Revolutionary War Encampment

Before the time of the skirmish, I spent more than two hours traipsing through the on-site encampment, complete with families, artisans, soldiers . . . and a rummage sale. Here we see a musician playing instruments of the time period and we see the officer in charge of the loyalist troops as he saluted the squadrons reporting for duty.

Had I decided to become a new recruit, I would not have wondered where to find appropriate clothing and equipment, as several of the campers had contributed items to a rummage sale of items that could be used by a re-enactor, either in battle or out of battle. Having a friend to point out things and discuss the events of the morning made it easy and accessible for me, but truly, no one needs a guide to enjoy the encampment at least as much as the battle. Just locate the encampment on Cantigny's website, show up, open your eyes and ears and you will learn lots. And you will have a great time!

More camp shots in the next post.

Battlefield Casualty

A flow back and forth, a volley, and suddenly casualties mount. The Coldstream Guard I was following is injured. The volley continues and the woman assisting the artillery runs for cover. In a few sudden moments, the skirmish is over.

But as exciting and interesting as the battles are at the Re-enactment, the action covers barely 30 minutes. The rest of the day, however, is as historically interesting and as valuable as the skirmish. The public is invited to visit the encampment, which is where we will go in the coming posts.

Fire When Ready

The skirmish was underway with plenty to see. Both the loyalists (seen here from behind in both photos . . . not just the red-coated Coldstream Guard) and the colonials staked out ground at both ends of the parade field and entered the ground in waves at staggered times. We saw the artillery fire from both sides with of course the loudest noise, and we saw volleys of shots fired from muskets and rifles with the lines of combatants facing each other. We found that the entire line would not fire at the same time, as that would leave that side with no weapons at the ready, so one section would fire while another was reloading.

On a bright sunny day, the sights and sounds were thrilling. More photos in the next post.

Off to the Skirmish

Following our look at the Brigade of Guards on patrol and in formation for firing, all personnel reported to the large parade field at the center of Cantigny Park's main grounds. It was interesting to see Revolutionary War Redcoats parading between 21st-century automobiles in the parking lot.

Among the loyalist brigades was a French group, including the standard-bearer seen here. Time for battle approached; see some of the action in the next post.

Revolutionary War in Wheaton

Over the years I had read about re-enactments, events where a wide range of people gathered together to re-enact battles and skirmishes from historical war periods. Many times I thought I should attend one, but until recently I never had done so. When a friend from Church turned out to be a Coldstream Guard in a Brigade of Guards at an event in the area, I grabbed the camera and went to Cantigny Park in Wheaton.

Rather than trying to re-create a specific battle in history, the group re-created the style and effect of the skirmishes and battles of the times. While the Brigade of Guards seen here is clearly a "red coat" group, many colors of uniform were represented and many details of the battle strategies. It was a day of history and of pageantry and of action. Noise, lots of noise, when the cannon fired. An interesting event that I will attend again.

Here we see the guards on patrol and prepared to fire. More views of the battle at Cantigny in the next post.

Giraffes

Everyone has a personal opinion of best, funniest, prettiest . . . all the immeasurable things that give us our own personal choices. But some comparisons are clear and measurable, and I have always loved watching the tallest of the zoo stars. Always graceful, always slow-moving and deliberate, I like to finish my visit with the giraffes. And with that, we finish our visit to Brookfield Zoo.

From a science topic to a history topic, the Revolutionary War, in the next post.

Prickly Porcupine

Most days I try to find a pair of pictures to upload, either two view of something or a pair that might have some relationship however tenuous. And I looked through the zoo photos twice, but how could I pair with the prickly porcupine? None of my other animal photos wanted to get that close!

More zoo views in the next post.

In the Grotto

One of the best things about well-planned zoo locations would be the chance to see things that truly could never be seen in the wild. I am not thinking about the tigers or the zebras in their habitats, because while it might be difficult and dangerous, there are safaris that might allow an equivalent look at the animal in its true habitat. But the underwater viewing areas in such zoos allow a look that simply could not exist in any other place.

Brookfield has a large, pleasant grotto with huge windows for underwater watching. Be they sharks, sea lions, or any other swimming animals, the view is incredible and the grace the animals exhibit is truly something worth seeing.

More zoo animals in the next post.

