Aside from having a German meal in Chicago, there was only one other must-do for me: seeing The Bean.
The sculpture’s official name is “Cloud Gate” and was created by Anish Kapoor. The stainless steel sculpture is located in Millennium Park east of Michigan Avenue.
Standing in front of the sculpture is kind of like standing in front of funhouse mirrors with the curves distorting the image. It was lots of fun to admire the curving buildings and elongated or squashed bodies in the reflection.
The Utah State Capitol Building sits high on a hill looking over downtown Salt Lake City and the southern Salt Lake Valley area. 
The beehive is the state symbol and appears frequently in logos across the state. The state highway signs feature a beehive, along with the beehive and being “busy as a bee” also as a symbol of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. The Mormon word Deseret, which comes from the Book of Mormon and means “honeybee,” appears on many church-run organizations, such as Deseret Industries, similar to Goodwill, and the Deseret News, a newspaper. The Mormons also applied for statehood in 1849 under the name Deseret. This bid was rejected. Even so, the word has a big history with this state, and the industriousness of the Mormon settlers has been a great influence.
View south from capitol
Having already lived in a country that was previously run by a church — in Austria with the Catholic church — it makes me wonder about the capitol building’s placement and size. It is not in the heart of downtown, as you can see by the above picture, and what you cannot see in this photo is the Salt Lake Temple at Temple Square, the headquarters of the Mormon church.
In Salzburg, Austria, you could tell the church’s importance by the size of its buildings compared to the tiny city hall, which makes me wonder about a possible statement the designers of the Utah State Capitol Building were trying to make with its position, size and resemblance to the U.S. Capitol Building.
The Statue of Liberty is closing Friday for a year’s worth of repairs, which is the inspiration for this Wednesday photo. Friday is also the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the French gift by Pres. Grover Cleveland. 
I have seen Lady Liberty a few times throughout my life, including nearly every day in summer 2008. The first was in 1999 on a Girl Scout trip to New York City. When I think of the statue, this is what comes to my mind.
I'm wearing the foam Statue of Liberty crown in the crown!
I don’t think I’ve worn that crown since that day (I posed in pictures at ground level with the crown, too), but it was pretty funny. Now that the crown has reopened, I would be tempted to do it again. I bet you can’t lean out the windows anymore like that guy in the white shirt behind us, though.
To read more about the upcoming closure and construction, read this story by Time: Sorry, Tourists: Statue of Liberty Will Close for a Year.
Liberty Island will be open throughout the construction. But always remember that the Staten Island Ferry is free and offers spectacular statue views from the water. There’s a pretty nice viewing area at the Ikea in Red Hook, Brooklyn, too.
Last night, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, “The Sound of Music” debuted on the Landestheater stage in Salzburg. This is the first time the musical has been produced live on stage in the town where the movie was filmed.
Salzburg has a love-hate relationship with this famous Julie Andrews movie. The story has been changed from what really happened to the von Trapp family (for instance, they did not hike out of Salzburg but instead took the train), and the Salzburgers and Austrians really are not too happy with the changes.
But the movie brings so much tourism to the city. There are all sorts of “Sound of Music” tours and the sights from the movie are available for everyone to see.
So finally, you can see a live-action, full performance of the musical in the city where it all began. Prior to this, there was a marionette performance of parts of the movie, which I never saw, because like the Salzburgers, I am a bit of a traditionalist.
I never went on any of “The Sound of Music” tours because I really did not want to be herded around in a big group of Americans or ride a big bus from sight to sight. Instead, I saw the sights on my own, mainly for free, with my knowledge and love for the movie as my guide.
The Sound of Music: My own "I Have Confidence" moment
Below you will find a post originally from March 2, 2010, about 12 “Sound of Music” songs and there corresponding sights in Salzburg. After that, I will show you a couple of other movie sights as well.
In Salzburg, music can be found everywhere. That’s a good thing, because “The Sound of Music” was filmed there. Take this tour of the sights by song, and you may just find yourself singing a tune or acting out a scene or two.
Visitors to Salzburg should be aware that Austrians generally are not familiar with “The Sound of Music.” They know of it, but do not know anything other than it brings the city lots of tourist dollars. The movie is the story of an Austrian nun who was a governess to a Naval officer widower. They marry but do not stay in Salzburg for long. When Adolf Hitler comes to power, the von Trapps decide to flee. The movie tells the story of Maria von Trapp through song, and here are twelve places in Salzburg inspired by those songs.
“Maria”
Maria von Trapp’s actual abbey is in the Altstadt neighborhood of Nonntal, with Nonnberg Abbey on the Mönchsberg mountain just below the fortress. Enter the abbey through a wrough-iron gate and open intricately carved wooden doors into the nave. It’s chilling and peaceful and almost always tourist-free. Outside, admire the Alps to the south.
