Lostman's Star
Not all those who wander are lost, but I certainly am!
Frankenmuth
Having been to both actual Bavaria and to Frankenmuth I can say that this little town being known as Little Bavaria is no misnomer. It’s so cute, so quaint, and just an hour and a half’s drive from the Canadian border so it’s great place for a quick vacation. The closer you get to Frankenmuth the more the buildings start to take on a Germanic air which makes even the drive in is atmospheric and pleasant.
I don’t normally focus on whole cities but Frankenmuth, much like Mackinac Island, is more of an experience as a whole than just visiting one or two places within it. The atmosphere is relaxed, and rather jovial when I went.
In terms of getting a good picture, the Holz Brucke Covered Bridge is the best place. It’s one of the few covered bridges which is still functional for motor vehicles, and it gives the area around it an air reminiscent of Sleepy Hollow. It’s super cool! Along those lines you might consider a visit to the Frankenmuth Historical Museum.
Another popular spot is Zehnder’s Restaurant. It’s a touch expensive, but well loved by both tourists and locals. I’m pretty sure even by American standards the portions there are massive, so unless it’s one of the ‘all you can eat’ days you’ll likely walk away with a doggy bag.
If Christmas is your thing I suggest checking out Bronners (pronounced Brawners; the way we originally pronounced it was rather awkward). It’s apparently the world’s biggest Christmas store, though whether that’s by square footage or stock I’m not sure. I suspect both. You’ll find a variety of Christmas ornaments and decorations there, many of which you can personalize to say whatever you want. Your name, baby’s first Christmas, memorials, you name it they’ll do it.
There’s also a river boat which is apparently quite popular, though I’ve never experienced it. If I were to go back I’d make it a point of taking a little cruise.
Finally there are the River Place Shops, which I don’t remember much of, probably because I saw there was a book store, went in, and didn’t re-emerge until the mall was about to close. What can I say, I’m happiest where there are books!
There isn’t a lot of need to walk places here, especially if you’ve driven, but I recommend a comfortable set of shoes anyway in case you want to walk down the main street and do a bit of casual sight seeing. I’m told at night the Holz Brucke Bridge is quite cute.
Have you been to Frankenmuth? Let me know what you think of it in the comments!
Wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay safe gentle reader.
Travel Foods
Much like the travel reads I let a randomizer decide where I was headed (digitally of course), and then did some research. I shouldn’t have written this right before dinner but here we are!
#1. Zambia
I remember reading a book in elementary school about what dinner looks like in the rest of the world. I could never remember which country it was but in it there was a picture of a woman sitting proudly in front of a table which had a row of caterpillars and tomatoes on it. It said that this caterpillar and tomato dish was a delicacy, and ever since I’ve wanted to try it. The dish is called ifinkubala, and is served with nshima, pounded maize, another food from Zambia which I want to try!
#2. Czech Republic
Czech food tends to be similar to the Polish food that I’m used to, so I doubt I’d have trouble finding something I like if I were to visit. One thing I want to try is Goulash, and Česnečka, which is garlic soup with croutons, bits of pork, and a raw egg which is cooked by the heat of the soup just as it’s served.
#3. Denmark
Koldskål. I want to try it. From the description it kind of seems like a mix between a yogurt bowl and cereal, but either way I’m curious about it. I also want to try Stegt flæsk med persillesovs, which I’m guessing means something along the lines of pork with potatoes. It’s the Danish national dish, so of course it’s worth having a taste if you’re visiting!
#4. Barbados
I have a friend who used to visit Barbados quite frequently, and she often mentioned how one could get an absolutely massive pizza from a shop near where she stayed. I’ve wanted to try one ever since she mentioned it, so that’s at the top of my Barbados to do list. Deep fried flying fish and cou cou are just after that!
#5. Laos
Apparently Laos has a dish called Khao Poon, which is a fermented noodle soup. This is the first time in my life I’ve heard anything about being able to ferment noodles, so I’m really curious and would definitely like to try it! I’d also like to try Piing Hua Jai Kai, which is grilled chicken hearts. Grandma Lostman actually uses chicken hearts in a lot of her dishes, so I know they taste good, but I’ve never had them grilled before.
Are there any places with dishes you particularly love? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to know about them, and maybe try making some!
Wash your hands, wear a mask, and stay safe gentle reader.
Oxford University
My childhood was all about Harry Potter. My Dad would read it to me before bed, and I would insist that when I said “Just one more page,” I meant an entire page, both sides, not just one side of the page. After all, it was a page of paper! My father is a very patient man.
