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USA: PA: B&B: Twin Turrets Inn

Posted on May 13th, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

[First view entering the room - with the reflection of two geeks, proving that neither of us are vampires.]

Instead of staying at the local Econolodge while at a wedding outside of Philly, I decided to try my luck with a bed and breakfast.  Conveniently, I found the Twin Turrets Inn just down the road from the bride’s home in Boyertown, PA, and for a little extra money, we got to rest in the ten-room mansion built by the town’s founder in the 1860’s - yay me!

[It’s the little things that make me happy - like this rubber ducky in the bathtub]

I could find almost NO information about the Twin Turrets Inn online, which made me rather skeptical.  No rates, no reviews; just a bare bones website and a link on Google Maps.  Fortunately for us, however, I decided to be brave and send an e-mail off to the innkeeper, and in the end, we were so pleased with our stay that I was determined to blog it so that at least there would be SOMETHING out there on the Internet for my fellow skeptics.

[Private terrace]

We arrived late Friday night and we welcomed into a warm environment full of friendly, relaxed faces and beautiful antique decorations.  Our $125/night room included access to the beer, wine, and juice in the kitchen, we were informed as we were led down the hall to our room (and while we never took advantage of that, I was pleased just to know that I had free access to refreshments).

[I could sleep in the red chair - I swear it’s stuffed with down]

Our room had a private bathroom and it’s own little private terrace (which we sadly never used) as well as a (locked) secret door that led through the closet and into the next room (that’s just fun).  The room was lit with a chandelier and a scattering of antique lamps, and furnished with a variety of matching antique tables, chairs, and a sofa.  The bed was a bit too firm, but the red chair was incredibly comfortable, and the striped sofa was pretty nice, too.

[Tapestry!  And all our stuff.]

The walls were decorated elaborately, and our room even included a tapestry, which I found quite impressive.  The sailor rubber ducky in the bath also made me rather happy, and whoever decided to put Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (Lee’s favorite) and a Kit-Kat bar (one of my favorites) in a little dish on the bedside table was just a genius.

[Om nom nom nom!]

The innkeeper herself was delightful; busy, yet calm, friendly and knowledgeable, she turned out to also be the mayor of Boyertown (and in retrospect, it’s a bit odd to think that the town mayor served me breakfast, but it certainly does put a personal touch on the local tourism industry)!  When we inquired, she enlightened us with some history of both the mansion and the town.

[The french toast topped with banana’s foster was delicious.]

Breakfast, we were only able to catch on Sunday, as Saturday was a go, go, go! kind of day.  When we woke up late Sunday, we assumed we had missed breakfast and hurried to scrounge something up in the kitchen, but we were quickly found and seated in the dining room, where we were served fresh fruit cups, banana’s foster french toast with bacon, and coffee and tea.  It was a delicious meal that felt both light and filling, and I took my time to relax for the first time that weekend.

[I love da kitties]

Had there been more time, we might have relaxed on the mansions wrap-around porch, listening to the calming trickle of scattered fountains, or lounged around in one of the mansion’s beautiful rooms, but there just wasn’t time.  The next time I’m in the area, however, I know where I’m staying.

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USA: PA: B&B: Glasbern

Posted on May 12th, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

[No real reason - I just liked the little wooden ducks they had there]

Life being ever so stressful, as it tends to be, we decided to get away for our anniversary.  Limited in the distance we could travel, we decided to stay at the Glasbern, a bed and breakfast I had found while searching for hotels once in the Allentown area.

[Jacuzzi on the second level of the Stables suites]

And I think we’re very much the type of people who feel that, if you’re going to splurge, you might as well go all out.  The old stables at the farm-turned-B&B were converted into four bi-level suites, which range in price between $300 and $475 a night.  The lower level offers large bathroom and a bed, a wood burning stove (with chopped wood and starter logs included) and a comfy leather sofa set before an entertainment system.

[A view of the bi-level stables suite]

Follow the spiral staircase up to the loft and you find the suite’s jacuzzi, which, in my opinion, every home in America should come included with.  We had a room with a lofted ceiling, but I think I did still manage to hit my head on the ceiling…I’m just that talented.

[Man: smart.  Use staircase.]

