Author: Ms. R.

Adam and Eve stand in the Garden of Eden, both of them faceless. Eve’s ribs are bold slash marks, as if the artist wanted her to appear almost skeletal. But that is not the strangest thing about this faded 13th-century fresco inside France’s medieval Plaincourault Chapel. Between Adam and Eve stands a large red tree, crowned with a dotted, umbrella-like cap. The tree’s branches end in smaller caps, each with their own pattern of tiny white spots. It’s this……

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Between the cities of Umeå and Skellefteå in Northern Sweden, right outside the tiny town of Ånäset, is where you’ll find them: two giant cheese slicers. Leaning on each other, they welcome visitors to an area known as the Kingdom of Cheese. This dairy-wonderland of a name has a lot to do with the locally famous Västerbotten Cheese, which is made only in the nearby village of Burträsk. The cheese slicer, or cheese plane, was invented in 1925 by the Norwegian……

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The bridge is located within the Geopark of Central Catalonia. More than 36 million years ago there was a sea in the geographical heart of Catalonia. The waters fell as the region’s mountain ranges rose, a process that has left behind stunning rock formations. This natural bridge made up of the fossilized remains of ancient sea creatures is one of those spectacular pieces of stone. Les Arnaules Prehistoric Bridge, also popularly known as Pont Foradat (Perforated Bridge), is located near……

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Epidemics were a common occurrence throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire. The city of Athens was generally free from large public health issues during Ottoman occupation, however, in 1789 many of the citizens became concerned when they learned other areas of the empire were suffering from a plague. As the epidemic spread, many elder citizens recommended reviving the Ritual of Periarosis to protect against the epidemic (periarosis is an ancient Greek word for farming plow).  A procession was……

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In a town dotted with magnificent old homes, a National Historic Landmark county courthouse, and the oldest timber-frame house in North America—the most noteworthy structure may be one not much larger than the privies in use when it was built prior to the Revolutionary War. The Dedham Powder House was constructed in 1766 for the town by a group of men including Captain David Fuller and Deacon Nathaniel Kingsbury. Made of brick and lime mortar, the small, sturdy structure……

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A vendor was cutting slices off what looked like the trunk of a tree on his push-cart. This was in Bengaluru, the city in the south Indian state of Karnataka where I live. The core was a creamy white and the skin a brownish-orange. He cut horizontally, in circles, with the precision of a surgeon, so thin that I could see through the pieces. “It’s a root. It can grow five feet deep and 300kg,” he explained, in response……

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Japan is widely known for its world-class toilet culture. Not only has it invented and popularized high-tech toilets, but there are also several public bathrooms across the country worth noting. Some of them are art installations, others are simply quirky or unique.  The women’s restroom at Itabu Station, Chiba Prefecture, is a good example of that and stylizes itself as “the world’s largest bathroom stall.” Officially titled “Toilet in Nature,” the restroom was created by famed Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto……

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Marshall Parks, Sr. was superintendent and chief engineer of the Dismal Swamp Canal Company in the early 1800s. This canal was crafted by hand and was only able to support the passage of small vessels. With the rise of steam-powered ships around 1820, Parks oversaw a project to widen and deepen the canal to accommodate increasingly larger vessels. Upon his passing in 1840, his son Marshall Parks, Jr. inherited the company and built an even larger canal. He benefitted……

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The Treasury Building in Washington, D.C., is the third building that has housed the nation’s center of finance. (The previous two were lost in fires in 1814 and 1833.) While this building has remained standing, it has undergone a number of changes since it was first built, including a significant change to the colonnade that runs the length of the building. Completed in 1842, the third treasury building now forms the East wing of the present structure at 15th……

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