“I Have Confidence”
Strut across Residezplatz to the Residence Fountain with a giant Triton and horses and confidently splash your hand in the fountain. Here, you can take a Fiaker ride, and the horse-drawn carriages and drivers have not changed much in the years since the film. The cathedral is also located here, at Domplatz. Its soaring ceilings with hundreds of murals and the five organs are a sight to see.
“Sixteen Going On Seventeen”
The gazebo used in the film during this scene with Liesl and Rolf and later in “Something Good,” the love song between Maria and the captain, was shipped back to Salzburg after filming was complete in Hollywood and placed in the gardens at Schloss Hellbrunn. Take Bus 25 to get here to visit the ample grounds at this palace of Markus Sitticus, one of Salzburg’s former prince archbishops. After touring the trick fountains that spray water at unsuspecting guests, walk down Hellbrunner Allee to see Schloss Frohnburg, the palace used in the film as the front of the von Trapp house.
“Climb Ev’ry Mountain”
To climb the mountain the von Trapps climb to escape to Switzlerland, ride the same Bus 25 to its final stop at the Untersbergbahn in St. Leonhard, a small village just outside of Salzburg. The cable car takes riders up 2.5 kilometers to a height of 1776 meters. The summit is another 196 meter climb. If the von Trapps would have climbed this mountain to escape (they really took the train to Italy), they ironically would have been headed in the direction of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden, Germany, one of his main work stations during the years of the Third Reich.
“My Favorite Things”
Maria takes the children into town after they sang about their favorite things. One of their stops is at the Universitätsplatz market. Area farmers bring their produce, cheese, sausage and desserts to this market every day except Sunday, so this square bustles from early morning until early afternoon with residents shopping for organic goods and tourists admiring the wide range of colors, sights and smells. Shop around for a picnic lunch and then cross Mozartsteg, a white metal bridge used in the movie, and pick out a spot on the grassy Salzach riverbank to eat and rest like the locals.
“Do-Re-Mi”
Mirabell Gardens, the most iconic sight in the film, is where the children run through gardens singing, along with dancing through a vine-covered tunnel, tapping dwarves on their heads, skipping around a fountain with a Pegasus statue and end the song running up a set of steps. The view from these steps is outstanding — flowers lead to fountains which lead to baroque buildings ending with a direct view of the Festung.
“The Lonely Goatherd”
Visitors to Salzburg have two opportunities to see performances of their favorite “Sound of Music” songs. Tourists can see a marionette version of the production at the Landestheather or attend a dinner theater performance of songs from the movie, along with opera and Mozart pieces, at the Sound of Salzburg Dinner Show at the Sternbräu restaurant.
“Edelweiss”
Maria and Georg, along with the children, sang “Edelweiss” on the stage in the Felsenreitschule as their final song before leaving Austria to escape the Nazis. The hall looks just as it did in the film, so the Nazis standing in all of the arches surrounding the stage and an audience full of Austrians singing along are easily envisioned. Tours of the three-hall performance complex are available daily at the Festspielhaus at 2 p.m., with added tours at 3:30 p.m. in June and September and also at 9 a.m. in July and August.
“So Long, Farewell”
The cemetery at St. Peter’s Church is filled with plots for Austrians (and one American) marked by black, iron crosses and decorated with flowers and candles. The graves are extremely close together and rents are due every ten years. When rent isn’t paid, the grave is dug up and someone new is buried. At the edges of the cemetery are gated graves that were used as the basis for the graves the von Trapps hide behind at the beginning of their escape from Austria.
Some other sights from in and around Salzburg that you may recognize:
The Sound of Music: Front of SOM house
The Sound of Music: Schloss Leopoldskron, the back of the SOM house
The Sound of Music: Schloss Leopoldskron's gate and the Untersberg
The Sound of Music: Pferdeschwemme (horse bath)
The Sound of Music: Mondsee Pfarrkirche, the wedding church
I just sent out a handful of cards to use up my Ohio postcards, so I am hopeful of having a postcard or two waiting for me in my Utah mailbox when I arrive.
First up in this batch is a card from Beijing, China’s Beihai Park. The sender even wanted to be a journalist, but has since decided upon another trade.
And check out this awesome Beethoven stamp!
Second is a Moscow postcard of a view of the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael.
I like that Katya wishes me many postcards in my mailbox. I may start writing that on my postcrossing postcards because I love the surprise postcards that arrive in my mailbox!
When I first started this blog I posted about places in Ohio I would like to visit. I have visited some of them since then, but there are still many places on my list. Now as my time here is dwindling (it’s down to one week!), there are sights and sounds around the state I want to spotlight. Some are old-time favorites, others I have been introduced to only recently and the rest are places on my to-do list. These places include restaurants, museums, gardens and other institutions, all reasons why I truly do love this state.