More Large Zoo Stars

In most zoos, the gorilla house or habitat will be put together with one of the largest viewing areas. People will always find time to stop and watch as these are among the most popular attractions. Is it a sign of evolution? I doubt it; people are not looking at the past, they are looking at the present. And as much as we might love zebras and tigers, we see nothing reminiscent of humans. When we look at the gorilla house, how could we fail to see the resemblance to us? The general shape, the relationships, the motherly love; the youth swinging from vines or ropes and having a wonderful time. It all looks so . . . so normal, so human.

Brookfield Zoo has a wonderful habitat. With great viewing locations. So here we are with my 250th post already! More big Brookfield stars in the next post.

Color Opposites

What a wonderful contrast! In the gift shop, a wonderful umbrella/parasol full of warm color and featuring a leopard. But out in the yard, a powerful zebra, who managed to stand still in that exact position for over fifteen minutes. I looked around the area and kept returning to Mr. Stripe in case an action would develop. It never did. I still love the stripes!

More from Brookfield in the next post.

Limited Time Only

During 2009 a special exhibit of dinosaurs has been entertaining children and adults alike. A meandering walk on the dinosaur path brings us by several huge specimens, here only until Halloween. Will they then once again become extinct? One might assume that these display animals are only animatronics, like something from Disney World, but if that is true, why would they display the real sign seen here?

A colorful item at the zoo in the next post.

Classy in Stripes

At most zoos, patience can result in some excellent pictures. If you walk by a particular exhibit too quickly, you might decide that nothing is going on. But if you wait and look, often one of the animals might also be waiting, and looking. And you might have an unimpeded look at the tiger.

A very different sort of large specimen in the next post.

Big Stars of Brookfield

The biggest stars of the zoo, of course, are the brown bears and the elephants. What could be bigger on land? Our bear does not look as ferocious as, say, a Chicago Bear linebacker, but then he did not see a football on the ground or any fresh meat in his eyesight. I assume he could be out of the pond and on the hunt if either of those appeared.

Of course in Chicago there have been suggestions that both Lincoln Park and Brookfield would be better served by not housing elephants at all, as some suggest that recent illnesses and deaths were caused by the Midwest winter temperatures. It is hard to argue that this might not be the case, but both zoos would be lessened by the absence of the noble beasts.

More zoo shots in the next post.

Polar Bears

Always loved the Polar Bears, even before they became some of the logo animals for my favorite soft drink, Coca-Cola. Just something about the look, the size, the limber movement of the giant bodies.

About the look: everyone knows that a polar bear is white. Despite that, look again. The beige and the green, clear when you look for them, helps to define the color and give it weight. Anyone knows that fur getting wet all the time will discolor or shrink or something, right?

Different bears in our next post.

Closer to Home

A photographer need not cross nine time zones to find great shots. Brookfield Zoo, only a half-hour from home, is a favorite location for families, for animal lovers, for photographers. In many cases, one person fits all those categories.

We took the grandchildren there in June, and I had gone there alone on a cold winter morning. We will look at some of the animals and sights in the next few posts, starting with a polar bear.

Auf Wiedersehen Europe

Our luncheon complete and our shopping trip finished, we trooped back to our tour bus to leave Hamburg, with a bus back to Kiel and an overnight cruise return to Copenhagen. We knew that our SAS flight home would be waiting for us the next afternoon. After the longest vacation in our lives, it was time to head home. Across the walk from where our bus waited, I saw the hand graffito seen here, and I high-fived it before boarding.

Rather than explain or reminisce about the final image from the trip, I thought I would post a handful of poems from the days of the departure and immediately after. The only note here is to explain that folks do not say "good bye" in German: "auf wiedersehen" means "until I see you again."

Auf Wiedersehen, Europe!




AUF WIEDERSEHEN HAMBURG

We looked at the Rathaus, we saw the canal and its locks;
We noticed large homes with manicured lawns and gardens and
We rode round both lakes created by and for the canals.
We remarked about how different from crowded Berlin it was;
We noted how graffiti-free it seemed in comparison.
We checked out the Reeperbahn and the Beatles statuary and
We had long tasty Bratwurst and Beer aboard a tall-mast museum.
Most of all we had a local guide, filled with stories and jokes; we
Met shopkeepers and other Hamburgers with such smiling faces
That as I leave Hamburg and say ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ I mean it.
Literally.




NOT SO DIFFERENT AFTER ALL

Corn or beans, wheat or canola in field after field,
Cows or horses in every pasture we pass by,
Sunshine and puffy white clouds on bright blue skies,
Cold beer and tasty red wine with lots of hot food,
Dozens of museums and public buildings and statues,
People who respond to a smile and a thank you.
Eight countries away from home and nine hours early
Only to learn once again we are not so different after all.



