history – Page 3 – Geeky Girl Engineer

Ellis Island

Posted on July 18, 2021 by geek

I went to New York City for a quick trip and finally did one of those tourist things that are generally on the last of my list to do. On several occasions, I have traveled to tour a wastewater treatment plant or landfill or some other engineering work, but pure tourist locations are things I go to if I can fit them into my schedule. I visited the Statue of Liberty a couple of decades ago, and I would like to go again. However, for this trip, I visited Ellis Island, partly because they had spots on the hard hat tour of the work being done there available. An interesting historic site plus engineering work definitely fits the bill of my interests. The original Ellis Island immigration building is open including the restored Great Hall (i.e. Registry Room) with numerous interesting exhibits. The hard hat tour however allows you to tour parts of the hospital on the other side of the island that are being stabilized and restored. The buildings are fascinating, especially from a modern viewpoint. [This immediately makes me wonder how someone in 100 years will view our buildings such as hospitals.] I also find the work being done to restore the buildings fascinating. The hard hat tour is a great way for the National Park Service to highlight work that is being done and needs to be done when there is funding. The tour is very informative, but I have to admit the tour could be a lot better. The main problem with the tour is trying to hear the tour guide. There is no audio technology used. It was only how loud the guide talked, and the guide I was with did never bothered to find out if those at the back could hear what he was saying. He rarely waited for everyone to catch up before talking, and as I was generally in the back trying to get photos, I missed half of what he was saying. The audio problem is compounded by the fact that area being toured is an active worksite, so there were also lawnmowers, banging, and other equipment noise in the background. Still, touring the area was fascinating and informative.

Note with the photos below that most of the buildings being restored have had all their windows covered with plywood that has a small plastic window and a ventilation panel. The plywood prevents the elements from getting in and further degrading the structures, and the window and ventilation panel helps prevent mold from growing inside the buildings.

On hospital side of island looking at the original building where the Great Hall is

Ellis Island Great Hall (aka Reception Room)

Building on administrative side of island

Hospital buildings

Laundry room

Hospital buildings

Hallway in hospital

Incinerator

Morgue

Hospital room

Bathroom in hospital

Hospital kitchen

Fixtures in a hospital room

Bathroom in hospital

Hospital room looking towards Liberty Island

Room in contagious disease hospital

Alaska State Capitol

Posted on June 22, 2021 by geek

With this Alaska trip, I was able to accomplish one of the more difficult tasks in my quest to see all 50 state capitols, as Juneau is not the easiest capital to travel to. I also lucked out because it only opened less than a week ago before which it was closed because of COVID. The Alaska State Capitol is one of the, or perhaps the, least fancy state capitols. The building was formerly a courthouse, and then they turned it into the capitol. There is no dome or other fancy halls. It is an office building. It is lucky for the state, in a way, that they have so few residents because the senate and house chambers are small and used to be courtrooms. There are also quite a few old photos and lots of Alaska Native art, which are quite nice to see.

Alaska State Capitol exterior

House of Representatives Chamber

Senate Chamber

Senate Finance Committee Room

Alaska Natives carved door

Map of Alaska cut from piece of 48 inch pipe used to construct Trans-Alaska pipeline. Weld represents 800-mile route of the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

Phone booths (phones do not work, I checked)

Elevator bay

Totem Bight State Historical Park

Posted on June 18, 2021 by geek

I visited Totem Bight State Historical Park in Ketchikan today. It contains numerous totem poles, some of which are reproductions and some of which are inspired by older totem poles. Because they are newer, they are still colorful, which helps in understand both their meaning and also what the original poles looked like. There is also a gorgeous clan house, which you can go in. The park also features a short but nice walk through the temperature rainforest and also a beach.

Clan House

Land Otter Pole

Sea Monster Pole

Kaats’ Bear Wife

Kadjuk Bird Pole

Thunderbird and Whale

Trail

Beach area

Bergamo, Italy

Posted on February 23, 2020 by geek

Today, my tour group left Verona for Como. We spent a couple of hours in Bergamo along the way. The new area of Bergamo is in the lower (elevation wise) part of the city. The older part of Bergamo is on top of a hill surrounding by a wall because everything old seems to be surrounded by a wall in these parts. I now believe I understand just how much the Romans were all about the walls. Bergamo is a cute little town that has two real important parts. First, it has a gorgeous chapel that is a mausoleum for a rich military man named Bartolomeo Colleoni, who evidently switched sides between Milan and Venice, and importantly is not to be confused with the fictional Corleone family of The Godfather. [Our tour guide was clear on this point.] Second, it was the birthplace of Pope John XXIII, and the cathedral has a permanent exhibit about this including his coffin, but not his body.

Palazzo della Ragione. The middle carving has me thinking of questions.

