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Traveling Through the Alphabet part 4

Here we are, a continuation of https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/traveling-through-the-alphabet , https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/traveling-through-the-alphabet-part-2 and just completed https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/traveling-through-the-alphabet-part-3

same rules as before which were -

Rules: In order through the alphabet, please use the letter after the
previous...

Can be a place name or a country name...

Can you tell us anything about the place and something about an
experience you had there or would like to have there...

Just a little fun for a late spring, early summer weekend - heck
something for the week too

The last post in the original thread was number 2645, and the last post in part 2 was 617 and the last post in part 3 was 457 so just add 3,719 to the thread post count in this part 4 to see where we really are.

We originally started on Saturday May 30, 2020, and when that filled up and messed with the Forums' page server we had to start a Part 2, so we did start Part 2 on Monday, January 30, 2023, Part 3 on Saturday July 6th, 2024 and this Part 4 on Saturday May 17, 2025 - we have been going for exactly 1814 days.

Coincidence isn't it that all new threads except for Part 2 have started on a Saturday... I didn't see that coming...

Or 4 years, 11 months, 18 days.

Or 59 months, 18 days.

or 13 days short of 5 years

WOW

What a RIDE

See you all here from now on, and can I say how wonderful it is to see so many new faces in addition to out stalwart supports who have been with us from the start...

Happy Alphabeting......

Posted by
35129 posts

Round 113 Reached on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 (right after midnight here in the UK) in only 21 days. (Fred for rolling over into this special round with A is for Berlin Alexanderplatz.) at effective post number 420 of this series 3, and post 3,682 overall; or E62 in hexadecimal.

Round 114 Reached on Saturday, May 17, 2025 in FOUR days. (Cyn with for rolling over after the special round with A is for Art Hotel in Wroclaw, Poland) at effective post number 4 of this series 4, and post 3,723 overall; or E8B in hexadecimal (it may be hard to see the 8 vs the B so the hex number is Echo 8 Bravo).

Round 115 Reached on Sunday, June 1, 2025 in 16 days. (Avirosemail with Adler Street in London) at effective post number 35 of this series 4, and post 3,754 overall; or EAA in hexadecimal.

For what it's worth....

Posted by
35129 posts

please start just below, starting with rollover with letter A

Back to the normal Alphabet now please

Posted by
8362 posts

A

Art Hotel in Wrocław, Poland, from where I’m posting this. Some tidbits:

Rick Steves doesn’t include Wrocław in his guidebook, but it’s the fourth largest city in Poland, and from what little I’ve seen so far, it’s prettier than Kraków or Warsaw. The city is pronounced “vrotes-wahv,” not “row-claw.”

Arriving last evening after a long train journey and lots of rain, we tried to get into the hotel. The main entrance was up several steps, which were all completely covered by businessmen smoking cigarettes or vape pens. I had to push through them to get into the hotel, as they wouldn’t make way for a woman in her 70’s lugging a suitcase into a hotel. My guess is that none of them were Polish.

Dinner at the hotel’s restaurant was good. They feature seasonal ingredients, so right now, in addition to the regular menu, they have a special asparagus (Szparagowe) menu. This includes white asparagus, which was also once featured on a menu, and thoroughly enjoyed in Switzerland about this time of year, but many, many years ago. It’s grown covered up, so that it doesn’t develop a green color. It’s also very thick, but compared to asparagus at home that’s hard and fibrous whenever it’s any thicker than about a quarter of an inch, this white asparagus was tender and delicious. It was also prominent at the indoor market we went to this morning.

The Art Hotel publishes a book (for sale here for 50 Polish złoty, about $13, with the translated English title, “Around the World in 77 Days 1904-1905.” Released in 2005, a hundred years after this fictitious story ends, and also a hundred years after the death of Jules Verne, author of another circumnavigational story, but which needed 80 days. This one involves Ferdynand Deseire, a Pole whose surname came from his French Father. To win a £1 million bet, his team sets out from London in December 1904, to traverse Earth in 77 days. The book is a series of 77 paintings by Polish artist Janusz Klekot. The protagonist, Ferdynand Deseire, looks curiously like Jules Verne, long white beard and all.