My last installment was Franklin Park Conservatory. Up this week is Warren’s Dave Grohl Alley.
A few weeks ago I learned that Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters singer and former Nirvana drummer, was born and raised in Warren, my hometown. It is sad that I did not know this and that the town itself isn’t spotlighting its famous former citizens. As I continued reading about him, I found out that there is an alley named after him in town that is filled with murals and paintings of him, about the Foo Fighters and Nirvana, and of general music themes. He even came to town in 2009 and sang at the alley’s dedication ceremony.
When I went home last weekend, I made it a point to head downtown and check out the alley that is located behind East Market Street on the Courthouse Square block between Main and Park avenues where there are street signs that say “David Grohl Alley.”
The art was really nice and the paintings hanging on the backs of buildings seemed to be aging well. 
The paintings on the ground were not fairing as well, but that’s expected when you can walk on them.
I was pretty excited that the art in the alley included so many paintings. Watch the slideshow below to check out the rest of the Dave Grohl art in the alley.
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In one week I was up before sunrise on two days. This is pretty much unheard of in my life. But when there are worthy causes, getting up when it is still dark out it isn’t too difficult. I was up early to catch a flight to Salt Lake City. Then, I was up at dawn to see the sunrise at Bryce Canyon National Park a couple of days later.
Sunrise at Bryce Canyon National Park is definitely worth the struggle. Getting the campsite closest to the rim trail helps, too.
Dawn is lovely. Then you get to watch the sun rise above the rocks in the east.
And then the sun’s rays light up the amphitheater walls of the national park.
And finally, if you are like me, you can hike back to your tent full of happiness and sleep for a few more hours until a much more appropriate time to get up.
When I visited a friend in Chicago last month, I couldn’t help but visit the Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece now owned by the University of Chicago. 
I first visited the Robie House as a freshman in high school on a trip to Chicago where my parents willingly took me to many of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings in and around Chicago. I loved Wright’s style and at that point in high school, I still wanted to be an architect and attend his architecture school in Arizona. I still think that would be something amazing to do.
This beautiful day in August, though, did not include a tour of the house, even though the restoration of the house was recently finished. I could not decide if I wanted to, because when I toured the inside years ago I couldn’t see all of its splendor. The home was still in the process of being returned to its original state after it had been converted to a dormitory, which absolutely breaks my heart when I think that someone thought it was a good idea to destroy Wright’s work. He built his houses with furniture intact, so that everything was the way it was supposed to be, whether you liked it or not.
When I first started this blog I posted about places in Ohio I would like to visit. I have visited some of them since then, but there are still many places on my list. Now as my time here is dwindling, there are sights and sounds around the state I want to spotlight. Some are old-time favorites, others I have been introduced to only recently and the rest are places on my to-do list. These places include restaurants, museums, gardens and other institutions, all reasons why I truly do love this state.
My last installment was the Hancock Historical Museum and Back Street Festival. Up this week is Columbus’ Franklin Park Conservatory.
Sunset Tower
I love glass art and glass blowing. I loved blowing my own glass, too, when I had the chance during glass classes at Bowling Green State University.
When I studied abroad in Salzburg, one of the places I most wanted to visit was Venice, because of its history of glass. When someone asks me what I want to see in Washington, my answer is Tacoma, not Seattle, because Tacoma is home to the Museum of Glass.
I could sit for hours while mesmerized by glass artists at work, which happened for a bit at the Franklin Park Conservatory. What attracted my attention to this museum of gardens was that Dale Chihuly had just held an exhibition there, and many of his indoor pieces of blown glass were left on display, interacting with the plants, animals and water in exhibits.
On display are pieces somewhat shaped like plates that make up the “Persian Ceiling,” spikes of “Green Grass,” floating orbs and a variety of chandeliers.
Floating orbs
To see more photos of Chihuly glass at the Franklin Park Conservatory, click the photo below.
Chihuly chandelier
I like reproductions of things to be true to the original. Books, movies, food, beer and even Oktoberfest.
I have been there, which by no means makes me a foremost authority in any degree, but I know what it’s like (Read Oktoberfest: O’zapft is!).
At the Oktoberfest entrance gate with my Lebkuchen necklace
And by default, I know what it isn’t like.
Oktoberfest is not very authentically represented by the variety of Oktoberfests in the U.S. Ohio has a very large amount of people of German heritage, so one would think that you could find someone who knows something about Oktoberfest or Germany, Austria or Switzerland to help you with your event.
Even if you cannot find someone to tell you about the Munich Oktoberfest, you could do some research.