Mostly I like the bi-level suites because it gives me something to do…I have space to move around in and explore.  This is why I moved out into central Brooklyn, where I can afford a large apartment.  I like having vertical space, too.  The sunken living room is what really sold me on my current place, and that only allows me to go up or down two steps.  In our suite, I could climb up and down both the spiral staircase and the old wooden ladder (though the latter was probably a poor choice serving primarily as decoration…but it seemed relatively sturdy…)

[Girl: silly.  Use ladder.]

Were it not winter, the grounds would have been worth exploring.  Glasbern is situated on a farm, and uses all of the old farm buildings to create its 38 guest rooms, plus the main dining room - and I have words about that experience, too.

[Butternut Squash Soup]

We spent $150 between the two of us for the set dinner, and know that I’m a horribly cheap woman when I say that it was worth every penny.  What they couldn’t grow on Glasbern’s 100-acre farm, they largely bought locally.  You could taste the difference.  The salads were crisp and fresh; the soups (butternut squash and jambalaya) were unforgettable - to this day I cherish the smooth texture and rich flavor of the squash soup, and yet somehow regret not getting the jambalaya for myself…

[I can never resist lamb when it’s on the menu…]

The steak and the lamb were excellent, and I can still feel the tingle of the dessert in my mouth, served with the BEST blueberries I have ever tasted.  We sat down and enjoyed our meal for more than three hours - tea and coffee were served afterward.  Then we finally paid a visit to the in-house DVD library before stumbling blissfully back to our room.

[Creme brule, with fresh fruit on top…in the winter…how happy that made me.]

And while breakfast was good and the room was delightful, we both agree - we need to go back sometime, if just for dinner.

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Meaningless Rants: Our Teacher Is Crazy

Posted on May 6th, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

[As produced by a student with a set of magnetic words]

My students may argue that their teacher is crazy, while their teacher might argue that THEY, in fact, are the crazy ones.  (But then, if that’s true, it likely also follows that their insanity is the fault of their teacher, no?)

I admit that I do a few odd things, like claiming to go into Zombie Teacher mode when their inattentive, informing them that they need to focus all their brain energy on me lest I feel compelled to start eating brains.  This may seem wrong, but when you have to work with 6 and 7-year-old boys, I feel some thinking outside of the box is necessary.  By second grade I feel that most students have figured out that such absurd ideas coming from me are not in fact true, but manifestations of their teacher’s foreign sense of humor.  (Before second grade, they totally believe EVERYTHING…)

[Myself, in the dragon mask my students and I created for our Chinese New Year performance]

Some days it’s just necessary, for my sanity and theirs, to walk around with a large, painted dragon head over my shoulders and conduct class in this fashion.  For a hyper-active young boy, sometimes class is more exciting when your teachers is a fire-breathing dragon (and while I admit the costume piece lacks a flame thrower, I assume a certain amount of imaginative powers are imbued in each and every child’s mind.

[Measuring the classroom with connecting cubes]

Of course, maybe I am crazy, and I always worry about administrators picking up on this.  When my students are supposed to be measuring classroom objects with connecting cubes with a partner, half of them have instead formed a large team, organized into smaller groups with assigned tasks, that is set of measuring the classroom itself (under the argument that the floor is an object, which made sense at the time).

The fact of the matter is that life is just more interesting when you’re a little bit crazy, especially when you happen to be trapped in a room with 29 small children.

So teach, and be crazy: it’s for the good of the children.

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Meaningless Rant: We had Winter in NYC this year.

Posted on May 4th, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

Winter was frigid.  People always challenge my bitter complaints about the cold by saying “Didn’t you grow up in Minnesota?”  That place where the winters are infamously cold.  Yes, I invariably tell them, but I just moved to New York from a tropical island in East Asia.  I’m not used to it!

Somehow people have started making the connection that, that adventure was already three years behind me, but let me tell you…that which takes years to build up can be laid to waste quite readily.  Such it is with my cold weather tolerance.  Besides, it’s one thing to be able to endure it, and another thing all together to actually not mind it.

And for the United States residents that inhabit the East Coast, let me tell you, they had it rough.  My dear beloved Chris was unable to get to work for a week because the trains weren’t running.  Even the infamous New York City Board of Education was forced to grant us two days off.