The hotel has 77 rooms, and each features a different panting from the book. They say you’d need to stay here 77 times to see them all. Ours depicts “Aczyńsk” (Atchynsk or Achinsk for non-Polish-readers), a place in Russia about 500 miles north of the point where Russia, Kazakhstan, and China meet, on December 30, twenty-five days into the journey. It features Siberian huskies and a sled, in addition to chilly-looking people.

The book also includes an image of Warsaw, naturally, and a meeting with Tsar Nicholas II who gives them a Letter of Safe Conduct for passage through Russia. Because of the Russo-Japanese war at the time, though, they have to detour south to Shanghai, and then steam to Hawaii (Hawaje). Reaching the USA, they pass through Yuma (Juma), seven years before Arizona became a state, then El Paso, Texas. Two days later they reach Fort Worth, Texas, after passing through Kolorado (Colorado). Huh?!? The map accompanying the book suggests they stayed down in Texas, and didn’t venture so far north to Colorado, then back down to Texas. There is a Colorado City in Texas, so theoretically that’s it, but the painting showed tower rock formations, and red soil, which doesn’t quite add up. Artistic license, I guess.

They later fly in a hot air balloon in Indianapolis, where I was born. Even later, arriving in Liverpool, Day 77 is then a train to London.

From our room on the fourth (Polish third) floor, I can see down the street to a ramen restaurant that has continually had a long line waiting outside the door, last night and all day today. Their noodle bowls must be exceedingly good, or exceedingly cheap.

Posted by
35129 posts

Congratulations to Cyn for taking us into Alphabet ROUND 114 with Art Hotel in Wroclaw, Poland.

Much appreciated as always, adding to Cyn's collection of Nauga stars. You'll need a bigger closet soon.

Thanks to all and appropriate Nauga stars to Cyn!!

Posted by
15472 posts

C

is for Cambrai, France.

Located in Northern France this important town has had me visit it up to now only once over 20 years ago and unfortunately hurriedly, seeing only the centre ville. Obviously, my day visit from Arras was far too superficial and that another more deliberate visit is called for, ie this coming trip.

If you're interested in tracking down WW1 sites, visiting Cambrai and immediate surrounding is important.

Posted by
556 posts

D is for Daugava River in Latvia.

The Daugava runs through Riga. On one bank is the historic Old Town; opposite lies the beautiful National Library.

Posted by
9630 posts

F

Fargo North Dakota, USA

Also the title of a film for which actress Frances McDormand won her first of 3 Oscars. It was also an
Emmy winning TV series that ran on the FX channel for 5 seasons.

Posted by
3048 posts

There is a statue portraying Gandhi sitting in a lotus position that was installed in 1968 in a square near Euston Station (see E above).

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1378971

It commemorates the 100th anniversary of his birth or the 20th anniversary of his assassination, depending on one's proclivities.

It was unveiled by Harold Wilson on this week in May

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Mahatma_Gandhi,_Tavistock_Square

[Note that 1968 was a big year for this area in London. I wonder when it would appear in the news again? (...building suspense...)

Posted by
3048 posts

***Hogarth House* was where Virginia Woolf and her husband started a printing press as a hobby while they weren't writing themselves, so they named it Hogarth Press.

They ended up publishing writers that included TS Eliot, EM Forster, and a lot of translations of Russians like Dostoevsky.

In 1924 they moved the press to their townhouse on Tavistock Square, close to Euston Station (see E above)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogarth_Press

Posted by
2633 posts

Inwood, Manhattan area of New York City. Located at the most northern section of Manhattan, this is a unique area bounded by the Hudson and Harlem Rivers and home to the Cloisters a division of the NY Metropolitan of Art dedicated to ancient history. it is a truly beautiful building and The view from this on a good day allows you to see across the Hudson River to the New Jersey Palisades, a high cliffside section of New Jersey overlooking the river.

Posted by
3048 posts

For about forty years on either side of 900 CE what is now the city of York was instead known as

Jórvík

because it was being run by Vikings making a long stopover.

Posted by
9630 posts

K

Kettleman City

The location of the In n Out Burger I stop at when driving on I-5. Helps break up the monotony.
Double Double with fries!

