history

America 250 – Tall Ships

~ MaryG ~ 27 Comments

Did you know that only two US cities are hosting both World Cup games AND Tall Ships this summer?

Can you guess which ones?

I’ll give you a hint. One is where the colonists gave King George a transatlantic middle finger by dumping a bunch of British tea in the harbor. The subsequent British crackdown pushed the colonies towards open rebellion and kicked off the American Revolutionary War in 1775. (Also, it rhymes with Austin.)

The other is a sleepy little town called New York.

Here are a few shots of the magnificent vessels taken from another vessel in the harbor. (The same place they dumped that tea.)

The BAP Unión, the Peruvian Navy’s tall ship 🇵🇪
🇵🇪
The Esmeralda from Chile 🇨🇱 is known as La Dama Blanca (The White Lady). Built in 1953, she’s one of the most famous and largest tall ships in the world.
Portugal’s NRP Sagres (left) 🇵🇹
I think the one behind it is from Spain 🇪🇸
The INS Sudarshini from India 🇮🇳
Cadets in the rigging of the Sudarshini 🇮🇳
The Amerigo Vespucci from Italy 🇮🇹
Ciao Bella 😍
Another shot of the Amerigo Vespucci 🇮🇹 with Argentina’s ARA Libertad 🇦🇷 behind it
The Mircea from Romania 🇷🇴
The Mircea 🇷🇴 with Poland’s Dar Młodzieży (“Gift of Youth”) behind it 🇵🇱
Our resident Tall Ship—the USS Constitution (aka “Old Ironsides”) with Charlestown’s Bunker Hill Monument in the distance 🇺🇸
A shot of the steeple of the Old North Church where, on the night of April 18, 1775, sexton Robert Newman climbed up and hung two lanterns briefly — a signal arranged by Paul Revere to warn colonists across the Charles River in Charlestown about the movement of British troops. (“One if by Land, Two if by Sea” as goes the line in Longfellow’s famous poem Paul Revere’s Ride)
Our party of four aboard The Valiant—a regular ship, not a Tall one 😉

Did you guess BOSTON as the only other city besides New York hosting both World Cup and Tall Ships?

You are correct!

Apathy vs Anger

~ MaryG ~ 13 Comments

Do you ever wonder what regular old middle class Germans chatted about in say…1935? Did they mostly carry on as if everything was basically OK? Did they politely avoid talking about “politics” in social situations?

It’s definitely getting harder to continue having light, casual conversations with people who are completely unperturbed by what’s happening in our country right now. (You know, those folks who can somehow just ignore an American President who flouts our laws, attacks journalists, outlaws all diversity initiatives, and wants to annex Canada.)

On the other hand, I’m not (yet) up for joining “The Fight” to save our country, which so many of my liberal friends have already embraced wholeheartedly. It all failed so miserably in 2024, I feel like they’re missing something.

I really do wonder about Germany.

Happy-looking members of the “League of German Girls” in 1935 (source: Wikipedia). I wonder what they were hearing at home from their parents.