Europe - Lili on the Loose

11 01, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: A Brief History on Snow Globes

By Lili|January 11th, 2014|Categories: History, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: America, Austria, Britain, collectible, Europe, France, history, invention, lightbulb, memories, momento, snow, snow dome, snow globe, snow globes, souvenir, travel, Vienna, water globe|0 Comments

The origins of the snow globe is unknown, however there are records of these items dating back to the mid to late 1800’s in France. It is assumed that snow globes were initially created to replace the glass paperweight. Early snow globes showed miniature Christmas or religious scenes. One of the first “travel” souvenir scenes was that of the Eiffel Tower to commemorate the International Exposition in Paris and the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution in 1889. Snow Globes became a popular collectable during the Victorian era in England. Erwin Perzy I While a few companies

23 12, 2013

Travel Missteps: Lost for Christmas

By Lili|December 23rd, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2011, Bavaria, Christmas, Christmas in Germany 2011, Christmas Market, Cristkindlmarket, dragon, Europe, food, Germany, lost, Marienplatz, Munich, Secret Santa, subway, U-Bahn, ubahn, Weinahtsmarkt|0 Comments

On December 23rd, 2011 I was with my family, enjoying the last evening of the Christmas Markets of Munich. This year we had decided not to buy each family member a present, but instead this year we'd do a "Secret Santa" where we would pull a person's name out of a hat, and only buy them a gift. However, that person couldn't know who was their "Santa". This secretiveness, combined with just the amazing sights of a real German Christmas Market, meant I was especially distracted and awestruck. Throughout the night I did fall behind, or dart around to another

8 07, 2013

Travel Missteps: Go to Hell!

By Lili|July 8th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2011, bar, Bavaria, Christmas in Germany 2011, Europe, Germany, hell, history, Medieval, night watchman, Rothenburg, rothenburg ob der tauber, snow, snowing, walking tour|0 Comments

We'll continue our Travel Missteps series in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of the best preserved Medieval towns in Germany. While this town is primarily touristy, it was beautiful decorated and thankfully deserted for the holidays when I was there in December 2011. Me posing with the Night Watchman. One of the key attractions is taking a "Night Watchman Tour" ( 7 EUR) to learn this history of the town. We had planned on doing this on the first night we got there, but as what commonly happens, we were too tired and so kept putting this tour off until the

10 06, 2013

Travel Missteps: Black goes with Everything

By Lili|June 10th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, black, clothing, Eiffel Tower, Europe, first trip abroad 2002, France, monument, monuments, Napoleon's Tomb, outfits, Paris, planning, protest, terrorist, The Wall of Peace, unrest|0 Comments

Napoleon's Tomb on a cold, yet sunny day in February 2002. I've written about my first trip abroad before, but sadly not having a watch wasn't the only thing I got wrong in Paris. The other spectacular travel misstep was my wardrobe for the trip. You see my mother had read up on Paris, and was adamant that Parisians are savy dressers and wouldn' t be caught dead in blue jeans. Instead, all the rage in Paris was sleek black clothing. And so no one in my family was aloud to bring blue jeans, or bright color clothes as we didn't

1 04, 2013

Travel Missteps: The Color Coded Dance Card

By Lili|April 1st, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2009, at the heart of it Ireland 2009, CIE, color, colored sheep, Europe, Ireland, sheep, tour|0 Comments

An Irish Sheep with colors on its back. Ireland is full of 3 things: Pubs, Churches, and Sheep. In 2009 I visited southern Ireland for a few weeks. One thing I thought was out of the ordinary was the different colors on the sheep. Some markings are to help determine the owner of the sheep, as sometimes sheep from multiple farms are kept on the same land together. But other color markings are during the breeding season. The male sheep, a ram, has a harness installed near his neck that contains an animal friendly dye. When he mounts

4 03, 2013

Travel Missteps: What time is it?

By Lili|March 4th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, Champs de Elysee, Europe, first trip abroad 2002, France, French, language, Paris, planning, time, watch|0 Comments

Time seems to stand still in Paris. You feel the desire to sit and watch as life unfolds around you. My first trip abroad was when I turned 16 and was a week in Paris, France in February 2002. It was a family trip, my mother had found insanely low vacation package that included pretty much everything (air, hotel, river cruise, museum passes, metro passes, etc) for around $700 per person. This was a few months after September 11th, 2001 and the world, including the travel industry was still reeling from the effects and that is why the package was so cheap.

18 02, 2013

Travel Missteps: Lost in Italy

By Lili|February 18th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2005, All in the family Italy 2005/2006, Assisi, bus, Christmas, church, churches, Europe, Italy, lost, New Years Eve, police, smart car, taxi, tour, Trafalger, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site, view point|0 Comments

This is the view I should never have seen, but because I got lost I had a chance to see it. When you are on a strict timeline, getting lost can be a disaster. In late December of 2005 I was on a bus tour of Italy with my family. We were adamant that we were not "Bus Tour" people. We were use to doing things on our own. But we didn't speak any Italian so we decided to utilize a bus tour "but only for the transportation logistics". So we set out to plan down our moves in each "stop" of the tour,

21 01, 2013

Travel Missteps: Punks on a Train

By Lili|January 21st, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2011, Bavaria, beer, cannibal, Christmas, Christmas in Germany 2011, Europe, Germany, locals, Munich, music, Punks, Rothenburg, train|0 Comments

Travel is all about the journey and sometimes that journey is unexpected. In December 2011 I was traveling through Germany with my family. I am the navigator in my family, it is my duty to plan out all methods of travel to make sure we get where we need to go. After spending Christmas in Munich we were making our way to the Medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber by train. Our first train was packed and so we had to spread out. My mother sat next to an old German woman who spoke quick German to my very confused

24 12, 2012

Travel Missteps: A Grave Christmas Tree Mistake

By Lili|December 24th, 2012|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2011, Bavaria, Christmas, Christmas in Germany 2011, Christmas Tree, Europe, Germany, graveyard, Home Alone, local culture, Movie, Munich, Odeonsplatz, ornament, traditions, U-Bahn|0 Comments

A decorated Christmas Tree in Munich. A little large for what I was looking for. My little sister had been teaching in Kenya, so the family decided to meet "halfway" in Germany for Christmas 2011. I felt like Kevin McCallister in the "Home Alone" movies, worried we wouldn't have a real Christmas tree. So I had researched ahead of time where to get a little Christmas tree and Odeonsplatz in Munich was recommended on a ex-pat forum. The key issue with this plan is we were staying two U-Bahn stops away from Odeonsplatz, which would make for an interesting subway ride if