Also helps there’s a nearby Chevron gas station. Food and fuel!

Posted by
99 posts

L is for Łódź Poland, the city where my paternal grandfather was born in 1899. Łódź is pronounced "Wootch." Łódź is known as a former textile-manufacturing hub, which I find fascinating because my grandfather eventually worked in the NYC garment industry, or the "Schmatta Business" as we say in Yiddish, AKA "Yidglish" or "Yinglish.". (Schmatta means "rag" or "old ragged garment" in Yiddish. The word is very similar in Polish, which is not surprising since Yiddish is a mishmash - yes, another Yiddish word, BTW -- of Slavic, Germanic, and Hebrew words.) This was a common vocation for Jews of his generation, as it was for many immigrants. He later owned a sewing machine shop.

As we are remembering the 80th Anniversary of the end of WWII, I have been reading and watching documentaries about various aspects of the war. I got chills when I recently learned that the Łódź Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto established by the German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma following the Invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe after the Warsaw Ghetto.

I thank my great grandparents every day that in the early 1900s (when my grandfather was quite young), they understood that it was time to leave. That is true for all of my great grandparents, especially those from Ukraine. I do not know the full story of the reasons for the migration, but I imagine it's something akin to this, "they're trying to kill us, it's time to leave." The timing is about right, as the pogroms against Jews were escalating in the region. A common story, unfortunately; certainly not one that is unique to my family.

I have not been to Poland, and I'm not sure I will ever be ready to go there. But the history lessons are so important.

I recognize that I've touched on a heavy topic amidst other ones that are more lighthearted. Thank you for listening.

Posted by
99 posts

M is for Marais

OK, I'll lighten it up a bit, although I will continue somewhat on a Yiddishkeit theme. (Yiddishkeit is loosely translated as the quality of Jewishness.) And I'm taking a page from Avi's playbook by immediately posting the next letter in the alphabet.

I love Le Marais, in the 3rd and 4th Arr. of Paris. I knew I wanted to stay there on my first trip to Paris as a solo traveler in 2013. I stayed in a studio apartment, in the St. Paul neighborhood just north of the Seine, for 10 days. In addition to all the amazing museums and other sites in that area, I appreciated being near the Jewish quarter and soaking up so much Jewish culture... Falafel Row on Rue des Rosiers, The Jewish Art & History Museum. the Holocaust Memorial (where my friend's grandmother is memorialized by name in the 1942 section, identifying those who were deported from Paris to Auschwitz).

Even if I stay in another area of Paris, I always make a point to visit Le Marais, whether it's to hang out in Place des Vosges, visit the Picasso Museum, or enjoy a galette at Breizh Café. It feels like home now.

Posted by
9630 posts

N

Nevada Falls Hike, Yosemite

Good day hike. 7.3 miles up and back.

Fun is on the Mist Trail part of the climb.

Posted by
3872 posts

O is for Orth auf Fehmarn

A very beautiful small village on the island of Fehmarn in the Baltic Sea. Once a secret place, only well known for owners of small yachts as a stop before / after sailing or motoring over to Denmark.

My memory was that in my young teen days I sailed with friend family K. on their yacht and we stopped there for 2 nights. Wonderful daughter Chris wanted to bike the island and I was following here with some pink glasses. The whole day we cycled up to Burg auf Fehmarn and back with folding bicycles. I rarely had a worse sunburn in my life. Oh man, that must have been young love.

Today most Germans have seen Orth (btw not like Ort from High German) in the very beloved TV crime series "Nord bei Nordwest" (North by Northwest). So, no secret place any longer.

Posted by
3048 posts

Passfield Hall is an undergrad dorm at the London School of Economics (LSE) which wouldn't normally be notable for a travel discussion BUT it also happens to be in use as traveler accommodation.

https://www.lse.ac.uk/student-life/accommodation/halls/passfield-hall

This is their hostel listing on booking.com to prove it:

https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/lse-passfield-hall.html?

