Author: Ms. R.

This restaurant-and-museum features railroad memorabilia, historic artifacts, explorable train cars, and a set of miniature trains that chug from room to room on toy railways suspended from the ceiling. The Whistle Stop Restaurant serves typical American fare, including standards such as burgers and sandwiches, along with a few more interesting selections, such as peppermint milkshakes. You may get lucky and find that your meal gets served with a complimentary dish of ice cream. But the real attractions at the……

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It’s a great place for a flesh-eater to hide out, unnoticed. British Columbia’s Cypress Provincial Park, overlooking West Vancouver to the south, has beautifully droopy yellow cypresses, with mountain hemlock and silvery fir for neighbors. Warblers, ravens, hawks, and woodpeckers fly above heathers, huckleberries, and ferns, where black bears, weasels, and coyotes pad past. Amid this profusion of life, a plant called Triantha occidentalis, or the western false asphodel, quietly waits to feast—though humans didn’t know what it was……

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Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 song “Alice’s Restaurant” is a staple of Americana, one that has been synonymous with Thanksgiving ever since a radio station played the nearly 20-minute antiwar tune on the holiday. Deep within the Berkshires, however, Alice’s Restaurant is not just a simple folk tune, but also refers to its inspiration: a popular cafe that actually went by a different name. In reality, the place was never called Alice’s Restaurant. It was called The Back Room, but it was indeed Alice’s……

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Tucked away in the bustling streets of Nairobi is a nice, serene, public park. At first glance, it may not look that different from most urban parks in the world but you’ll soon come across its unique inhabitants—hundreds of Sykes’ monkeys that call this place home.  The park is maintained by a group of volunteers called Friends of City Park and there are several donation boxes located throughout the area. In addition, the park is located very close to……

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The sight of steamed parcels of pulverized corn, tightly bound in their husks, often misleads Nepalis as they pass by. At restaurant Raithaane’s stall at a farmers’ market, south of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, the dish has been served since hariyo makkai (sweet corn) came into season. Served alongside achaar, a catch-all term for ferments and pickles, the dish hails from Eastern Nepal, not, as many locals would assume, Central America. They’re not tamales, they are langkucha. The ancient city……

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Nepali cuisine is often depicted or known for—especially abroad—only a few dishes, such as momos, dumplings, and dal bhat, a staple meal of lentil soup, rice, pickles, mixed vegetables, and occasionally meat.  But Raithaane has neither momos nor dal bhat, nor does it serve much resembling the food found in restaurants around Kathmandu. The diverse menu includes pork-rich dishes from Eastern Nepali communities, stews from northern Sherpas, black lentil patties from the west, and battered deep-fried vegetables from the south. Opened……

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It’s All Good Bakery in Oakland is a simple red-and-white storefront, serving up such treats as sweet potato pie, 7-Up pound cake, fruit cobblers, and banana pudding. Along with baked goods, the bakery also displays a wall of photographs and periodical covers devoted to the history of the Black Panther Party. The tribute is only appropriate. On January 2, 1967,  the site where the bakery now sits became the first official office of the Black Panthers. In fact, the bakery……

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This large steel megaphone is a piece of public art inspired by Spanish freedom activist Dolores Ibárruri, who was lovingly called “La Pasionaria.” She stood up for people during the Spanish Civil War and gave igniting speeches in radio broadcasts and to the soldiers in trenches using a loudspeaker. The huge megaphone in Brussels was unveiled in 2006. It’s the work of artist Emilio Lopez-Menchero, who dedicated the sculpture to all migrants to Belgium. It calls for spontaneous self-expression……

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On May 23, 1770, Captain James Cook and the crew of the HMS Endeavour dropped anchor off the coast of what would become the state of Queensland, coming ashore onto a small peninsula on the continent of New Holland— now present-day Australia. Cook wrote of the excursion in his journal: “In the AM I went a shore with a party of men in order to examine the Country … as yet we had seen no people but saw a great deal of……

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