Tivoli Gardens

by Jamie Rhein on

I heard or read somewhere that one of Walt Disney’s inspirations for Disneyland was Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. Why not? Tivoli is a charming place. Sounds good to me. When I was in a foriegn exchange student at Copenhagen University, Tivoli was one of my most favorite places to go. I think I went three times in two months.

This is a place with a history of people watching, flower gardens and attractions. Opened in 1843, it still holds a certain simple charm. I remember that the fireworks there were among the best I’ve ever seen. I had a terrible camera so most of my shots are dark and smoky and mostly of people’s heads.

Now, here’s an interesting statement that sounds a bit Walt Disneyish. When the park was first proposed to King Christian III, one reason for the okay was that if people are amused they don’t think about politics so much. I wonder if this history fact is true. When Walt Disney designed Disneyland, one idea was to create Utopia where at least in one part of the world, people could leave their troubles at the gate.

Here’s a You Tube video that captures the flavor of what Tivoli is like. It captures some of the rides, gardens and the entertainment. Let your worries float away.

A Quiz to Test Your Global Smarts

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s a recent quiz from Newsweek magazine designed to see just how much you know about the world. If you are a traveling sort, you probably know a lot. There’s a tally that keeps track of your score with each answer so you can see how poorly you are doing–or hopefully, how well. Here’s a tip. Go with your first answer.

The quiz covers topics ranging from politics to the economy to entertainment. Many have a traveling bent. For example which country gets the most visitors? France, Spain or the United States? There are 130 questions so there are plenty of chances for redemption.

The answer is France.

Click here to take the quiz and lots of luck.

Steam Engine Fun

by Jamie Rhein on

Two summers ago I thought it would be neat to go on the Last Chance Train Tour of Helena, Montana. The pictures of the brochure looked like it was a real historic train. Evidently, I wasn’t looking at that brochure all that closely because the train had rubber wheels–plus it was on a road. It was a tram that looked like a train–sort of. A few days before the tour, I did discover my stupidity but we went on the tour anyway since we’re not all that picky. Plus, my son was three- years-old at the time and my dad was with us. There’s no way we could have covered all that ground or learned as much by walking.

Although I mistook that tram for a train, I have been on historic train tours. There were tracks. The most spectacular of the these trips was The Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train that goes between Durango and Silverton, Colorado. This train has made this particular journey through the mountain passes for more than 125 years. My trip was the one-way trip from Silverton back to Durango, but a two-way trip is probably more common. Silverton is worth poking around for a few hours. It’s a western town that looks western and less busy than Durango.

I’ve also taken the Boone & Scenic Railroad in Boone, Iowa. This train has been around since 1893. Along the way, the conductor points out landmarks and tells about the area history. At the time my son was a year and a half and we were visiting friends. This was a great way to kick back for a few hours without wondering when we’d get somewhere.

Last summer, I took my kids on a very sweet, short train ride. It wasn’t a train, really, but a trolley. It is historic and it runs on tracks. The Platte Valley Trolley is operated soley by volunteers. The first day we tried to take this trip, there wasn’t anyone to drive the trolley so we went back the next day. A huge REI store is right near the trolley station, so if you’re looking to pick up some travel or sports gear, stop in.

LOC Wise Guide: American Vacation

by Kelly Amabile on

The Library of Congress has a nifty online magazine called The Wise Guide that appears each month. It’s a creative tool that the LOC folks use to communicate interesting facts and tidbits from their massive repository of photos, videos, prints, audio recordings and films. The website is spirited and fun in design — who knew a .gov could be so engaging? (They smartly partnered with the Ad Council on this public service announcement.)

This month The Wise Guide takes readers back in time through a series of old-school example of US holiday travel. The Vacation feature points to historical photos from the Library’s Pictorial Americana collection that illustrates what traveling and vacations were like in the 19th century. There are classic pictures of summer trolley cars, grand hotels, roadside inns and automobile parades. This one is my favorite. (Be sure to read the caption.)

The June Wise Guide also features a page all about the Grand Ole’ American Flag, just in time for Independence Day.

National Parks Traveler Gets Facelift

by Erik Olsen on

One of my favorite Web sites about the National Parks, National Parks Traveler, has received both a face and content lift, and I highly recommend you give it a spin. It is lovely and they have a much more sensible web address now.

NPT is run by the ever-diligent, park-loving Kurt Repanshek who has done a stellar job over the years bringing to light issues and developments within our nation’s national parks. Seems he has teams up with the folks that do Park Remark to create a fantastic new site dedicated to the parks.

I wax rhapsodic about the parks frequently here because I deeply believe they are the crown jewels of our national heritage. We should all thank Teddy Roosevelt Ulysses Grant for having the foresight all those years ago to set off Yellowstone as a place that would be protected from development and where all Americans (and others) would be welcome3 to enjoy. The parks are in peril…well, there is a large backlog of much-needed repairs, and it is our duty to pay attention to what is happening to them. Now, that said, I am a realist. My first job out of school (my first REAL Job…after being a photographer in Tahoe) was with the Department of the Interior, the government agency that contains the National Park Service. At that time, there was a serious backlog of repairs, a shortage of qualified rangers and various threats to the sanctity of the parks (i.e. snowmobile issues, planes over the Grand Canyon, etc.). So many of these issues are not new. Not that we shouldn’t continue to pay attention, especially during these “difficult” years.

Anyway, I’ve given the new National Park Traveler a once-over and it is loaded with new features and lots of useful, interesting info. So I urge you, as we move swiftly into summer during which time your plans might include a trip here and there to the parks, to check it out.