Pasted from that link:

This historically listed building offers bed and breakfast accommodations in Bloomsbury, one of the most popular areas of central London. It features a unique mix of classic Georgian architecture, and modern facilities like Wi-Fi, which is available free of charge.
Other features at LSE Passfield Hall include a games room where guests can play table football, a TV room, and a kitchen area with a microwave, kettle, toaster and fridge.
Rooms at Passfield Hall are cozy and simply furnished, with traditional décor. Each has a desk, a wardrobe for storage space, and some also have an private bathroom.
The attractions of London’s West End are within walking distance, including the British Museum and British Library. London Euston Underground Station is a 5-minute walk from the building. Passfield Hall is a London School of Economics' student residence, which is open to the public as a hotel in the summer, spring, and winter vacations.

Posted by
709 posts

Q is for Quarnstedt, a collection of homes near Kellinghusen in northern Germany. It's unremarkable except that it dates back to the 1200s. If I had to guess, it's probably home to a few hundred people at most. But hey, it starts with Q (Quarn is a derivative of an old word meaning mill).

Posted by
8362 posts

R

Rynek, which is Polish for the Main Town Square. In the case of Toruń, Poland, which we just departed this morning for Warsaw, the medieval part of town has two Ryneks, the Old Town Rynek, and the New Town Rynek, which is just 31 years newer.

Way back in 1233, Toruń was granted Town status, and had a requisite square, but prospered so much that a new town on the other side of the protective town wall was soon needed. It was chartered in 1264, and got its own market square. Most of that medieval wall is gone, and the New and Old towns are now collectively called “Old Town,” but the Ryneks are still identified by Old and New.

Posted by
3048 posts

Tavistock Square in Bloomsbury

is informally known as the peace square because of the memorials located there, including the Gandhi statue (mentioned above) and a Hiroshima memorial cherry tree and a conscientious objectors memorial stone.

This is especially notable because on 07 July 2005, Hasib Hussain detonated a bomb on a route 30 bus idling on the west side of the square. The explosion killed 13 passengers, plus Hussain himself. Many others were injured. This was part of the 7/7 suicide attacks

Apart from the bombers, 52 people of 18 different nationalities were killed and nearly 800 were injured in the 7/7 attacks, which were timed for the morning rush hour. [None were from the USA so the event does not lodge in American memories, perhaps.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings

https://bloomsburysquares.com/the-squares/tavistock-square/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/macollections/albums/72157709040686182/with/53830776048

A memorial honoring the victims and the efforts of those who gave assistance was unveiled in September 2018.

Posted by
3872 posts

Seems the S was missing.

S is for Stade

Stade is a beautiful small town close to Germany's second largest city Hamburg. It has an old town part and an old harbor. It is really worth visiting also in combination with Altes Land - a tip for foodies looking for special and old fruit varieties.

@Nigel and other train fans: Stade is also start / end point of the Moorexpress to / from Bremen. It leads through a beautiful lowland landscape through the Devil's Moor.

Next letter is "U".

Posted by
9616 posts

The 7/7 memorial mentioned above is a very sombre, unphotogenic memorial, deliberately so, which often gets covered by undergrowth in the summer. It was originally across the road at BMA (British Medical Association) House. They have their own memorials to members lost in both world wars.
7/7 is regarded as a defined "conflict" by the IWM.
It is one of 20 known memorials across the country to 7/7- including two memorials of solidarity produced by US Servicemen based at Lakenheath and Croughton- both now at Bury St Edmunds Town Hall
At 51 Tavistock Square was the Victory Club for Ladies commemorating all women who served in WW1. As a club it was short lived and the building was destroyed in the Blitz in 1940
And look up on Woburn House (North East corner of the square) and there is a plaque to two members of the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) lost in a different WW2 incident - one of a large series of such plaques across Greater London - supposedly covering every AFS Loss.

Posted by
15472 posts

T

is for Tarnow, Poland.

When I was in Krakow in 2001, I didn't realise or simply forgot the this town was close.

Had I remembered that piece of salient information, I would have done a day trip for a couple of hours from Krakow to see this WW1 connected historical town , logistically very doable and easy since the hotel was right by the Krakow central station.

Not until our departure day from Krakow did I see on the platform showing the next train to Tarnow.

Posted by
3048 posts

[Aargh, @isn31c !!

