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Historic Sites on the East Coast

Erin — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 01:58:32 +0000

The East Coast is full of sites from early US history. These are some of the more important and unique historic sites on the East Coast that you really shouldn't miss.

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21 Virtual Tours to Satisfy Your Wanderlust

Erin — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 06:15:18 +0000

A virtual tour is the best way to get a travel fix while between trips. Check out these 21 fascinating virtual tours to satisfy your wanderlust when you can't get out to see them yourself. #TBIN

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Visiting Bath

Erin — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 08:20:26 +0000

Bath was designated by UNESCO in 1987 and is the only city in the UK to be declared a World Heritage site. Once a Roman spa town called Aquae Sullis, the Romans built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills, turning Bath into the elegant retreat it still is today. Located about an hour and a half from London, Bath has a variety of fascinating sites that span early Roman times to late Georgian. The juxtaposition of such different styles of architecture nestled in a valley surrounded by rolling green hills really makes Bath unique. Walking the streets of Bath is like taking a step back in time to the beautiful Georgian period of elegance and innovation with sprinklings of different eras mixed in. THE ROMAN BATHS If the architecture doesn’t do it for you, consider the Roman Baths. The first shrine at the site of the hot springs was built by Celts and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis, whom the Romans identified with Minerva. When the Romans took over the site and built a temple sometime between 60–70 AD, they dedicated the temple to both Sulis and Minerva in hopes of appeasing both populations. Over the next 300 years, the bathing complex was gradually built up until the Roman civilization went into decline and eventually left Bath in 407 AD. A scant population continued to live in the city, but over time the walls and grand buildings fell. The Saxons claimed Bath in 577 AD and turned it into a fortified city. Around that time, the original temple was destroyed. Flooding and silt deposits covered the temple ruins and the original springs. The temple surrounding the baths was eventually built over, to remain in obscurity until 1880 when they were rediscovered. New buildings were built over different portions of the springs during the following centuries. The 12th and 16th centuries saw the addition of King’s Bath and Queen’s Bath, though the current building over the springs is from the 18th century. The temple ruins have been incorporated into the current building design, allowing visitors the opportunity to visit the actual baths used in Roman times, view the temple ruins, and sip the mineral-rich thermal waters. If you desire to try out those waters, you can also enjoy luxurious relaxation in a more modern thermal spa in the city. JANE AUSTEN For those literature-minded visitors, Bath was home to Jane Austen from 1801-1806. Visit where she lived, check out the Jane Austen Centre, and take a walk on streets she would have ambled down. One of Jane Austen’s residences in Bath was No 4 Sydney Place, where she lived for three years. While it is now a private residence, visitors may take a photo of the front where a sign is seen designating it as a residence of a famous former occupant. Jane also lived with her mother and sister at 25 Gay Street for around 1-1.5 years, though the Jane Austen Centre is not there, either. It is in a similar apartment down the street at 40 Gay Street. BATH ABBEY Another famous site in Bath that shouldn’t be missed is Bath Abbey. Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and has been modified and rebuilt over the centuries. The fan vaulted ceiling was added in the 1530s and restored to the original style during the late 1860s. One of the unique attributes of this ceiling is that along with being visually stunning, this particular architectural component serves a functional purpose. The fan element is used as a method of distributing the weight of the roof to the support columns and providing structural stability. An interesting fact about Bath Abbey is that the stained glass currently in place is not the original. Unfortunately, the original windows from the early 1500s were removed and sold when King Henry VIII began dissolving monasteries in 1539. All stained glass in the Abbey were added in the late 1860s when Bath started becoming a popular tourist destination. PULTENEY BRIDGE Pulteney Bridge over the River Avon is one of the most photographed examples of Georgian architecture in the city and one of only four bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides. Designed by Robert Adam, the bridge took five years to build between 1769-1774. The architecture is classical, with pediments, pilasters and tiny leaded domes at either end. Another claim to fame this bridge boasts is being the scene of Javert’s suicide in the 2012 film version of Les Misérables. THE ROYAL CRESCENT The Royal Crescent is another famous and cherished site to visit in the city. This building is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping crescent shape. Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger, and built between 1767-1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture in the United Kingdom and is a Grade I listed building. Although some changes have been made to the various interiors over the years, the Georgian stone façade remains much as it was when it was first built. I could go on and on about the fascinating things to see in Bath, but there are just too many. There are world-class museums, festivals that draw visitors from all around the world, breathtaking views, beautiful gardens and parks, a variety of art galleries, fantastic eateries, eclectic shops, and plenty of historic marvels. Whatever your interests are, Bath has plenty for visitors and locals to explore. TIPS: Plan to spend at least an entire day in Bath. There are far too many things to see in just a few short hours. If you are interested in architecture, book one (or more) of the many architectural tours operating in the city. Arrive early in the morning to watch the city come alive. Make the trip to Alexandra Park to get the best views over the city. Stop at Sally Lunn’s House to try the most famous local delicacy, the Sally Lunn bun. Visit Green Park Station for locally produced food and artwork. Plan for 2-3 hours at the Roman Baths if you want to read all the signs and view all the displays. Make the trek to the bottom of the Roman Baths for a free sample of the spa water. Take advantage of the many free walking tours that operate around the city. WHEN TO VISIT: Overall, there isn’t really a bad time to visit Bath. In the spring, the flowers are blooming and the weather is relatively calm. May is a good month to visit as temperatures are moderately cool, rainfall is the lowest of the year, days are long, and flowers are in bloom. September is also a good time to visit with warmer temperatures than May and low rainfall, though the days are shorter and there are not as many flowers. WHERE TO STAY: Bath boasts almost 300 places of accommodation, including more than 80 hotels, over 180 bed and breakfasts, and two campsites. WHERE TO EAT: I won’t profess to be foodie enough to recommend which places there to eat are the best. There are over 100 restaurants and over 100 pubs and bars. You will find anything from quaint cafes to cultural dining experiences to locally sourced restaurants to award-winning upscale dining. Whatever your preferences are, you will find something to your liking in Bath. HOW TO GET THERE: Railway. The most direct route is the Great Western Railway from Paddington Station. The train makes five stops and will reach Bath Spa Railway Station in just under an hour and a half. Flying. Bristol Airport. Bristol Airport is located about 20 miles from Bath. Transit from Bristol airport will take about an hour. The Air Decker bus will take you to Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station where you can catch the train to Bath. The Bristol Airport Flyer coach service will take you to Bath with stops along the way. Gatwick Airport. Gatwick Airport is located in South London, approximately 140 miles east of Bath. Transit time varies. You can take a train from the airport to Reading Train Station where you can pick up a train service to Bath. Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport is 100 miles east of Bath. Transit from Heathrow will take about 2-2.5 hours. National Express coach service goes direct from the airport to the center of Bath. Sightseeing tours. Many tours make stops in Bath. It should be noted that, depending on the tour, the stop in Bath will be anywhere from 1-3 hours.