Naturally this meant that when I moved to England I sought out every Harry Potter location I could. King’s Cross, Warner Brothers Studios, and of course, Oxford University.
The Great Hall and the Hospital Wing were both filmed within the confines of the the university, and as I had to pick up my visa in Oxford it seemed to me the perfect opportunity to go! I definitely recommend going inside the university, either with a tour or just on your own to have a look around, but that’s not all Oxford has to offer.
The old parts of the city are all made of sandstone, which gives the city an aged but warm feeling. If you look carefully on some of the buildings you can still see scorch marks where fires have ripped through the city over the centuries. The university itself was educating students three hundred and thirty two years before the Aztecs consolidated their empire, so a bit of damage is to be expected!
Be sure to visit the book and clothes shops nearby if you want a piece of a academia inspired memorabilia to bring home with you, and the pub near the train station which has been open since Shakespeare’s time!
There are so many things to do and see in Oxford so I suggest taking either a full day trip or a few nights to explore it. Bring good walking shoes!
Wash your hands, wear a mask, and stay safe gentle reader.
Travel Reads
The only thing better than a good trip is a good book to take along with you. While I do like re-reading books I also love new ones. I’ve let a randomizer choose my destination, done a bit of research, and chosen some books which I have yet to read that I think would suit the vacation. Let’s go!
#1. Central African Republic
This is a sub-Saharan country which is rather more war-torn than any country would like to be, to say the least. As far as I can see tourists visit either the major cities or they go on safari in the national reserves. Although my dream is to see Namibian lions, going on safari and seeing all sorts of African animals in the wild would be a dream come true. For this trip I’ve chosen Dark Age: Political Odyssey of Bokassa by Brian Titley. I have to admit that normally I don’t care to read history books that haven’t been updated within the past ten years, simply because this practice was drilled into me by my university professors. “If I see a citation from an article over ten years old I’m docking points!” Still, despite having been published in 1997 this book has just a little over a four star rating on Good Reads. Considering I know very little about the Central African Republic, I think this is probably a good starting point.
#2. Jersey
No, not New Jersey. This one is a British Island just off the coast of France. It along with Guernsey was subject to German occuptation during the second world war. There are a load of historical sites including the old German Underground Hospital, Elizabeth Palace, the military museum, and all sorts of natural attractions so I’m really spoiled for choice in terms of what to do on this island. In terms of reading material, I had a book while I was in England that I never got to read entitled Living with the Enemy by Roy McLoughlin, which documents first hand accounts of the occupation. I would love to get it back and read it!
#3. Ecuador
Ecuador is another country which I know very little about, but I know that there are a lot of Incan ruins which I would love to see. I’d like to visit and know more about the pre-colonial periods, especially those group of nations who apparently were thriving and had a complexly interconnected society between themselves before the Inca even arrived. In attempting to find a book about them I’ve discovered that there’s very few books which deal with even Ecuadorian Incan history let alone Ecuadorian pre-Incan periods. Most of the books are post-Columbus. It’s a shame, I wanted to learn more about these pre-Incan confederations! I’ve thus chosen a true-story novel called The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango as my book of choice for this trip. It’s Maria’s story of how she was taken from her indigenous village at seven to serve an upper class family in Ecuador.
#4. Guam
I know a bit more about Guam than I do Ecuador or CAR, but that’s still not a lot. To be fair, though, if I was visiting Guam I would probably be spending most of my time at a beach in between visits to Chamorro villages and latte stones. For this visit I’ve chosen Attitude 13 by Tanya Taimanglo which is a book of short stories, most of which are from the view of the Chamorro, the indigenous people of Guam. Tanya is Chamorro so I think her stories will offer an intimate perspective of her home island.
#5. Western Sahara
I didn’t even know this was a country, I thought it was a geographical area which contained many nations! It is apparently a disputed territory, and so it’s not the safest place to be. That said, tourists often visit the coastal areas in search of shipwrecks and to participate in water sports like kite surfing. Both sound like a great time to me so that’s exactly what I would be doing! To gain a better understanding of this country I’ve chosen a book written by investigative journalists called Silent Territory: Sever Stories on Western Sahara by Fredrik Laurin &Lars Schmidt.
I always love a good book recommendation, so if you have any that you’ve read in your travels leave the title and author in the comments! Wash your hands, wear a mask, and be safe gentle reader!
Hobbiton
Go to Hobbiton.
If you love the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books or movies, you should definitely go to set where Hobbiton was filmed. It’s still there, it’s now a functioning tourist attraction, and it is one of the most magical and nostalgic places I’ve ever been.
