traveling

You are currently browsing the archive for the traveling category.

St. Gallen Stiftsbibliothek goes online

October 20, 2008 by chet

The stacks in the Stiftsbibliothek

The stacks in the Stiftsbibliothek

One of the most memorable experiences I had in Switzerland was a visit to the Stiftsbibliothek in St. Gallen. Stiftsbibliothek (the abbey library) is a library of ancient texts in a Swiss monastery.

Entering the library at Stiftsbibliothek.

Entering the library at Stiftsbibliothek.

Each semester my high school would arrange cultural trips for us to go on. This particular trip was actually a tour of several different monasteries in eastern Switzerland. I chose this trip over others for less than historical or cultural reasons. No, I won’t tell you her name :-) .

However, I never regretted it. Many of the texts there were published before 1000 AD however the ones that really impressed me the most was getting to look through a first edition of Description de l’Égypte.

Sure the ancient hand-illuminated books were interesting if inscrutable. But Description de l’Égypte was extremely large and detailed and the guide allowed me to turn the pages by hand. I took some pictures of the pages but they turned out blurry; to my dismay.

Now, the NY Times is running a story that the collection is being digitized in part as a reaction to the recent flooding of Dresden. It’s not the same as being there in person and getting to walk around the stacks, but it’s the next best thing. And it’s one of the best uses of the internet that I can think of.

Visit it at www.cesg.unifr.ch/en/index.htm

Tags: , , ,

548 miles later …

July 30, 2006 by chet

We had brunch this morning at The Acme on the square in Llano before hitting the road back to Dallas. As you can tell it’s a HUGE breakfast. And no, I didn’t finish it all. But it did nearly hold me for the entire day. Once back in Dallas we made one stop at Jamba Juice for a smoothy and a pretzel and we’re done. Good thing I’m going to the gym tomorrow! lol

Instead of following the same path back that we took coming South we drove from Llano over to Burnet and then followed Highway 281 North through Lampasas, Adamsville, Evant, Hamilton, Olin and Hico. In Hico we took a right turn at the Koffee Kup diner and joined Highway 67 to go through Chalk Mountain, Glen Rose, Cleburne, Keene, Venus and Midlothian before finally setting sights on Big D.

At Glen Rose, G mentioned that she had never been to the Dinosaur Valley State Park. One u-turn and a quick circuit through downtown Glen Rose later we were paying our $10 admission to admire dino footprints in the Paluxi River.

A lot of other folks had the same idea and the place was pretty busy. And that’s despite the fact is was 107-degrees Fahrenheit outside!!!Seeing the tracks was pretty cool. For the most part you can walk up pretty close to them and they’re fairly obvious though some aren’t marked very well at all. There was also water in the river so a lot of kids were swimming … who cares about dino tracks when there’s a swimming hole to enjoy! lol

G and I didn’t go swimming but we did visit the gift shop. I almost bought a hat but then decided its dork rating was too high.

Llano was fun, even though the Dabbs Hotel was disappointing. Coopers BBQ is definitely worth a repeat visit, which may happen as soon as I earn my pilot’s license.

Dinner at the Llaneaux Seafood House

July 29, 2006 by chet

We drove past this place yesterday and thought, hrm seafood sound nice. Well, tonight when we got there we found out it’s not just seafood … it’s CAJUN!! Yippee!

The Llaneaux Seafood House is an old house right next door to Llano Park and the Inks Bridge. You can sit inside or outside (we chose air conditioning) on what looks like vintage diner furniture. The menu is fairly extensive and has some non-Cajun items. But there’s lots of dirty rice and etouffee.

G had the shrimp etouffee while I had the Crawfish Duet .. Fried Crawfish and Crawfish Etouffee (pictured above). I had never really tried crawfish before so this seemed the perfect opportunity. G and I joked that it probably tastes just like shrimp and guess what? … it does! lol

At the end we had a cup of coffee before we left and that seemed a perfect way to end the meal. On the way out I spied a curved staircase leading downstairs. I asked what was down there and turns out it’s a bar. It was too early to have much of a crowd but the next time we’re in Llano I think I’ll give it a try. It’s a great location.

Now we’re back in our room geeking it up on the internet and enjoying a bottle of Marques de Casa Concha (um .. a 2003 Chilean Merlot). Cheers!

More pictures here.

Best damn BBQ ever

July 28, 2006 by chet

Well, OK, maybe not the best BBQ ever but tonight … it hit the spot. G and I are in Llano, TX and for dinner we stopped at Coopers Old-Time Pit BBQ. We really only picked it because it was surrounded by cars and trucks. If everyone else was going then it must be good.

Outside are three or four gigantic BBQ pits. There was only one going so I’m guessing they alternate them or they fire up more when they have a big event going. Anyway you line up outside the building and stop at the pit first. The pit guy will help you pick out what meat you want. He cuts it and dunks it in sauce (if you want) and puts it on a platter.

Then you take the platter inside where someone else slices the meat for you and wraps it in butcher paper. Then you pick out your sides and pay. The cashier hands you “your plates” which is waxed paper. Then you stop at the drink stand where you’ll find free all-you-can eat beans, onions, pickles, etc. Then you pick a seat from a room full of tables and benches.

G and I sat next to a couple of good-old-boys who described … in excruciating detail … a football game. But then later started talking about “that guy in that tv show with Kurt Russell and he played a sniper.” LOL

We finished off dinner some excellent hot peach cobbler. Mmmmmmmmmmm!!

Check out the photos.