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Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

Erin — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 03:08:19 +0000

Cambodia is a beautiful country full of history and culture. Unfortunately, they are also a country that has suffered immense hardship and atrocity. When we went to Cambodia, we made sure to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in order to pay our respects to the people who suffered and honor the memories of those who died. HISTORY OF THE CAMBODIA and THE RISE OF THE KHMER ROUGE Cambodia was strong under Khmer rule during the 9th-13th centuries, but began a gradual decline between the 13th and 15th centuries. Over the next several hundred years, Cambodia had a merry-go-round of rulers until one of the worst rulers came to power and ushered in one of the darkest eras in Cambodian history. From around 1218 until 1863, Cambodia was in a slow decline. After the death of King Jayavarman VII in 1218, internal conflicts led Angkor Wat to be abandoned and the once powerful nation went into a cultural, economic and social decline. As their infrastructure weakened, other nations (namely Siam and Vietnam) began vying for control. The Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) conquered Angkor Thom and Cambodia became a protectorate of Siam, though the Vietnamese were still slowly chipping away at Cambodian territories. In 1863, King Norodom of Cambodia accepted French protection from Siam and Vietnam. The French eventually converted that protectorship into full colonial rule of Cambodia. Colonial rule lasted until March 1945 when Japan began a short rule, but the French took control again in October 1945. The French retained control over Cambodia until 1953 when King Norodom Sihanouk secured the withdrawal of French and Vietnamese troops from Cambodia, an action he’d been working on since 1945. King Norodom had been backed by the French in his quest for the ruling seat because they thought he was too weak to force a removal of French troops, but King Norodom had a strong desire for an independent Cambodia and made it a life goal to see the French removed from Cambodian soil. Soon after, though, the Vietnam War began and gradually weakened King Norodom’s hold on Cambodia. King Norodom was ousted by military coup on March 18, 1970 led by Premier Lon Nol, who had formed a coalition with the Khmer Rouge, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. King Norodom was allowed to remain a figurehead for the country, but had no real power. Disunity and corruption led to the downfall of the republic in 1975, though the true beginning of the end started in 1973 when the Khmer Rouge began vying for full control of the country. The Khmer Rouge controlled nearly 60% of Cambodia on January 1, 1975 when they launched a 117-day offensive that officially collapsed the Khmer Republic. After the surrender of the Khmer Republic on April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea. From the very beginning of their rule, the Khmer Rouge began a campaign of terror and genocide over the people of their country. Their first move was to issue an edict ordering entire urban populations to evacuate to rural areas to become farmers and laborers. Organized religions were suppressed and the industrial sector was placed under government control, where most of it was abandoned. Those who were caught practicing any form of religion were imprisoned or executed. The Khmer government cut ties with the communists in Vietnam and strengthened relations with China. Vietnam and the Khmer engaged on border disputes over the entire length of the Khmer Rouge reign from 1975-1979. The Khmer government was a Communist government formed on the teachings of Mao, Marx, Lenin and the French Communist Party. Where the Khmer differed from the other Communist factions is that they also believed that Khmers were racially superior to other minorities who claimed Cambodian citizenship. This idea led to a Hitler-esque drive to rid the country of the “impure” Cambodians by killing them. This evolved from ridding the country of minorities to ridding the country of anyone viewed as an oppressor, which included those in leadership/government positions prior to the Khmer Rouge takeover, intellectuals, anyone considered “rich”, those in professional employ and anyone who sympathized with the oppressors or the minorities. And this is where Tuol Sleng came in. HISTORY OF THE PRISON After the Khmer Rouge came to power and began their process of ridding Cambodia of “inferior” Cambodians and “oppressors”, they realized they would need a place to conduct interrogations and hold their prisoners. In August 1975, four months after the Khmer Rouge came into power, they converted the Chao Ponhea Yat High School into a prison and interrogation center which they named Security Prison 21 (s-21). The school buildings and grounds were enclosed by electrified barbed wire and all of the windows were retrofitted with bars and barbed wire. The classrooms were converted into prison cells and torture chambers that housed roughly 1,000-1,500 prisoners. It is estimated that during the 4-year run of the prison, between 17,000-20,000 people were imprisoned, tortured and killed there. The purpose of the prison was to interrogate by torture doctors, teachers, engineers, religious leaders, skilled laborers, anyone who had been a member of the previous government, anyone who was suspected of being a political dissident and anyone who was perceived to have been an intellectual. Over time, the inmates began to include political opponents as well as those in the Khmer Rouge party who were suspected of being disloyal or a threat to the regime along with their families. A vast majority of those who entered S-21 only left when they were taken to the Choeung Ek extermination center just outside the city to be killed and buried. Of all the people who entered the prison, there are only 7 known survivors, though it is conjectured that there may have been 5 who escaped, bringing the total to 12. S-21 remained in operation until 1979 when Vietnam