The Sunsphere: Knoxville’s Disco Ball in the Sky.
On our first full day in Knoxville, while driving past the downtown area, my parents pointed out the Sunsphere, a giant gold-colored disco ball dotting the skyline. At first, I thought this tower was...
View ArticleWall Street: Knoxville’s Graffiti Alley.
I am used to seeing street art everywhere. Living in Berlin, graffiti is commonplace, and even though it’s not technically allowed, it’s everywhere, and isn’t necessarily removed right away, as is the...
View ArticleDowntown Knoxville.
Since our journey from Berlin to Knoxville was exhausting, Sunday morning was declared a day for sleeping in and then leisurely exploring the downtown part of Knoxville. Of course, even that involved a...
View ArticleLookout Mountain Incline Railway.
During our week-long stay in Tennessee in March, my parents took M. and I on an overnight trip to Chattanooga, located a couple hours by car from Knoxville. On the afternoon of the day we arrived, we...
View ArticleGatlinburg: Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine
During my undergraduate years, I did my fair share of drinking, and this is no secret to my parents. Now that I am older, I rarely have more than a couple beers per week, but I do enjoy alcohol from...
View ArticleChurch Street United Methodist Church.
While we never actually made it to a church service while in the states in March, we did spend an afternoon in downtown Knoxville on a walk that led us to Church Street United Methodist Church. Its...
View ArticleSeahorses: Beyond Imagination.
I’ve always been fascinated with seahorses; admittedly, the way they reproduce, with the males caring for the eggs while they develop, strikes a chord with me. I know there are proposed reasons why...
View ArticleThe Gatlinburg Simulacra
Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is one of those towns that really should have nothing going for it. However, its advantageous position just next to Great Smoky Mountains National Park has unintentionally made...
View ArticleGreat Smoky Mountains National Park
During our visit to Tennessee last year, my parents planned for us to spend a day in Gatlinburg, a city on the border to North Carolina. Gatlinburg is a (kitschy) mountain resort town, but although we...
View ArticleBerlin –> Goose Bay –> Newark –> Houston –> Knoxville
So, we’re finally in Tennessee. As seems to be the tradition, just about everything had to go wrong, which mean we ended up arriving a day after scheduled… but at least Thanksgiving wasn’t ruined. Our...
View ArticleNashville: The Wild Cow
While visiting my parents in Tennessee over Thanksgiving, we took a handful of day trips, one of which was to Nashville, and as the resident vegan, I was given free reign in picking the places we’d...
View ArticleAsheville: River Arts District
One of the advantages of living in Tennessee (as my parents do) is its proximity to so many states. This may not seem like something spectacular to many people from the US, but when you come from one...
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