[One of the 2010 blizzards that incapacitated the East Coast, as seen from my apartment overlooking the highway.]

Random pigeons too dumb to fly to southern cities for the winter made their way indoors, taking refuge in subway stations and bus stations and, I have often suspected but never proved, the coat closet in my classroom (Lee, you know what I’m talking about).

[I love watching the pigeons navigate the human traffic of Port Authority Bus Terminal…they’re too lazy to fly.]

Fruit, too, took cover, refusing to make the excruciating journey back to consumers’ apartments, htey tumbled, leapt, are tore their way out of double-layered plastic shipping bags and environmentally friendly canvas shopping bags to find their way under the subway seats where they could hide, unnoticed.

[A random lemon, rolling about my feet one night as a I rode back to my apartment.]

Only one creature was brave enough to tackle this year’s winter weather: Shrek.  He sat on a pile of dirty snow on the curb of Brooklyn’s 5th Avenue one frigid winter morning, happily clutching his McDonald’s cup.  How can one not smile and snap a photo?

[Someone propped up a Shrek doll on a pile of snow with a McDonalds cup…I dare say this is modern art.]

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USA: Washington, DC: Cherry Blossom Festival 2010

Posted on April 27th, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

Reminiscing over the Sakura blossoms I saw in Tokyo one spring, I decided a visit to DC for the for the National Cherry Blossom Festival would be a good idea.

[Washington monument]

I planned my trip for the peak time, not realizing that peak would not actually be my favorite time.  Instead of pink flowers, they were still white.  (Apparently they turn pink when they’re more mature.)  And there were hardly any petals raining down on us, even though it was fairly windy.  Alas, going a few days after peak likely would have been idyllic, but hindsight is 20-20.

[Jefferson Monument]

The cherry trees are clustered in two locations: below the Washington Monument, and around the lake that the Jefferson Monument sits on.  Both are within reasonable walking distance of the Smithsonian stop along the Metro.

[Signs stating the obvious - the tree limbs are dangling just above the water]

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Meaningless Rant: Columbia University Bookstore Sign

Posted on April 22nd, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Meaningless Rants, NYC.

I spend my years in Brooklyn fighting back against a curriculum referred to as Teacher’s College, which is put forth by the bright minds at Columbia University.  I detest said curriculum with a passion, for while I’m sure it works very well in rich white suburban neighborhoods, it does not work in impoverished inner-city ghettos.

So, I found some joy in seeing this sign each time I went to Columbia to attend a professional development session (obviously they didn’t send their best out to have this sign made).

From the above sign, I can surmise one of two things about this bookstore: it either A) sells books for educators, books for classroom supplies (which are inanimate objects incapable of reading), and books for children, or B) it sells books for educators, classroom supplies (presumably also for educators), and children (doubtfully for educators - I think most of us have enough of these in our classroom, but perhaps they’re available for slave labor or some such).

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Star Wars: Tauntaun Sleeping Bag

Posted on April 21st, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

[The Tauntaun sleeping bag: guaranteed to make any geek smile.]

Originally an April Fools joke from the good folks at ThinkGeek, the Tauntaun sleeping bag was designed and produced after the huge consumer reaction to the product.  Originally advertised as a children’s sleeping bag, ThinkGeek mercifully modified the concept product to be sized for the adults who would actually be purchasing the product.  Let’s be honest: it would have been much more challenging to justify the purchase of a $99 sleeping bag that I couldn’t even fit into…

Absolutely uneccessary in life, but oh so rewarding, the Tauntaun Sleeping Bag has a head that serves as a built-in pillow, front and rear legs, a saddle, a mini-lightsaber zipper pull, and a soft lining with a tauntaun intestines pattern on it.

Absolutely worth $100 for any hardcore Star Wars geek, but it really proved its worth one frigid winter day when the heat failed.  It kept me so toasty warm that at one point I actually had to unzip the bag for a while.  Yay for the tauntaun!

[The sleeping bag lounged around on the couch, seemingly useless until the heat went out one winter day and I found myself curled up in a tauntaun for warmth.]

2 comments.