LONG LIST

Eight countries, 18 days, 7600 pictures taken and sorted,
Rough drafts of 29 poems onto the laptop on the way home.
So why am I intent on returning to Northern Europe?
After spending some cruise time in Mediterranean areas,
Will I ever want to see some of these same countries?
Yes, indeed: Let me count the ways I wish to return:
Kensington Palace, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh.
Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Museums, Normandy,
Most of the Louvre. Paris and Berlin at night, lit up.
Stockholm’s suburban palace, lots of Tallinn haunts.
St. Petersburg’s hundred palaces and excesses not seen.
Sparakoff’s Beer Tram in Helsinki. All of Amsterdam.
More of West Germany, Belgium, perhaps little Luxembourg.
The long list of things we were not able to make time for
On our breath-taking two-and-a-half-week whirlwind tour.

That list, along with pretty much everything we did see,
Which we could stand to see again. And again.





THANKS, EUROPE

Little words we teach our kids can certainly mean a lot:
Most of the trip was in England or on the cruise ship,
Places where “thanks” is easy to use and well-accepted.
The word-lover in me made me try “merci” in Paris,
“Danke” in Berlin and again later in Hamburg.
Each use earned me an appropriate reply, returning the
Respect my choice had given the Frenchman or the German.
In Russia I tried a word I confess to having learned from a
Billy Joel concert album; several times I said “spassib” and
Again received respect, Russian this time, from the beautiful
Human beings I had the pleasure to visit.

Aboard the Yacht

The morning of our last day on the continent included a luncheon and some time for souvenir shopping. While we had found some souvenirs for the grandchildren in Denmark and Sweden, we were looking for some Germany items as well. We were told we would have an hour after lunch, which was about 45 minutes more than we had spent on the quest for the perfect toy.

Meanwhile, we were dropped off at a wonderful restaurant aboard a yacht now tied to the dock permanently. Thuringer-style bratwurst (I did not know there was such a thing) and cold beer were wonderful. The search for souvenirs was not so wonderful. Traipsing over seven blocks of shops filled with postcards and not much more, we did finally find a small shop with some trinkets and got back to the bus in time.

My so-long, not good-bye, to the continent in the next post.

Different Neighborhoods

We saw the narrowest street in Hamburg in the last post, and we return there for a shot that is not an optical illusion -- the second story windows are truly close enough for folks to visit window to window in a normal speaking voice, or to be able to toss an apple to a friend, gently. At the further end of the street, a taller high-rise of four stories completely closes the vista, making this street the coziest street I have ever seen.

Back on the bus, we drove downtown to more familiar architecture, the clearly European-feeling array of buildings in a rank along a river or canal, each with its own color. We will visit an interesting restaurant in the next post.

Narrowest Street

A short walk took us to the narrowest street in Hamburg, certainly the narrowest street I have ever seen, in a quaint part of the city. The many tour groups intending to visit the street were staggered in their time as there was room for fewer than 50 people to crowd into the street and look around. The only way out was back the way we came, with another group trouping in.

The entire street was picturesque, but I loved the double twisting chimney. Wonder if it can blow smoke rings?

Rathaus

More views of the exterior of the Rathaus, the main governmental meeting and office building, and of the fountain in the courtyard. After all the historical capitols we had visited, as mentioned in an earlier post, we were impressed at the ornate and beautiful sculpture, architecture, and fountains in Hamburg.

More from Hamburg in the next post.

Hamburg's Downtown

Having raced down the Reeperbahn, our bus took us to the government center area downtown, centered around the Rathaus. The 'meeting house' as it translates, it is a wonderful meeting of ceremony and efficiency. Still a government building and meeting place, it has statuary and decor harking to the past.

Since Hamburg was the final stop on our 18-day, 8 country odyssey, it was imperative that the sights we saw were powerful and interesting. Six of the previous cities are major world capitols and St. Petersburg was previously an additional capitol. Hamburg was the last stop, and it had to be excellent to stand up to comparison and fatigue.

It stood up quite well. More downtown pictures in the next post.

On the Reeperbahn

Our final stop dropped us off in Kiel for a bus ride to Hamburg. As I had not been able to visit Liverpool while I was in the UK, I was hoping to see some of the area where the young unknown Beatles played in 1962. Our tour was the Hamburg Top Ten, and my fingers were crossed.

