Author: Ms. R.

Four years ago, I traded in the Midwest for sunny Athens. My wedding there last summer inspired me to learn more about my own cultural traditions, many of which didn’t come on the cross-Atlantic trip with my family when they emigrated. One day, I stumbled across the picture of an elaborately decorated loaf of bread at a Greek church ceremony. That photo was my first introduction to the embroidered breads of Greece. These loaves are often called ploumisto psomi……

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Ōsu is one of the busiest shopping areas of Nagoya as well as one of the “big three” of Japan’s electric towns, considered a hub of otaku subculture alongside Akihabara and Nipponbashi. Consisting of several arcades, Ōsu’s heart lies in Kigakurin Banshōji, a Buddhist temple that’s more than it seems. At first glance, Banshōji may not look much, as it blends in among the shops and restaurants, often unnoticed by tourists. Housed in a five-story concrete building since 1994,……

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Ice cream is a food open to wild experimentation. Unique ice cream flavors can make international headlines, and travelers often go out of their way to try regional specialties. For example, in New England and Nova Scotia, some parlors serve Grape-Nuts ice cream—not as a modern novelty, either. The mixture of vanilla ice cream and Grape-Nuts predates the cereal-milk flavor trend by a century. Grape-Nuts—the crunchy breakfast cereal—are not a decadent ingredient, to say the least. Though they have……

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People take a lot of strange things to nature, so why not miniature water mills? There are several dozen of them along a small mountain stream with an ideal slope, and they are constantly replaced by new ones. The mini-mills are made from materials such as iron, wood, plastic, ceramic, or even electrical printed circuit boards, and some also make sounds. In Czechia, large water mills were once used to grind grain flour, while mechanical energy was obtained using……

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In early 1514, an eager audience gathered in the small central Italian town of Tarquinia, once a powerful Etruscan city. They stormed into the town’s local inn. Those unable to find room inside clambered onto the roof or perched atop neighboring buildings. They were all desperate to get a look at something special, something they had never seen before, desperate enough that the inn’s roof collapsed under their weight, and the “something special” was forced to spend the night……

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Underneath a battle shrine where Filipinos took a stand against Spanish colonial rule lies one of the largest underground reservoirs in the world. Made of volcanic tuff, the underground reservoir held water carried over the waterworks system from the Marikina River before being distributed to various fountains and hydrants in Manila. It was part of the larger Carriedo waterworks designed by Genaro Palacios and built from 1878 to 1882. The infrastructure project was named after Francisco Carriedo y Peredo,……

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The Port Denison Fishermen’s Memorial is a poignant tribute to the lives lost at sea, prominently situated at Leander Point in Port Denison, Western Australia. This memorial features an obelisk that was erected in the late 1800s following the tragic loss of the schooner Swan in 1869. The monument serves as a somber reminder of the perils faced by fishermen and commemorates those who have perished while at sea. Visitors to the Fishermen’s Memorial Lookout are greeted with spectacular……

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“I just felt like running.” In the 1994 classic film, Forest Gump, the titular character decides to make a trek across America on foot. When famously arrives at the Santa Monica Pier, he figures “since he got this far, might as well turn around and just keep on going.”  The next clip of the film, Forest memorably runs across the country to “another ocean,” and can be seen running down the lock dock of a lighthouse. The landmark in……

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