You're getting ahead of the plot --

I was saving Woburn House for when this round got to the 'W'.

Darn.

Now we're at sixes and sevens in this round which is neither sixth nor seventh.

Mea culpa for botching it all up.]

Posted by
709 posts

U is for Überseequartier, a section of Hamburg's Hafencity. The area is supposed to be sleek and modern, but I find it a bit soulless. But that's me, and I don't spend a lot of time there. And it certainly beats the dead space that was there, so there's that. And the design is supposed to be super eco-friendly.

Posted by
9616 posts

W is for Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, England

This was a Cistercian Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, after which it was given to the Duke of Bedford, and they built their grand house there instead. It was visited by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (2nd and 3rd US Presidents).
The house, gardens, deer park and safari park are still owned by the Duke of Bedford.
In WW2 the Abbey was the home of the Political Warfare Executive - a propaganda unit who after the war also "re-educated" German Prisoners of War.
At one time the family owned most of Bloomsbury, London - hence Woburn House in Tavistock Square (above)- a holding now much reduced but still significant.

EDITED - I have put the word "re-educated" into quotation marks in deference of my German colleagues on here.

Posted by
3048 posts

Xi'an has a population of about six million and the larger metropolitan area is now at twice that much.

The Muslim quarter is a popular tourist destination, not unlike the Rue de Rosiers in the Marais, because most tourists go there for the food -- in this case lamb stew and kebabs instead of falafel.

Posted by
3872 posts

Y is for Y 880

Y 880 was the number of submarine "Wilhelm Bauer" as ship in the fleet of the Federal Republic of Germany. Originally it was build and sunk as class XXI submarine U-2540. These former new submarines to start a new wave of successful submarine war but came to late into operations.

Today visitors can see it as museum boat sponsored by the Wilhelm Bauer Technology Museum Association in the Old Port in Bremerhaven, where the German Maritime Museum is also located.

A must-see for WWII weapon interested people on their way between Amsterdam and Hamburg.

Posted by
35129 posts

This little project originally started on Saturday May 30, 2020, at 1:51pm British time.

It is now Saturday May 31st, 2025 and I note that after the most recent post of submarine Y 880 posted by MarkK we have gone past that time by a day. The next post when it comes will be the first of Year Number 6, years 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 now being complete.

Yay!

Posted by
2633 posts

Z. Zamboanga Philippines. I have never been there but I do remember my father singing about it when we were kids so I just looked it up. It is a city of about 1,200,000 people in the Philippines and the US Army soldiers stationed there during WWII sang The Monkees Have No Tales In Zamoanga My dad fought on the Burma Road and in some areas in India so that is where he learned it. Nigel this is start of next round!!

Posted by
3048 posts

Adler Street in the Tower Hamlets, just east of the City of London, is named after Nathan Marcus Adler who was the chief rabbi of the British Empire from 1845 through 1890.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Marcus_Adler

The apple didn't fall too far from the tree -- his dad was the chief rabbi of Hanover; during the blitz of London in WWII German bombs destroyed several buildings named for him in the neighborhood.

Among his distinctions is being the founder of The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSPCC

Posted by
35129 posts

Congratulations to Avirosemail for taking us into Alphabet ROUND 115 with Adler Street in London

All these contributions and especially as this the first rollover in Year 6 are very much appreciated.

Just 16 days for this rollover since 17th of May.

Thanks to all and appropriate Nauga stars to Avirosemail!!

Posted by
9616 posts

C is for Chesters Roman Fort, on Hadrians Wall-

It seems to have a far lower international profile than the likes of Housesteads and Vindolanda in the rugged hill country.
However it is the best preserved Roman Cavalry fort in the UK, and also has the only remaining roofed Roman structure in the UK- the fort's Treasury or strong room.
It is in the fertile farmlands beside the River North Tyne. In particular for those using public transport it is more accessible, not being solely reliant on the AD122 bus.
You can even stay right next door at the George Hotel, Chollerford.

Posted by
9630 posts

D

Dolmites

A mountain range in northeastern Italy. Popular for BASE jumping, climbing, hiking, cycling, and para gliding. 2.5 hours by car from Venice.