#158 Timber

Everything is bigger in America. That's why the timber section in Lowes looks magnificent compared to the timer section in the local Obi back in Germany (not even mentioning the ridiculous timber section in Homebase on Warwick Road).

#157 Pushing dirt around on N Cayuga St

So two nights ago someone put up signs in front of our house declaring it as a no-parking zone (until further notice). This morning the cleaners came (two of them) and cleaned the road. Five minutes later they turned around to clean our side. In the process of turning they dropped all the dirt they had previously collected right onto the middle of the road. Well done.

#156 Laundry Machine

The solution to our recent quiz: A washing machine at the laundry place around the corner. 

#155 Small Ben

Not as big as Big Ben, but playing some really nice melodies every few hours - the Cornell Clock tower!

German news magazine Der Spiegel ran a story on Ithaca this week in their world traveller video blog KM42. I have to say, that I was quite disappointed. Out of all things about Ithaca they had to pick our half-dead local currency to report on... 

#154 Vodoo Trashcan

On Friday 13 (which is now 13 days ago), some unlucky doll's head could be found on top of the trash can in front of Carpenter Hall library. It had a voodoo-esque impression on me...

#153 Wrong Season

We admit, we are in recycling mode. Our level of busy-ness is the root cause of the un-presence of spring photos on this blog. Instead we put online fall photos from last year. Oh well. This one is taken in Robert Treman State Park and required the photographer to leave the trail, jump over the water and climb along the rock.

#152 What is this?

We have a quiz today: What's this?

#151 Heads (or tails?)

No idea what they do there and why they are there but it seems painful to me to be in their position all year long.

#150 Walmart (thermometer)

About 50% of the world population believe that there are no other stores but Walmarts in the US.

And another piece of trivia: Of the people who come to our blog via search engines, about 50% are searching for "walmart thermometer". Why? Because of #33. For your information: Yes, they do sell thermometers at Walmart and they are really just one dollar apiece!

#149 Ithaca at dusk

Looks like Spring! (But feels like winter.)

#148 Genetically strange plants in front of Ward Lab

Am I the only one who noticed the strange red glow of these plants at night?

#147 Cascadilla Gorge Trail (is still blocked)

So here is what I did last weekend. I decided to walk up Cascadilla Gorge to Cornell. Winter is quite clearly over (for now) so I deemed the twentythousand "CLOSED" signs at the entrypoint downtown for invalid. On my way up I met plenty of people coming down so no worries - the path must be clear if they made it all the way down...

Actually not so. All these kind people were just too ashamed to admit that they walked up half the gorge just to be forced to turn around by a massive glacier making passage impossible. Guess what I did after seeing the above picture? I turned around, cheerfully greeted all those who came after me and enjoyed the fact, that they also would have to turn around and find another way up the hill.

#146 The end of the dragon

The fake dragon is "rescued" by Cornell Life Safety. Puh!

#145 Cornell Police's Top Squad protecting the Dragon

While the fake dragon was burning (yes, health and safety decided burning a dragon is animal cruelty so a pile of trash got burned instead of the dragon), the real one was guarded by FOUR policemen! One of them was even equipped to deal with fire that the dragon might spray. (That's what the myths say about dragons.)

No idea what we are on about? Then check out the past blog entries:

• Andrew D. White with a face lift
• The dragon!

Or do some reading on Wikipedia.

#144 Sphinx

What's going on in Ithaca? Why are there only dragons and elks/mooses and Sphinxes on the daily photo blog? Well, let us explain. Or better, let Wikipedia explain. Basically in 1901 an architecture student thought that there should be an architecture student's day and because he was Irish and the Irish (like the Welsh and the Chinese) like dragons, he carried a dragon around campus.

On a completely different topic: Do you like the drinks (and the pizza!) Felicia's Atomic Lounge as much as we do? Then go over to LonelyPlanet and make them the world's greatest bar! Here's Felicia's blog post where I learned about this.

#143 Moose Dude

Did you know that a moose is in Europe called an elk? So if you hit a moose in Sweden, you will be convicted of hitting an elk. The oddities of the American language. Recently we talked about herbs. Someone asked: What are you talking about, do you me (no h here)erbs?

#142 Dragon Head

Boaarrrggghhhhhh!

#141 Ezra Cornell after a face-lift

Today was the day of the Dragon. The architect students build a Dragon and carry it around campus, the engineering students build a Phoenix to fight the Dragon. At the end the Dragon is busts into flames on the Art's quad.

Update: Uhm, ok. Anonymous is right. The base says "Ezra Cornell" in big letters but it is in fact Andrew D. White, the "other founder" of Cornell. Sorry, we really didn't recognize him.

#140 Snow in March

This is proof! It is March and it is snowing again. What more can I say.

#139 Ithaca's profile (is dominated by steep hills)

Cross-section through Ithaca (left is west and right is east).

#138 Taughannock Falls in Winter (2)

Since people liked #133 so much, here's another pic of Taughannock Falls in winter.

#137 Spring is beautiful!

It is getting spring! And the War Memorial at Baker Flagpole just looks great. By the way, if you ever get stuck at Baker Flagpole and don't know which bus is soon to come, check out this! (Recently found that, pretty useful.)

#136 Wine tasting at Cayuga Lake

One of the great things about living in Ithaca is the proximity to many good wineries. And so it happens that I got another chance to tour s few of them. I am sure Hosmer can easily fill one of those bottles every other day!

#135 Power Lines

Picture from the archive. The truth is: The snow is gone and it is pouring down rain!

But we just couldn't show that to you, cause it's just to sad. 

#134 Bartels Hall

Bartels Hall, home to Cornell Outdoor Education, providers of excellent cross country skiing classes.

#133 Taughannock Falls (in winter)

Believe it or not, these falls are higher than Niagara Falls. These are the Taughannock Falls near Ithaca. The picture was taken last weekend from the outlook located above the falls. You can also walk to the base but the trail is officially closed at the moment.

#132 Hot!

Hot!

#131 Let there be light...

@ Schoellkopf Stadium

#130 Two thinkers and a tree

 

One of these two thinkers is in fact my co-author on this blog. Have a guess which one.

#129 Best Chili Fashion

These three dudes won the Best Chili Fashion Award during the Ithaca Chili Fest last week. Congrats!