Author: Ms. R.

Tucked away in the tree-lined Land Park neighborhood of Sacramento, Vic’s has been a community favorite for generations. Opened in 1947, this ice cream parlor and diner retains its original post-war atmosphere. When you take a seat at the counter, it’s easy to imagine you’re on a movie set, complete with a black-and-white checkered floor and a row of milkshake blenders. In addition to handmade ice cream, malts, and sandwiches, they serve phosphates. A phosphate is a soft drink,……

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Mexico City’s Colonia Obrera carries its reputation right in its name. This colonia (neighborhood) is named after the obreros, a catch-all word that is somewhat concurrent with the “blue-collar worker” in English. Mexican obrero groups most commonly include those involved in professions such as construction work and manufacturing. One of the main manufacturing sectors in the country is that of textiles. For decades, Colonia Obrera has been home to several textile workshops and factories, known as maquiladoras, that are……

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Stalks of green, yellow, creamy white, pale red, and deep purple bend gently in the breeze. I’m standing in a lush, midsummer rice paddy, but the intelligent design of these colorful crops becomes apparent only when I ascend the nearby observation tower. Back in the spring, hundreds of volunteers meticulously planted these shoots to create, over a period of several months, a huge living canvas on which a painting materializes. This year, it’s a scene from Itomichi, a locally……

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Rodrigo González, known as Rockdrigo as well as El Profeta del Nopal (the Prophet of the Nopal Cactus), was one of Mexico’s earliest rock stars. Though he was born in the state of Tamaulipas and few up in Veracruz, after González arrived in Mexico City in 1975 he quickly excelled at portraying the life in the metropolis through song. One of his best-known songs is “Estación del Metro Balderas” (Balderas Subway Station), which deals with a heartbroken man wandering the station……

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An unexpected sight meets visitors to Rathlousdal forest, close to the Danish town of Odder. Surrounded by trees is a large compound with a solid floor and high walls made of stone blocks. The abandoned enclosure is the only remains of a zoo established in the 1800s by a local landowner, Emil von Holstein-Rathlou. Von Holstein-Rathloul had an interest in wild animals and established a zoo in the forest on his estate that was open to the public. He……

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Chiesa di Santa Grata Inter Vites is known as such because the remains of Saint Grata were first buried here. The appellation Inter Vites refers to the fact that the church was once surrounded by vineyards. The original Chiesa di Santa Grata Inter Vites dates back to the 14th-century but was destroyed during the 16th-century. The current building is from the 18th-century, which in a city that has remains of the ancient Roman Empire, is a relatively new addition. The……

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As visitors approach this location, they are immediately greeted by a hulking, bronzed statue of the “Manassa Mauler” himself, heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey. Beyond the statue is the one-room house where William Harrison Dempsey was born in 1895 and raised in Manassa, Colorado. One of several children, Dempsey was determined to do something with his life. As he grew in size and stature, he found himself using his fists to earn a living. He lived a fast and dangerous……

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About 15 years ago, during a fishing expedition off the west coast of Greenland, Danish marine biologist John Steffensen spotted a local hunter in a small boat. A large, voluminous dull-gray shark hung from the boat’s edge. “I kind of went,‘Wow, I’ve never seen a Greenland shark before,’” says Steffensen, who then told the captain of his own ship that he’d love to catch one someday. “And the captain on our boat, he was laughing at me.” Why, the……

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