Hobby Thread - October 12, 2024 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. After checking the settings to ensure proper calibration, a spin of the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) landed on a theme of European travel for this week. Sehr gut!

Europe is a mix of geographies, cultures, history, and traditions. Whether for religious pilgrimages or the grand tour or holiday, people have gravitated to Europe for different non-work reasons. I am guessing some among the horde have visited Europe as well, so let us talk travel. Just returning from Oktoberfest? Do you have a favorite festival? Have a favorite city, region or attraction? How about a favorite Alpine pass? Do you have a hidden gem or discovery? Did you come home with a treasured trinket? If you have not visited, what is on your fantasy list for a visit someday? Where would you like to hear about Horde experiences and wisdom?

The Horde has to have stories. Did you backpack across Europe in your younger days? Did you have a Chevy Chase style European vacation? Did you visit East Germany before the wall came down? Were you stationed in Europe and enjoyed the local hospitality? Have you hiked the Alps or cruised the Rhine or Danube or cycled through France? If you are a military historian, what battlefields in Europe have you walked? How about cemeteries? How are your language skills? We featured a beer theme recently and many good beers are found in Europe. Have you visited breweries? What about wine regions?

Content below to get the conversation started, but looking for Horde participation. This is not a competition, so do not worry if your memory is not the fanciest or most exotic. If meaningful to you, it will be meaningful to the horde.

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to European travel. Politics and current events can wait for other threads. Yes, we all know the EU is going to blow up someday. No need to have that discussion in the hobby thread. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. As usual, wearing pants is optional for thread participation.

If you are wondering where to go hiking in Switzerland, fear not. The Hobby Thread has you covered. The 13 Very Best Hikes In Switzerland The link has a description of each, associated logistics, and very pretty pictures.

The German state of Saxony has so many castles, palaces and monasteries, they need a website to keep track of them all. Sachsen had an incredible history before the hostilities of World War I and II and subsequent time as part of East Germany. Dresden, Leipzig, and Meissen are well known cities in Sachsen but Colditz Castle is legendary because of the escape attempts by POWs during World War II.

The Alps in Switzerland, Austria and Bavaria get most of the headlines, but the mountain range extends into Italy where they are known as the Dolomites. They have a distinctive and dramatic look with steep vertical walls, sheer cliffs, and deep and long valleys.

If you are interested in military history, some of the least known fighting in World War I took place in the Dolomites between Italy and Austria. Brutal.

The Most Treacherous Battle of World War I Took Place in the Italian Mountains

The Rhine River is a main artery through Germany. The waterway is dotted with castles and castle ruins that are great spots to visit or just watch from a riverboat. The hillsides are striped with vines. The rocky soil is perfect for Riesling. We are convinced that the Germans keep the really good stuff for themselves and only export the leftovers. Walking paths wind through the vineyards and pop up stands sell a glass or bottle to enjoy.

Ireland has a lot of culture to soak up, lots of history, and beautiful Waterford crystal. It also has miles of dramatic coastline. The Giant Steppes are at the extreme north coast of Northern Ireland. Atlas Obscura calls the interlocking hexagonal columns a geological oddity.

Bastogne, Beligum. There were difficult days in the cold and snow at the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of Dec 1944 and Jan 1945. The foxholes are still visible in the woods if you know where to look. The battlefield itself is difficult to grasp but you will see memorials scattered along roadsides at seemingly random spots. You will also see tanks in almost every town square. The past is palpable. The people remember. The Ardennes Forest is a long way from the flatlands of Flanders but are both marked by their their military history.

Where do you start with Prague? Astronomical clock? Charles Bridge? St Vitus Cathedral? Music? Bohemian crystal? Cold war and the Velvet Revolution? Prague is the capital city of the Czech Republic and the most populated city in the country.

Schloss Hellbrunn is located near Salzburg in Austria. Some parts feel like formal gardens, but touches of whimsy abound if you look more closely. Aside from the odd unicorn, the grounds are filled with trick fountains. Hidden jets of water squirt from every direction (much to the delight of staff with their hands on the controllers who alternate between showing off the water features and catching guests by surprise). Gravity and water pressure power all the fountains. The dynamic nature works better for video than photos, so check out the video clip below for more.

Those who are enamored with Salzburg as a filming location for The Sound of Music also appreciate visiting the gazebo on the grounds. Yes - the same gazebo where Liesl sang about Sixteen Going On Seventeen. There are other locations that were either used as filming locations or inspired parts of the film around Salzburg too.

Surely some among the horde will mention Paris or France. Rather than show a picture of the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, or Notre Dame, the photo below is from a church in the small town of Angoville au Plain. The church is inland from Utah Beach in Normandy. This is one of the few places in the world where paratroopers are shown in the stained glass of a church window. The ground outside the church was fiercely contested and medics of the 101 Airborne set up in the church to treat wounded from both sides.

When in London, visit the British Museum. Yes, go see the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey and say hello to the King at Buckingham Palace, but go to the British Museum. There is only one Rosetta Stone and it lives at the British Museum. It has been on display since 1802 with the exception of a stint in underground storage towards the end of World War I.

A decree is inscribed three times. One in Egyptian hieroglyphs (think formal language), one in Demotic (think cursive Egyptian script used for daily purposes), and Ancient Greek. Having the same content in three different languages opened a window into understanding hieroglyphs. Before decoding, nobody could understand Egyptian hieroglyphs. The content is less important than the language implications, but click here if you are curious to know what the stone says.

Did you miss last week's hobby thread with a disaster prep theme? The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content. More importantly, did anyone take action to improve and enhance their disaster preparation situation after reading horde wisdom?

Separate question - should the disaster prep thread from last week be preserved somewhere on the site as an easily accessible reference?

Notable comments from last week:

Honorable mention due to floating fire ants:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

This time next week, the Horde will be gathered at the TX MoMe. Looking forward to seeing you. I am shy, so say hello if you see me.

If the wonders of Europe are not your thing and you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different hobby next time around. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Travel tip. If you are having trouble being understood, just talk slower and louder. That usually does the trick. Enjoy the SpaceX Starship launch tomorrow. Excitement guaranteed.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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