Sirmione, Italy

Posted on February 22, 2020 by geek

Today, my tour group visited Sirmione, which is a little town at the end of a tiny peninsula in Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). There is a well preserved castle there and an archeological site from the Roman era. There are also many hotels and spas in between. Climbing to the top of the tower of Castello di Sirmione provides amazing views of the lake and surrounding area including the mountains to the north. The archeological ruins appear to be of a pleasure villa at the very end of the peninsula, so it seems the area has been used for the same reason since the Romans.

Archaeological site of Grotte di Catullo

Verona, Italy

Posted on February 21, 2020 by geek

Yesterday, my tour group arrived in Verona, and today I had the whole day to explore it. Verona is a lovely, old city. It has remnants of when it was part of the Roman Empire, and it also has Venetian influences, as well as others. The city is the setting for Romeo and Juliet, and it fully embraces it. [It is also named in the title of The Two Gentlemen of Verona and part of its setting, but the city doesn’t seem to care about that.] According to our guide, Romeo and Juliet seems to be a mix of myth and truth. There were two families who lived here named Cappello and Montecchi, and there may have been teenagers from those families who committed suicide after falling in love. Short stories were written about it, and supposedly Shakespeare used those as starting material. Interesting note, Juliet is very popular here, and people write letters to her, and everyone goes to see a balcony that did not exist before Shakespeare that was supposed to be hers. [Juliet having a balcony seems to be partially a translation issue, as in the play, she was probably opening her window shutters.] Anyway, Romeo doesn’t seem to be nearly as popular as Juliet. Hardly anyone writes him letters. Poor Romeo.

Besides Romeo and Juliet, the old part of Verona is lovely to walk around. The Adige River flows around the old part of the city, and walking along it provides lovely views of the city and surrounding area.

Juliet’s house. The balcony on the left is Juliet’s balcony. It was added later, and it is made from a sarcophagus as the artist was trying to show the beginning and end of life.

Adige River with the Roman Theater at the base of the hill in the center

Trieste, Italy

Posted on February 18, 2020 by geek

Today my cruise visited Trieste. Trieste is an interesting city. The more touristy area near the water feels far more like central Europe, especially Austria. This makes sense since the area was part of the Austrian empire until after World War II. Further away from the older part of the city, the city loses much of its charm as it looks like a modern European city.

Our group visited an old church on top of a hill close to the city center where there are some Roman ruins. We also visited a Nazi concentration camp, Risiera di San Sabba. I am not posting any photos of that as the visit was a little overwhelming. The we wandered through parts of the older city center with its beautiful buildings.

Pedestrians walk through some of the older parts of the city center

Pedestrian area near city center with views to surrounding hills

Duino Castle

Posted on February 17, 2020 by geek

Today we were in Sistiana, Italy. In the afternoon, we hiked along the dolomite cliffs to Duino Castle. The hike provided some great views of the bay as well a little exercise. Along the hike, I saw some caterpillars as well as some some nice trees and rocks. The views were outstanding. The castle itself was nice, but I think I preferred the cliff. That is just a personal preference though.

The start of the hike allowed nice views of Sistiana’s bay. The small cruise ship on the left is the ship I am on.

Looking to Duino Castle somewhat near the start of the hike.

Looking down the path from the castle once we already entered the grounds

Looking up the castle’s oval shaped spiral stairway

Aquileia, Italy

Posted on February 17, 2020 by geek

This morning we visited Aquileia, or more precisely the historic basilica there. The original church dates back to the 4th century, and there are some mosaics near the bell tower based that are probably from that era. The main part of the church is from the 11th and 14th centuries. While working on the church, they discovered beautiful mosaics under many more recent floors. Behind the church is the the Crypt of Frescoes with beautifully painted frescoes.

In 2000, they built a glass walkway, so people would not have to walk on the mosaics. The glass walkways were nicely designed and don’t touch the mosaics at all. In the main part of the church, they are supported by the columns. In an underground portion, the glass walkways are supported by steel wires attached to the ceiling.

The basilica from the front door entrance with mosaic floor

Basket of snails mosaic in the crypt of excavations

Glass walkway supported by column and cantilevered from support near wall

Glass walkway at front door spanned over the mosaics

Bale, Croatia

Posted on February 16, 2020 by geek

This afternoon we visited Bale, Croatia, which our tour guide described as a sort of ghost town. The town is old, but it was bombed during World War II and was deserted after that. The government gave good deals to people to come and live in Bale and rebuild the city, but many of the buildings are still just shells with only the exterior walls somewhat existing. Currently it is is being rebuilt and renovated, and utility work was everywhere. It was fascinating to me to see the utility work done on the historic buildings and how some of it is hidden once finished.