My Dad, who is a fan of the franchise to begin with, was ecstatic when it was announced that movies would be made. When they came out we saw each of them in cinema together. Naturally, during my trip to New Zealand, the country where filming took place, I snapped as many pictures as I could of each LOTR location.
Hobbiton in particular is amazing because everything is big. Naturally, it would have to be, to make sure that the actors are proportionate to their surroundings, but it was so shocking to me because it made me feel small. You are, in essence, reduced to the size of a hobbit!
You can’t go into the hobbit holes, but you can definitely wander around Hobbiton and admire the fine attention to detail that Peter Jackson put into it. Our guide noted that in the Fellowship of the Ring there are only a certain amount of hobbit holes shown, despite there being one more mentioned in the books. The guide then motioned behind a hill and said “You can’t see it in the films, but when you round that corner you’ll see the extra hobbit hole. Peter Jackson made sure it was there.”
If you’re a fan I would suggest you go for the entire day. I wasn’t able to because of the nature of the trip I was on, but had I been given the chance I would have explored and photographed every inch of Hobbiton that I could.
Bring a bottle of water and a few snacks if you like, and good walking shoes. In the rain I suspect it can get a bit muddy.
May your road go ever on and on, gentle reader, down from the door where it began. Follow if you can!
Lost’s Must Have Items: Makeup Edition
I know a lot of people don’t feel comfortable without their usual products, but makeup is one of those things that is surprisingly bulky and weighteous. In learning how to pack light, one must learn what is actually necessary for comfort and daily routine, and what can be left at home.
This is my personal list of what I bring on any trip lasting a week or longer. It’s usually during these trips that I find myself dining in a formal occasion or going to the theater. These occasions come with a dress, and with a dress comes a bit of makeup. Keep in mind that normally I don’t wear makeup, I just don’t feel I need it. You may want more or less than this, it’s just to give you an idea of what you might like to bring to achieve your simplest, most versitile looks.
#1. Foundation or concealer
When I have blemishes I find my confidence goes out the window, and then it doesn’t matter how pretty I look otherwise it won’t make a difference. Foundation and a bit of concealer helps with that. A lighter shade of concealer can also be used under the eyes as a brightener. This is especially helpful if you’re a party animal who stays up all night. Begone dark circles!
#2. Setting powder/spray
I use a mineral foundation as a setting powder, to make my skin look a bit more natural after a liquid foundation, and to dull any shine it might have. If you have any setting spray, bring it! You’ll want your look to last without having to worry about it!
#3. Eyeshadow
Keep this simple and neutral, or make sure it matches the one formal outfit you brought. I have a small, three shade pallet of two browns and a yellow and a small container of black that go with me everywhere. Just make sure if you go with darker colours that you have a lighter colour to offset it. There’s an old stage trick in which you apply that light colour on the skin of the inner corner of your eyes. This draws attention to and produces an optical illusion of enlarging your eyes.
#4. Eyeliner
I could almost get away without using eyeliner, but as I usually wear black eyeshadow, I keep it with me for emergency fixes rather than carry a pot of black shadow and a brush.
#5. Mascara
The way I do my eyeliner is very simple, mainly because every time I try to do the elegant winged look I end up with something more resembling a felled pine tree than anything else. A touch of mascara is a must for that minimalist eyeliner.
#6. Brushes
I bring three brushes; one for my foundation, one for my setting powder, and one for my eyeshadow. That’s it. I see people who roll out a toolkit of brushes on their hotel room counters and I just think that must have been so heavy to carry! I’d rather bring back a piece of art or a bottle of alcohol than haul brushes back and forth.
#6. Optionals
Lipstick. The rule I follow is that if I want to accentuate a certain feature, I keep the others simple. If I want to accentuate my eyes (my usual) I keep a very simple lip. If I want a dramatic lip, I keelhaul the eyeshadow.
Bronzer, eyelash curlers, blush, contouring items, no need for it. You can look amazing irregardless of these items.
Wash your hands, wear a mask, keep fabulous, and stay safe gentle reader.
Cimetiere Du Nord
Cemeteries and graveyards have always held my fascination. I don’t consider it a morbid one, more an interest born of curiosity. Even in childhood I wanted to know about the people who came before me. Names and dates carved in stone just happen to be an excellent way to learn about them!
For those of us who live in parts of the world which were colonised more recently, we don’t necessarily have super old graves that are recognisable as such. In fact it was only when I went to England that I realised just why, at Halloween, all the decorations came out with broken and slanted headstones. I always thought it was just because they were a bit janky in the spirit of Halloween, but in England the graves are old enough to actually look like that!
