history - Lili on the Loose

25 04, 2016

Travel Missteps: Minutes in Pompeii

By Lili|April 25th, 2016|Categories: Photography, Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2006, All in the family Italy 2005/2006, ancient city, ancient civilization, Europe, history, in a rush, Italy, museum, Photo Essay, Pompeii, ruins, rush, tour, Trafalger, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site|0 Comments

I love ancient history, and have poured over history books and documentaries since I was a child. So when my family planned a trip to Italy, I knew I HAD to see Pompeii. I had been fascinated with this town ever since I saw a carbonized baked bread in a school book. The fact that life changed so suddenly and this town was erased from history in mere hours was shocking. But unfortunately I found out we'd only have a short amount of time at Pompeii, likely less than 30 minutes. Since I had just completed a semester on Italian Art

23 02, 2016

Egypt Travelogue: Day 4, Part 5 – Imhotep Museum & Kushari

By Lili|February 23rd, 2016|Categories: Museums, Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: 2015, Africa, columns, desert, Diary, Dream of Egypt, dust, Egypt, Egypt Travelogue, Egyptian Museum, Egyptian Sidekick, exhibit, Faience Wall Tiles, history, Imhotep, Imhotep Museum, koshari, kushari, Marble, Merrenre I, Middle East, Mohsen, Mummies, Mummy, museum, sand, Saqqara, Sidekick|0 Comments

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Sunday October 25, 2015 Egypt: Day 4, Part 5 - Imhotep Museum & Kushari We finally found someone who told us that the museum we were looking for was at the entrance to Saqqara....all of Saqqara (not just the ancient part) and that we'd need to head to the car entrance to find it. So we headed back to where our driver was parked and took a short drive to the Imhotep Museum entrance. Admission to the

18 02, 2016

Egypt Travelogue: Day 4, Part 4 – Saqqara

By Lili|February 18th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: 2015, 5th dynasty, Africa, Akhet-hotep, barb wire, bat, Bent Pyramid, Chicago, Chicago Field Museum, Civ, Civilization, colonnade, columns, Dahshur, Dashur, desert, Diary, Djoser, Dream of Egypt, dust, Egypt, Egypt Travelogue, Egyptian Sidekick, exhibit, Faience Wall Tiles, funerary complex, game, Great Court, Heb-Sed Court, Herimeru, Hidalgo, history, horse, House of the South, Illinois, Imhotep, Imhotep Museum, Indian Rupee, Isi, Iy, Khenu, Marble, mastaba, Meidum, Memphis, mice, Middle East, Mohsen, money, Movie, museum, North America, paint, Pharaoh, prince, Ptah-hote, Pyramid, Red Pyramid, sand, Saqqara, Sidekick, Sneferu, Step Pyramid, Temple T, Token Palace, Tomb, trivia, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, Unas, Unas Causeway, Unas Pyramid, Unas-Ankh, USA, video game|1 Comment

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Sunday October 25, 2015 Egypt: Day 4, Part 4 - Saqqara Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. As we pulled up to the complex at Saqqara it started to rain. I realized I didn't want to walk around with my big heavy bag any longer and so took out just some of the essentials into a sack. (This would be a big mistake.) Upon stepping out I found the rain to be mostly just sprinkles, and

14 11, 2015

The History of the Christmas Nutcracker

By Lili|November 14th, 2015|Categories: Buying Guide, History, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2011, Alexandre Dumas, Austria, buying guide, Christmas, Christmas in Germany 2011, Christmas Market, decoration, E.T.A Hoffman, Europe, Fuchtner, Germany, guide, history, Nutcracker, Salzburg, Steinbach, The Nutcracker, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Ulbricht|0 Comments

Nutcrackers at a German Christmas Market. Nutcrackers in some form have been around since ancient times. However, they were much different in design and from from what we consider the Christmas Nutcracker. Those didn’t appear until the mid 1700's when many Germany mines had shut down and the workers had to figure out other sources of income. They turned to the abundant forests and their woodworking skills to craft dolls, toys, Christmas Pyramids, angels, and nutcrackers. The first nutcrackers were made to look like authority figures such as kings or soldiers. These “nut cracking” officials symbolized the

5 04, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: Shot Glasses

By Lili|April 5th, 2014|Categories: Buying Guide, History, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: buying, ceramic, collectable, collection, glass, history, jigger, legends, measurement, memento, memories, New York Times, pour, shopping, shot, shot glass, shot glasses, souvenir, standard, travel, whisky glass|0 Comments

A Brief Un-History of the Shot Glass Shot Glasses have become a common souvenir staple the world round. It surprised me to learn that there really isn’t any idea on who first created the shot glass and what their initial purpose was for. There are actually so many stories and legends on why they were created and how they got their name, ranging from the plausible to outright legends. What can be said is that in 1940’s the first use of the term “Shot Glass” was printed in the New York Times in reference to a standard measurement of alcohol.

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

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