Book: Holy Cow

Posted on April 21st, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

A book review from last Fall…I apparently forgot to hit the “publish” button…

Title: Holy Cow
Author: Sarah Macdonald
Anna’s Rating: 3/5
Comments: Had a good amount of culture mixed in, but it’s more about spiritual exploration than travel, so it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Randomly on a quest for women’s travel essays, I picked up Holy Cow simple because it had a witty title.  (Note to self: when publishing, select witty title that will attract readers.)  A woman traveling about India seemed an exciting way to quench my wanderlust while I was stuck in America with a hectic schedule and an expiring passport.

Sort of.

It was an interesting read, and it delved deeply into the religions and microcultures that exist within India, although it wasn’t entirely satisfying to me.  I got bored with it a few times, so it took me months before I finally finished it.  My frustration came largely from the author’s own frustration and confusion.  I have enough problems of my own without taking on those of a stranger.

Where I wanted a vicarious adventure, I instead got inner turmoil.  Frustrated with a career stopped short, a love-life with a business wedged into it, and the absence of an inner, spiritual strength, Macdonald shares her adventures about trying to find happiness with her current situation in South Asia.

My favorite part of the book, I think, was when she visited Pakistan.  That offered more of the exploration I enjoyed, viewing a new place and a new culture with eyes opened anew.

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Easter: The Pennsylvania Easter Bunny is Awesome

Posted on April 19th, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

Last year, I got perhaps the most awesome Easter chocolate ever: a chocolate dinosaur egg filled with chocolate baby dinosaurs.  But this year is another great success: chocolate alien invaders!

My chocolate flying saucer was manned by an alien commander and three of its robot minions.  In spite of the pictures on the side, I did not have any humaniod-shaped space-going chocolates.  I suspect that this raiding party had either yet to alight on Earth when it was captured, or that any prisoners of war had already been eaten by parties unknown.

Said aliens and dinosaurs come from Gertrude Hawk, which I believe is Fanny Farmer’s northeastern cousin.  I don’t know if our dear Viewmont Mall retailer will be able to deliver another exciting surprise next year, but who knows?  They might start a line of solid chocolate griffins before next Easter rolls around (and you’ve got to admit, that would be cool)!

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Book: The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Posted on April 16th, 2010 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Books, Travel.

Because I promised myself that I would start blogging again…

Title: The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
Author: J. Maarten Troost
Genre: Travel Essay
Anna’s Rating: 5/5

I have to admit that the sole reason I purchased this book was that my friend Chris called me as I was crawling into bed to rant and rave about a fabulous travel essay she’d just read that, in her words, made her time in Peace Corps feel normal.  It was so good, in fact, that she decided she didn’t care that she’d gotten me out of bed, because I had to hear about it.  (And she liked the book so much that she didn’t want to lend it to me, deciding that I could buy it because I’m rich [read: less poor].)

And I’ll have my readers, if you’re still out there, know that this book was, in fact, so good that it made me laugh out loud in public, with tears streaming down my face: in bus stations, on trains, in the hospital (my boyfriend’s mom thought I was crying for the man I love who was at that time having tubes shoved into his arteries and up into his heart, but alas, it was the book).

The joy was in the “ditches of digression”, as the author so eloquently put it (and let’s be honest, my writing has long since made its home there, too).  The book starts out slowly, introducing our hero and heroine, who shall rescue the victim of the American Rat Race and sequester them away on a journey to a time and a life that now seems too distant.  Things pick up pretty soon, and by Chapter 4, the tears of laughter start rolling; after that I just couldn’t put it down.

Author Maarten Troost delves into a variety of topics, from animals to history to culture and more, approaching each topic and showing how his time abroad changed his perspective and values, all in a voice that leads the reader to think he’s sitting on your living room sofa (or living room hammock, in my case, as I’m too cheap to buy a couch).  In all sincerity, I must commend the man who writes a history chapter that I find interesting; if all history books were as enjoyable as that, I’d likely have at least a minor in the subject.

In short, if you’re looking for a humorous way to convince yourself to move to a scant patch of polluted, over-populated sand in an under-developed and poorly organized nation, or if you just need a bit of escape from the realities of life, I highly recommend The Sex Lives of Cannibals, which apparently has very little to do with its title (except that cannibal tribes conquered the island in question in the past, and some of them made families with local women, making the unique people that populate the island nation of Tarawa today - see?  I DID follow some of that history!!)

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