In Paris, things are somewhat different, but no less fascinating. Le Cimetière du Nord, or unofficially “Montmartre Cemetery” can be found in the north of Paris, in Montmartre, just at the base of the hill where the Sacré-Coeur Basilica sits.
Unlike Anglo-Colonial graves, Montmartre Cemetery is full of mausoleums, some old, some new, all with interesting stories.
It’s very obvious which occupants are either newer or still very well loved. Some of the mausoleums look as though they’ve been broken into, though with the amount of cobwebs and dust it looks like the break-ins happened decades ago and no one bothered to go clean the mess. Payment for upkeep is paid by the families, and so if the upkeep isn’t paid it doesn’t happen.
Did the families move on? Were the people who rested in Montmartre moved? Are their ashes or bodies still there, left unknown and cut off by descendents who changed nationalities? Were they not well loved?
The possibilities and stories are nigh on endless, and along a single path between the graves you’ll find each of the plots has one such story or another. Not that they’re all unkempt, most of them are lovely and very clearly either new or well cared for. Especially those who belong to famous people like Edgar Degas, a famous impressionist artist; Alexander Dumas Jr, a novelist in his own rite and son of Alexandre Dumas Sr. who wrote the Three Musketeers; and many more famous people whom I have never heard of but I’m sure others have.
More famous perhaps than any of them are the cats which prowl the cemetery and use the abandoned crypts as shelter. When Aunt River and I visited we spoke with a woman who came to feed them. If I remember correctly it seemed to me she had also brought tools with which to clean a grave. It struck me as quite honorable of her, that she chose to care for both the living and the dead when she could easily have chased the cats away.
You can visit the cemetery from 8am to 6pm every day, and the good thing is that Covid hasn’t changed that, though I don’t know if there are any other restrictions Montmartre has put into place. I recommend going in the cool of the morning because then you have all afternoon to visit other things, and because it’s a touch cooler in the morning. Bring a good pair of walking shoes; although some of the paths are well paved there are tiny paths between the graves which can make wearing high heels a hazard. You’ll also want a bottle of water and perhaps a raincoat if the weather turns. Other than that, entrance is free, so bring your sense of curiosity and maybe some flowers if you like!
Wear a mask, wash your hands, stay home, and stay safe gentle reader.
Would you Rather: Travel Edition
This article started as a bit of a shock I received from another ‘would you rather’ quiz I took, which claimed that if I took the test it would give me my next vacation destination. Alright, I thought. Why not, it could be fun. Obviously I wasn’t expecting a serious answer, but when given the choice between a cold or hot destination, I will always choose cold unless I’ve visited it before. Sometimes even then, I’ll still choose a more temperate or colder climate. What can I say, I’m not a fan of the heat. It recommended Georgia for me, which I always thought was a super hot place but apparently isn’t too bad!
Still, I thought the questions were a bit obvious. Choosing between drinking in Brazil or Japan? Nah. That’s not how I roll. So let’s play a game, shall we?
Answer these would you rather question in the comments. Let me know what you would rather do!
Would you rather …
… swim with great whites off Isla Guadalupe, or go camping (in a tent, of course) in Southern Africa?
Personally I’m not a great camper, but swiming with great whites is on my bucket list!
… see the aurora australis in New Zealand, or the aurora borealis in Greenland?
Already been to NZ, so it’s Greenland for me!
… visit the oldest Buddhist temple, the Maya Devi at Lumbini, where the Buddha was born, or the Mahabodhi Temple in Bihar, where Buddha attained enlightenment?
I’ve not heard a great deal of Buddha’s stories, but the there is one which still fascinates me to this day. In grade 11 my religion teacher told us how he learned of age, disease, and death when he left his palace for the first time. I’d love to see where that story happened, so definitely Lumbini.
… spend the lunar new year in Beijing at the Forbidden City or the summer solstice at Stonehenge?
Beijing all the way. I’ve seen Stonehenge, and while it holds a deep mystery I’d love to solve, I’m very much a fan of parties and crowds. I can’t imagine how exciting it would be to walk around in the Forbidden City on New Year, eat some bao, and watch some fireworks.
… swim in the Dead Sea or take a bath in crude oil in Azerbaijan?
Dead sea. Apparently it’s possible to take a bath in crude oil in Azerbaijan and it’s seen as a beauty treatment and a cure for various ailments but I just don’t think I could bring myself to bathe in what is essentially an accident waiting to happen. Maybe one day. Not today.
Let me know what you would rather do in the comments! I’d love to know!
Please Help Mia!