One of the first things you would learn is that Oktoberfest does not include the letter “C.” October in German is written Oktober with a “K.” There is also no capital “F” because the event title is all one word.
The Oktoberfest here in Findlay got the “K” right, but not the “F,” so it is spelled “OktoberFest.”
The next thing you should know is that Oktoberfest begins in mid-September and concludes after the first weekend in October. Here’s why:
The historical background: the first Oktoberfest was held in the year 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race. In the following years, the celebrations were repeated and, later, the festival was prolonged and moved forward into September.
By moving the festivities up, it allowed for better weather conditions. Because the September nights were warmer, the visitors were able to enjoy the gardens outside the tents and the stroll over “die Wiesen” or the fields much longer without feeling chilly. Historically, the last Oktoberfest weekend was in October and this tradition continues into present times. (Oktoberfest dates and general facts)
Oktoberfest in Munich begins this Saturday (Sept. 17, 2011) at noon and continues until Oct. 3.
Inside Hofbräu Festzelt
Fortunately, German beer is readily available in the U.S., so having the right beer to drink happens, although proper pouring techniques and glasses do not always prevail. I am also not always satisfied with American breweries’ takes on a Hefeweizen, but Shiner in Texas does make it right.
Food, on the other hand, is not always so successful, whether it is at Oktoberfest or a German restaurant. I tend to blame my discontent with some German restaurants on the idea that perhaps the food is based off a more northern German region rather than southern, which eliminates some of the food I expect to be on the menu. But Oktoberfest happens in southern Germany, so the food should be distinct to southern German.
Another problem with food is that some parts of dishes just are Americanized. For instance, at the German-American Festival in Toledo, I was able to order a schnitzel sandwich, but it was served on an American hamburger bun. In Austria, it would be served on a Semmel, something shaped similarly to a kaiser roll, but has a hard and flaky crust. At the Cleveland Labor Day Oktoberfest (which is in early September), I ordered a schnitzel sandwich that was served with thick-cut slices of some wonderful white bread. Also not totally traditional, but still tasty. It was easily the best schnitzel I have had outside of a German-speaking country, excluding the one I had at Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas because that is an imported German restaurant.
Cleveland Labor Day Oktoberfest schnitzel
An additional problem with food is that people do not always know what the German or Austrian version of a food is. Maybe you grew up in a house where schnitzel or goulash was served regularly. But that does not mean that what you grew up with is authentic to the region around Munich or anywhere close, for that matter. I have had people ask me about both of those dishes and what they traditionally contain. I have also had to explain that not all schnitzel is Wiener Schnitzel! Please, take note:
Although the traditional Wiener schnitzel is made of veal, it is now often made of pork [or turkey or chicken]. When made of pork, it is often called Schnitzel Wiener Art in Germany. In Austria, by law it has to be called Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein (vom Schwein meaning from pork or pig)to differentiate it from the original. In Austria and Germany, the term Wiener Schnitzel is protected by law, and any schnitzel called by that name has to be made from veal. (Wikipedia’s Schnitzel page)
Another food example is Spätzle. First, it would be nice if Americans could learn how to pronounce this word for a type of egg noodle (listen here). In German, the “E” gets pronounced like “uh” rather than not pronounced at all. Over the past couple of weeks, not only have I heard this word mispronounced a handful of times, but I have also heard someone talk about how he is going to make some “Spetzel, that fried noodle.” Umm, no. It is dough that is dropped into boiling water. No oil or skillet needed.
There are plenty of other things I could point out, but I think by now you get the point. Although I can’t go without mentioning a new “Octobeerfest” where I grew up. The festival features food from Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece and others, along with keg tossing, cigar seminars, kissing booths, a monster truck show, beer gardens, apple bobbing, a lumberjack competition, corn hole, polka, bluegrass and disco music, and more. Honestly, if you can’t find something you like at this festival, then I don’t know what to tell you.
And here’s what I want you to get from this post: Oktoberfest might be a giant party where millions of liters of beer are sold, women dress in dirndls and men dress in lederhosen, people dance on tables, and everyone consumes pretzels, gingerbread hearts and strudel.
Dancing on tables
But it isn’t that simple.
There is more to the Germans, Austrians and Swiss than just Oktoberfest. Yes, they are those things embodied in what Oktoberfest is, but they do not eat sausage and potatoes every day just like Americans do not eat pizza or McDonald’s every day.
I love that so many people honor Oktoberfest by planning their own celebration, especially because it reminds me of how much I love Germany and Austria, and I love seeing other people enjoy something from those cultures, too. But could you please spell Oktoberfest with a “K”?
Are there any traditions from another culture that are becoming American or are already celebrated here that bother you because of their deviations from the original?
