Haiku

Late summer evening,
Tonight my thoughts speak in prose.
Haiku's close enough.

That iron man sits
Forlorn among the tourists.
He's seen too much rain.

Regards,
That girl in Switzerland

Child

Child

My world is larger than yours, Reader.
I delight in unturned stones,
In toadstools and butterflies.
Strange words that rhyme
Make me giggle and chant.
I imagine hidden worlds,
Monsters and fairy rings.
Roses, to me, are redder
Because I see each one.
Toys and insects are all
Actors in fascinating stories,
But I cannot yet decipher letters
Or perhaps even write my name.
Singing loudly, for me,
Does not require a car,
Or a shower.
When I see a rainbow,
I shout to you in excitement,
And you, for my sake, deign to
Repeat my exclamation;
But you did not experience the wonder -
You, who have read of science
And of refracted light.
For now, my cage holds only
Colorful balls, wild abandon
And innocence.
How sad that I, the meek,
Who have only just
Inherited the earth,
Will learn from you
To trade it in for
Money, alcohol, sex,
And a handbag that
Matches my shoes.

Regards,
That girl in Switzerland

Ongoing UNESCO World Heritage Project

I've decided to visit as many UNESCO World Heritage Sites as I can in my lifetime!

UNESCO, as you may or may not know, is a specialized branch of the United Nations that has been working since 1945 to preserve places of cultural or natural value worldwide.

I first became interested in these UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the summer of 2008 when my sister and I took a "sisters weekend" to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in North Carolina, specifically visiting Grandfather Mountain, Blowing Rock, and the surrounding miles of beautiful landscape. Since that trip, I have been keeping track of the Sites I've found on my travels.

Below I have listed the World Heritage Sites I've seen so far - nine countries, twenty-two sites! I'm really excited about seeing how they add up over time and about searching for new places to see! In fact, in just the next few months, I will have the opportunity to add quite a few more to my list, so stay tuned!

AUSTRIA:

1. Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
2. Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape

CZECH REPUBLIC:

3. Historic Centre of Prague

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

4. Colonial City of Santo Domingo

FRANCE:

5. Palace and Park of Versailles
6. Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims
7. Paris, Banks of the Seine
8. Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge
9. Historic Site of Lyons

ISRAEL:

10. Masada
11. White City of Tel-Aviv
12. Biblical Tels - Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba
13. Bahá’i Holy Places in Haifa and the Western Galilee
14. Old City of Jerusalem and Its Walls

ITALY:

15. Venice and Its Lagoon
16. City of Verona

SWITZERLAND:

17. Old City of Berne
18. Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch

UNITED KINGDOM:

19. Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
20. Tower of London

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

21. Great Smokey Mountains National Park
22. Statue of Liberty

Please note that the previous is not a summary of the countries or places within those countries that I have visited, only a listing of those very specific sites officially recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre as places of enduring cultural or natural value.

I am really excited about my new goal! There are 890 sites on the World Heritage List, but as many are in Asia, Africa and South America, I haven't had a chance to visit those...yet.

For more information on the World Heritage Centre, visit http://whc.unesco.org.

And thanks for reading!
That girl in Switzerland