Hello gentle readers, I’m posting this to ask for your assistance today. A friend of mine has a wonderful dog named Mia, a six year old Chihuahua who she rescued from a puppy mill. This is her!
Mia’s already been through a lot, but now her back knees have given out, and she’s unable to run and play as a dog should. Her owners have kept her comfortable, but they’re also unable to afford the surgury which would fix Mia’s knees. They’ve started a gofundme page for Mia in the hopes of giving her mobility back. She is so loved, and has a lot of love to give to her family.
It would mean the world to them if you could donate to Mia’s surgery, or share her gofundmepage on your own social media accounts and blogs to help spread the word.
Click this link and you’ll be redirected to Mia’s go fund me page.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, our regularly scheduled programing of travel related content will resume on Tuesday.
Wear a mask, wash your hands, thank you for all your tremendous help, and stay safe gentle readers.
Dachau Memorial
Everyone should visit the Dachau Memorial. The former concentration camp is the perfect example of pure, unacceptable, corrupting evil.
If you can afford to, visit with a tour or an educator. As much as the word tour doesn’t sit well with me as it trivializes what you’re there to do and see, it’s the best word to attach to your search when you’re booking your visit.
Forest and I knew we wanted to visit Dachau when we planned our trip for Germany, and thankfully we had a wonderful guide who was extremely knowledgeable, non-judgmental of ignorance, and gracious in the face of hard questions. The company he works for is Munich Walking Tours.
Dachau was once a labour camp run by the Nazi regime, specifically by the SS. As one of the first concentration camps the Nazis built, this was a testing ground for their ideas as to what should happen in their other camps. SS members were also trained in the buildings which surrounded the camp, which were built by the labourers inside.
Among those imprisoned in the camp were members of the Hebrew nation, communists, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Poles, Romani, those who were differently abled or neurodivergent, and anyone Nazis deamed ‘racially or physically impure’. These people were either worked to death at Dachau or sent to be “euthanised” in Austria. Euthanasia isn’t a word that sits well with me either. It’s origins are from the Greek words ‘Eu’, meaning good, and ‘Thanatos’, meaning death. To be euthanised means to have a good death. There are no good deaths to be had in any sort of gulag, Nazi or otherwise.
Dachau recorded roughly 32 000 deaths during it’s entire operation. Most were due to disease, labour injuries, starvation, or death from having been experimented on. None of them, to my knowledge, are recorded as being deaths by gas, however the guide said that they would have had to test the chambers to make sure it worked. Dachau wasn’t an extermination camp as we have come to stereotyped them. It was extermination by exhaustion rather than Zyklon B.
It isn’t enough for Nazis to break bodies, though; they want to break minds and spirits too.
The entrance to the camp carries the notorious slogan “Work sets you free’, and in the administrative building within the camp there is a prominent sign painted on the walls saying that ‘smoking is forbidden’.
This last I didn’t understand, but had enough sense to know it was out of place. I still have vague recollections of ‘smoking sections’ in restaurants, and knew full well that smoking indoors was commonplace in Europe during the war. With no munitions around to set fire, and no library to burn, I had to wonder what fire they were trying to prevent.
“Why have they forbidden smoking?” I asked the guide.
“To further degrade the people who came into the camp,” he explained. “They would already have been stripped of their personal possessions, including their clothes by the time they got here. What cigarettes could they possibly have?”
People describe places like Dachau as sobering. It is, but I suspect not in the way most people imagine.
I expected that the Dachau Memorial would be a stern reminder of the past, and what evil can accomplish when not enough people stand up to it. I also expected it to be a somber and still place.
It’s not.
When Forest and I visited the sun was shining. It was warm, there was a breeze which rustled the leaves of the trees which surround the us. People live right next to the camp, their backyards butt up against the concrete barrier which surrounds it. A school group, they looked to be in about grade 6, was taking a break near the reconstruction of the barracks houses. A few of them were tossing rock a between each other as though it was a ball.
I wondered if they knew the significance of where they were playing. I then wonder if I knew. They might have been playing in a mass killing ground but I had literally just missed a huge sign of institutionalised racism in a concentration camp. I’d visited expecting a grey atmosphere, as though sunlight could never exist in a place like this.
It does, and too many of us are forgetting that.
We can write never again on a wall as many times as we like, but until we start educating ourselves and standing up against xenophobia, racism is just a plague that will keep coming back.
So study history. Keep up with current events. Know that the Nazi Holocaust is not the only holocaust that has happened, nor is it the most recent.
Write ‘Never Again’ on every corner of the world with your acts of kindness.
Wash your hands, wear a mask, support your fellow human beings, and stay safe gentle reader.
Lostman's Star 