Author: Ms. R.

Vatican City isn’t the only place home to a Sistine Chapel. A smaller, yet similarly beautiful Cappella Sistina, which was also commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV, lies in the heart of the Italian City of Savona. Unlike the more-famous Sistine Chapel, Pope Sixtus IV’s purpose in ordering the construction of this chapel was to build a suitable final resting place for his parents, Leonardo della Rovere and Luchina Monleone. In 1481, work began to alter and amend aspects of the pre-existing……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. What if I told you there was a pasta so special that for more than 300 years pilgrims on the Italian island of Sardinia have trekked 20 miles through the dark just to have a single bowl? What if I told you this pasta was so fiendishly complicated to make that it’s thwarted celebrity chefs and the world’s biggest pasta company? For generations, the art of……

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The Marble Mountains, in California’s Mojave Desert, contain extensive exposures of Cambrian sedimentary rocks. The Cambrian is the oldest unit of the Paleozoic era, extending from about 540-490 million years ago, and is famous as the time when macroscopic fossils with “hard parts” first appeared. The most characteristic fossils of the Cambrian are trilobites, creatures distantly related to insects and crustaceans. Typically they consist of a mineralized head part (the “cephalon”), with segmented middle and tail parts. Because of……

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Tucked off to the side on the third floor of the Washington State Capitol Building, the State Reception Room contains multiple curiosities. Still in use, visitors can walk right onto a 100-year-old carpet that was once supposedly the largest single-loom carpet in existence. Created by the Mohawk Carpet Company of New York in 1928, the giant piece is occasionally rolled up to reveal an antique wooden dance floor underneath. On each far wall of the long hall, vexillophiles will enjoy……

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The legendary Baquet family, whose roots in New Orleans Creole cuisine go deep, have presided over this Treme-based institution for generations. Since the 1940s, the Baquets have run 10 different restaurants in the city. Li’l Dizzy’s is the last one left and despite a devoted local following, the pandemic nearly shut its doors forever. Luckily, after an outpouring of community support, Wayne Baquet Jr. and his wife Arkesha stepped in and purchased the restaurant from his father, Wayne Baquet……

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Since opening on the corner of Oretha Castle Haley Blvd and Euterpe, Café Reconcile has served as a cornerstone for the broader rehabilitation of the Central City neighborhood. Rev. Harry Tompson, S.J., a local pastor, raised the money to purchase and restore the space in the ‘90s. Ever since then, this non-profit has been helping at-risk youths with job readiness and essential life skills through employment and training, so eating here nourishes not just the body, but an entire……

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Located in a former Chevrolet dealership dating back to the 1930s, this 13,000-square-foot, locally owned museum is full of antique automobiles, gas station pumps, store signs, road maps, license plates, and thousands more items of automobile memorabilia. It is said to have the most complete collection of West Virginia licenses. The Cliff Museum of Car Memorabilia is the private collection—and lifetime passion project—of Cliff and Sue Weese, who charge no admission fee for you to stop by and view……

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Looking for fossils in Petrified Forest National Park can be a bit like gambling. When splitting rocks in the badlands of the Painted Desert of northern Arizona there’s often nothing inside. Occasionally, though, “you might win big and find something new to science,” says Adam Marsh, lead paleontologist at the park. Paleontologists have come up lucky recently, with the discovery of a number of new species in the area. These now-extinct amphibians, reptiles, and early mammal relatives provide a……

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If you climb the steep grade to the 3,424 foot knob, you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful view of Lake Chatuge below and mountains in the distance. But first, cresting the top of the hill, you’ll be met with a lot of graffiti. The top of the knob has two rocky peaks. You might think this is a natural wonder, but you’d be wrong: In 1963, men from a nearby North Carolina town thought they could mine the top……

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Ankara does not typically top the itinerary of those visiting Turkey either for its sandy beaches or for the historical sites of its bustling megacity, Istanbul. The relatively unknown capital often serves as a mere transit point for those traveling to or from the nearby Fairy Chimneys of Cappadocia. It could therefore come as surprise to many that the city had once been a bustling Roman metropolis in Asia Minor. Verifiable settlement history of Ankara dates back to the……

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A seemingly typical Javanese village emerges from the slopes of a nondescript hill. Until recently, when the Fridays of the Javanese and Gregorian calendars coincide, believers congregated from around Java for the Pon Festival, an event that has gained widespread notoriety for facilitating ritual extramarital intercourse.  Around 300 years ago, the legend goes, the “prince” of the region fell into an illicit love affair with his stepmother. They would meet in secret on Gunung Kemukus (Mount Kemukus). Both the prince and……

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Despite only being around since 2009, High Hat Cafe exudes a timeless charm and feels wiser than its years. The trick may be in its honest approach to food and hospitality—the meals here are Southern comfort food at its finest, and you’re likely to be greeted as an old friend when you walk through the door. Blame this on Ryan Iriarte, who has been working here since the beginning, and recently purchased the restaurant with another business partner when,……

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