The beaten path

When it comes to a vacation there is nothing better than letting go and relaxing. To me just being on a vacation is good enough let alone throwing in a destination....SWEET LIFE! I know that when it comes to places to go and sightsee I obviously have certain ideas of what I would like to do, but I never really looked to closely at my biases. Now that I have too, I see just how differently I think and how odd it is.

When I think of an American vacation the first place that comes to mind is Disney world, which I'm sure is the same for many other people. I think of huge roller coasters and amusement parks. I get the image of the perfect family going down a water slide on an enormous over sized tube, with huge cheesy grins on their faces. I see Mickey and Goofy in family pictures. I see Casinos and long strip of lights, with people walking around taking pictures and asking others to take pictures as well. It all is so commercial and many times confusing. With all of the hustle and constant hurry to catch this show, or make this reservation, or HURRY UP AND GET IN THE LINE! It ends up not being as relaxing as one would think and many times creates anxiety. I know for a fact that the times where I have gone on vacation I just look at the shows or buildings, or parks, but never really care too much about their pasts. They are just there to look pretty. This is of course my vision of an American vacation but I wonder what a Europeans perspective is.

Looking at American Vacation packages for Europeans I see that pretty much everything I described they see as well. They promote huge sights and shows such as Disney world, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas. All of these sights are visual. They are things that you pay to see, then hop in your rental to try and catch the next one. America is more commercial driven. It's portrayed as a place to create family bonding through fun activities. You can either stay at a cool hotel with a lazy river, then go out and go to Busch Gardens, or you get rent a condo on the beach and walk out your door to go para sailing and snorkeling. The options are limitless, but they all cost large amounts of money. There are not as many historical buildings that have a deep past. Walking into cities its mostly a melting pot of the locations they traveled from. So vacationing in Europe is not so much a random trip but specifically planned out.

On a whole different type of image, when I think of vacationing to Europe my opinions become blurred with romantic, elegant thoughts. When I think of Europe I think of the word classy. I don't know why but I just do. I think of really cool old buildings that have a story behind them and the reason why I'm visiting it is to hear it, not to just look and move on. When I think of European vacations I think of relaxation. Of just walking through the streets and coming across old buildings and pretty parks with quaint restaurants and villages. European Vacations differ from American ones because to me they seem to focus more on their historic culture. It is a more educational trip where you leave knowing so much more. It offers its deep personal histories and gives a sense of mystery because everything is so well preserved. I personally would rather travel to Europe because I feel like thats where I could truly relax. I enjoy the thought of waking up in my family run hotel, NOT chained ran! then walking out my door to see the beautiful architecture and slower pace of life.

Looking at Vacation packages to Europe the words that frequently were used in its' description were history, culture, and romantic. The packages offered walking tours of the cities, to see the historical buildings and sites. Places like France offered tours of the museums and the Eiffel Tower. Where places like Italy offered tours to the castles, the Roman arena, Juilets ballet, and other places like the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. I felt that these vacations offered more than the America ones because you would not have to pay to see each and every site. Many times you can just walk right by it. Also I feel that not only can you experience it first hand but you can also leave being educated about it as well. It's always cool to come back and say that you saw where the pope gives Easter mass or you saw the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel.

Sooo I'm sure it's pretty obvious where I would like to plan my next vacation, and not that I'm knocking America cause believe me I really like those vacations too. It's just that I'm over that period of my life and I'm ready to branch out and learn a little. I'm sure that when I have a family of my own I will be that cheesy family coming down the water slide, but I don't have to do that just yet...Thank god! I can see why Europeans would come to American I guess it all comes down too what you are usually surrounded by. American vacationing to Europe are only looking for a little romance and relaxation, where Europeans vacationing to America are looking for a good time and a little spark to their lives.

...scavenger

After finally leaving Deleware...I decided to drive around and look at some houses and maybe restaurants that had anything that would remind me of the pantheon, and I found A LOT! What I realized and its something that I have overlooked a million times is that it seems every hair salon has some type of greek/roman influence in the design, either theres a column somewhere or vines, or fake intricate molding. I thought it was pretty cool and come to think of it I know my hair dressers salon definitely is designed to look like a greek ruin inside with columns and vines everywhere....weird

Heres some houses that look like they had some influence....


This house was absolutely beautiful, it was ride outside of the park and I loved this place. You can't see it in the picture but theres this cozy little sun room underneath this upper section.






Sorry I can't figure out how to rotate the pic, but I think the doric columns on the doorway make the house seem more grand and big like the monument






Here are a couple more examples of doric columns. Also on my scavenger hunt I saw some statues that reminded me of the pantheon, or of that type of culture.



....the one on the right made me kinda uncomfy, not really but I was looking at him from a different kind of angle.

Scavenger Hunt!

So this is a part of the Albright Knox museum, and I think it completely screams the pantheon. I actually have been inside the pantheon and its beautiful and soo overwhelming, but in a good way. It was crazy for me to believe I was standing looking at something so ancient and beautiful. While standing underneath the columns at the museum may have not been as monumental for me it was still really pretty and big. I think the size of the columns alone are pretty impressive. Its hard to imagine all the work that goes into making and designing them, let alone putting them up!


...here's a couple pictures looking up into the columns. I'm pretty sure these are Ionic style ones, it seems like the Ionic and Doric styles were the most popular












...when I was taking pictures of buildings I mostly stayed around the Elmwood, Deleware area. There was just so many things that remind me of the pantheon like statues and the molding. It was all so intricate and there was so much detail put into it.