctuary full of temple priests. Even as the games began and grew, the area remained covered with religious statues. We saw the Temple of Zeus, which was once nearly as large as the Parthenon. It's in ruins now, but the massive column drums left lying on the ground leave no question as to its size. ... Archaía Olympía, Greece sara Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:37:12 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/899 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/899 I’ve lived in East Tennessee for twelve years, give or take a few stints elsewhere, and I rarely get over to Gatlinburg. I love visiting the Smoky Mountains, which straddle Tennessee and North Carolina, but Gatlinburg is usually full of tourists and just isn’t my thing. Every once in a while, however, I like to stuff myself with fudge and taffy and watch people airbrush t-shirts. Usually, this happens when my now six-year-old niece comes into town with my family. On the most recent occasion, we drove through Townsend, “the quiet side of the Smokies,” which is becoming steadily less quiet now that the road has been widened to make way for the long line of cars, motorcycles, and RVs heading into the national park, much to the chagrin of the local Cherokee population and environmental activists. If you must follow suit, late summer is a good time to go since school has just started and the fall rush to see the changing leaves has yet to begin. We stopped in the park and climbe... Gatlinburg, United States sara Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:00:45 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/868 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/868 Knoxville-based record label Whisk-Hutzel invaded Bloomington, Indiana, for their War on Ears Festival—twenty bands, one day. I tagged along to see the show and check out Bloomington, a very small city known for its surprising dedication to arts and culture and, of course, Indiana University. The festival was held at the Art Hospital, a mere fifteen-minute walk from the center of town. I walked down Walnut, stopping by a gourmet market called Sahara for some water and finding an impressive selection of international beer, and headed for the Saturday farmers’ market. There must have been forty or fifty vendors, tables laden with brightly colored vegetables like heirloom tomatoes, striped eggplant, and haricot vert. I tasted some homemade cheese and then met up with friends for lunch. Bloomington, United States sara Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:35:13 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/808 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/808 After years of dreaming, I finally got the chance to visit the places Frida Kahlo called home throughout her turbulent life. Her family home, La Casa Azul, is located in Coyoacan, a cheerful suburb in Mexico City, where bougainvillea drapes its magenta blossoms over colorfully painted walls. It’s a private, artful residence with an open floor plan and a cobalt exterior. Traditional handicrafts fill each room, and sculptures adorn the courtyard. On Frida’s bed, the one in which she spent her final months, sits the decorated cast she wore like a corset after a bus pole impaled her in a horrific traffic accident. A few of her paintings hang on the walls. (No pictures were allowed. Sorry!) Frida was interested in communism and helped Leon Trotsky and his wife, Natalia, come to Mexico City after they were exiled from the Soviet Union. Trotsky and Frida became close, and they reportedly had an affair during the brief period the Trotskys lived in La Casa Azul. Nearby is the Trotsky M... Mexico, Mexico sara Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:10:52 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/631 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/631 The winter holiday season in Poland is preceded by a massive amount of flyers and window banners announcing package deals to places like Sharm el-Sheikh and Tunisia. Since we couldn’t afford something so exotic, my boyfriend and I decided to spend New Year’s Eve in Budapest. Our trip was replete with two cramped fifteen-hour bus rides, a room with twin beds, and a tour guide who did not speak English, but we didn’t let that stop us from having fun. After ditching the tour group (and later returning to our room to find that the worried guide had left an indecipherable message written in red ink on our door), we headed out to explore the gorgeous city. Our hotel was in Buda, and we spent a good hour or so trying to figure out how to get across the Danube to a certain part of Pest. Each side has several streets with the same name, so map reading was not simple. We finally made it, however, and strolled happily down Vaci Utca, the old Pest thoroughfare lined with shops and cafes... Budapest, Hungary sara Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:54:45 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/560 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/560 I spent a semester abroad in Swansea, the second-largest city in Wales, which also happens to be the hometown of late poet and heavy drinker Dylan Thomas. Coming from the United States, I was floored by the many opportunities to imbibe alcohol, which I was still a year too young to do legally back home. There was a pub and a club on campus, and at Fresher’s Fair, the event at the beginning of the term during which campus clubs try to recruit members, every other club promised free pints at their first meeting. Coupons for free vodka shots at a local vodka bar specializing in bizarre flavors like chocolate and curry could be found in the campus paper. But what I had to try, what every fresh-faced uni student must submit to at some point, was the Mumbles Mile. This is not the name of an insidious cocktail that leaves the drinker mumbling like a mad person until dawn. Rather, it’s a stretch of pubs and clubs along the coast, twelve to be exact, meaning one pint per stop. Mumbles... The Mumbles, United Kingdom sara Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:41:56 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/559 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/559 Prague is my favorite city in Europe. Having visited in two different decades, once in 1997 and again in 2004, I feel lucky to have seen the remarkably inexpensive and lovely city Prague was before the tourist invasion. Today, despite gads of visitors running around with cameras, Prague, now a remarkably cosmopolitan city where one can hear several languages spoken in the midst of Old Town Square, still retains its irresistible charm. My return trip to Prague coincided with my favorite holiday, Halloween, and I was thrilled to see a few American children in costume. The cobblestone streets and medieval architecture made Prague the perfect spot to celebrate a holiday devoted to ghouls and goblins. On that very evening, my boyfriend and I, on a weekend jaunt from Poland, where we were living at the time, enjoyed mulled wine and roasted nuts as we watched the fifteenth-century astronomical clock tower work its magic, the little figures of Jesus, his disciples, and death rolling out b... Praha, Czech Republic sara Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:29:25 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/558 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/558 A village of 2,000 located just outside of Sparta, Geraki is the birthplace of my grandfather, who lived there until the communists came after him during the Greek Civil War. It was a period of much strife in the Peloponnesian countryside, brother against brother, and my grandfather managed to escape this picturesque town in an army truck one night, eventually finding his way to America. Nearly sixty years later, I returned to the place of his birth, not just the country or the village, but the centuries-old house in which he was born and raised, where my uncle Demetraki still lived with his wife and daughter. My boyfriend and I arrived in Geraki from Sparta at 8 a.m. and wandered into the kafenio on the square to get some coffee and find a distant relative, Kiriakos, the only English-speaking person in town. I don’t speak Greek, so I walked hesitantly up to the bar, looking around at the old men playing backgammon, and said, “Kiriakos?” The man at the bar smiled congenially ... Geraki, greece, Greece sara Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:15:10 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/sara/experience/480 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/480