It turns out that the famed Reeperbahn, kind of a tame place in bright daylight, is in a pretty rough neighborhood at night, and since the Star Club no longer exists, all we did was drive down the avenue and see where the Star Club had been. Look closely and you will see four figures in outline, a shiny outdoor statue as a reminder of the Beatles in Hamburg. As we were driving by on the street, I shot and hoped as we saw the artwork from behind.

On the left you see Paul McCartney, the left-handed bassist, with Ringo Starr at his drum kit immediately next to him. Further, centered, you see George Harrison playing lead with John Lennon at the far right, in his characteristic athletic stance, perhaps shouting out the lead vocal on Twist and Shout. While it was not much, it was enough to count it as a Beatles visit!

Wild Goose Chase

One of the things I looked for on my Europe trip was the interesting shot of the buildings in each city. Some had that perfect look, the one that simply looks European. I like the one here because it shows the multiple tram wires overhead, the location of our wild goose chase.

We signed up for a shorter tour, which was wonderful, because it would drop us off downtown with some time on our own. A Samantha Brown visit to Helsinki on Travel Channel had clued us in that the multiple tram lines were easy to use as transit OR as sightseeing, but there was one particular sightseeing tram we just had to find. Sparakoff, the local beer, sponsors it and it offers a 45-minute circle of the downtown area with views of all the sites. The Beer Tram also has a bar aboard, and everyone is invited to have a cold draft. Sounded exciting, and it was.

Trying to speak English to Finnish people was not very successful. Most understood we were asking about trams but none knew about the Sparakoff or the Beer Tram. We walked, we tried to read schedules, and we finally found our way to a tram terminal where we located a tourist information office. One with an English speaker. She knew the Beer Tram and in fact gave us the flyer shown here. She also knew where and when it ran.

It does not run on Sunday. So the wild goose chase was over and in a way it was as interesting as if we had gotten aboard. Trying to talk to people with helpful looks on their faces, walking and looking: it was a tiring but enjoyable event in its own way. And if we ever get back to Helsinki, we will try to be there on a Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule.

Next post will be on to Hamburg.

Inside the Rock

"Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock . . ." In the book of Isaiah, the prophet indicates that God consider himself the Rock, the solid base for life. Inside the powerful grotto that the Lutheran Church has built in Helsinki, it is easy to see how wonderful a place it must be to worship. The feeling of strength is clear, the sound of quiet strength is massive. Light pours in through the skylights and reflects onto the copper ceiling, a work of art of its own.

In the tour guidebook, it sounded like an interesting oddity. In actuality, the Rock Church was another in a series of wonderful, positive surprises we found in Europe. A poem:

ROCK IN HELSINKI

Neighbors accepted the proposed church in Lutheran Helsinki;
Arguing only that they preferred not to have a tall cathedral
Right in the middle of their downtown. Problem was solved
When they blasted one out of the solid granite under the city.
Inside on a sunny summer midday, all the congregation gone,
Buses full of tourists file through to see the creative result.
This fortunate parish wound up with a big-city Lutheran grotto,
A holy place where we were proud to light a candle.

Next post: chasing wild geese in Helsinki.

Rock Church

The story, as our tour guide told it, was that a new church was planned in the north section of the city of Helsinki. Residents had no complaint about the location of the church but were not happy if the facility were to be a tall building with high visibility. And the area where the Church was planned was an area of large rocky formations. Sounds like a real controversy until you arrive to see the result.

Apparently, everyone won in this situation as they blasted and dug the Church out from inside the rock. Called the Rock Church, this Lutheran Church runs a full slate of services every week in Finnish and also offers a 2:00 PM service in English. If our tight tour schedule had allowed it, I would have been most pleased to attend that service. If occasion sends us back to Helsinki on a Sunday in the future, the service will be pre-planned on our schedule.

What they have built is a beautiful hollow grotto in the rock. We will look at a couple more photos from the Rock in the next post.

Sibelius & the Sky

We looked at the traditional viewpoint for the Sibelius monument in the previous post, but I think the reason I remember the monument so powerfully is that it is inviting and open to exploration. As I climbed up and through the pedestal, I saw the bright blue sky and some wispy Sunday clouds as the background. Some monuments are nice enough to look at but this one wants to show off the sky, the openness, and the beauty of the area.

Tell me another composer who has a monument so active and so alive; if you can do so, I will put that city on my travel list!

Next post visits a Lutheran Church in a special location.