invaded Phnom Penh and drove the Khmer Rouge out. In 1980 S-21 was reopened under the name Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum with a display of artifacts from the days of operation. The name they chose for the museum is very fitting: Tuol Sleng means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill”. The artifacts include authentic tools used for torture, a photo record the Khmer Rouge kept of their victims, honorary graves and informational displays. The new rulers of the country, now named The People’s Republic of Kampuchea, wanted to memorialize the atrocities in honor of those who died and in hopes that this will never happen in their country again. TUOL SLENG GENOCIDE MUSEUM Tuol Sleng is a large, rather unassuming complex inside of Phnem Penh. From the outside, it doesn’t look much different from the other buildings in the area, aside from the barbed wire surrounding it and the simple sign over the entrance. There are no flashy signs or shining exterior to entice you to enter and spend an hour or two marveling at what is inside. It is a simple face with a stark message: horrible things happened here. After paying the foreigner fee (locals can visit free of charge) and entering the complex, you are greeted by a sign designating the complex as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Behind the sign is a field of coffins. These final 14 victims were killed just hours before liberation forces made it to the prison. Each was found badly mutilated and it is widely believed that these deaths occurred just before the prison guards packed up and left the prison as the Vietnamese entered Phnom Penh. The sign beside it reads: THE VICTIMS GRAVES – 14 corpses of the victims were discovered in Building “A” by the armed forces of the United Front for the Salvation, Solidarity and Liberation of Cambodia. They were brought down and buried in this opposite plot. Among those corpses there was one female victim. These victims were the last ones executed by the agents of S-21 before they fled this prison compound. On the mid-left side of the above picture there is a sign. Posted on it are the rules of the prison as stated by those who once ran it. Across from the sign is Building A. Each room had a different display of the torture artifacts that were found in the rooms along with a picture on the wall showing either the empty bed and tools as they were found or a body that had been found attached to the bed and tools. It truly was heart-wrenching to see the state of those found still imprisoned here and it was horrifying to learn what was done to them. The pictures on the wall show badly emaciated bodies chained to beds, some bleeding heavily. There are pictures in some rooms of bodies laid out across the floor, chained together, crammed as close as they can be with guards standing over them. There are pictures and paintings of people after having been tortured and some of people being tortured. Some of the floors have dark stains on them and all of the walls are tear-streaked, crying with heartache from the awful scenes played out therein. Even with windows in most of the rooms, a darkness lingers and dampens the brightness that tries to permeate the gloom. Outside in the light, at the junction between Buildings A and C stands a simple, once innocent, structure. This bar used to be where children exercised and played around, but the Khmer Rouge turned it into a device for torture and interrogation. The sign reads: THE GALLOWS – This pole with cables attached to it had been used for the student to conduct their exercise. The Khmer rouge utilized this place as an interrogation room. Ther interrogators tied both hands of the prisoners to the back by a rope and lift the prisoners upside down. They did like this until the prisoners lost consciousness. Then they dipped the prisoner’s head into a jar of smelly, filthy water, which they normally used as a fertilizer for the crops in the terrace outside. By doing so, the victims quickly regain consciousness, and that the interrogators could continue their interrogation. Across from the gallows stands Building C. Building C housed many small cells where prisoners were kept between interrogations and torture sessions. To help bring a sense of reality to those who suffered in these buildings, a few rooms have been converted into exhibits to display personal artifacts and skeletal remains of some of the victims who were buried in a field nearby. Inside you can see how the Khmer Rouge converted classrooms into multiple tiny prison cells. Inside these cells the prisoners were chained to either the bar or the floor and could not move more than a few inches. This was most likely not an issue since most inmates were tortured to the point of being to weak to escape or being so ill from disease and malnutrition. There are several pictures around the complex of bodies so emaciated it is a wonder any of them were still alive. Inside the small white building behind the trees are pictures of and artifacts from those who were imprisoned here. The Khmer Rouge carefully photographed and documented each person who was brought into the prison. Unfortunately, they kept the photographs and the list of names separate, so it is unknown who all the people in the photographs are. Not even children were given a pass by the Khmer Rouge. It breaks my heart every time I look at these photos. Those poor children. The things they went through and it’s most likely that most of them didn’t have a clue what was going on. Included in Building C are registers of personal details along with crimes they confessed to. It is surmised that a majority of the people who confessed to “crimes” were innocent and were just confessing in a misguided hope that they would be released. With the torture these people were put through – starvation, electrocution, whipping, beatings, burning, suffocation, waterboarding, rape, organ removal without anesthetic, blood draining, pulling fingernails, ritual cutting, medical experiments and sometimes skinning people alive – it is no wonder that almost...

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