Wednesday, July 13, 2016

US - Tennessee


美國有50州,每個州都有名勝景點,如果一年安排幾天只旅遊一個州,50年才能遊完。
哇,不要說遊完全世界,好像遊完全美國都不容易,不知還能活多少年,還是萝想就好,實不實現就看命。
7月7日我們駕車來到Tennessee 州旅遊幾天。
We stopped at Kentucky Dam, a lock & dam on the way to Tennessee.


The Woodlands Nature Station was closed when we drove through Land Between the Lakes.  This is a side route in the park.  


We followed this jeep until the water had completely covered the road.  Neither of us attempted to drive across.  The people were from the area and said the water is normally about 10 feet below the road level at this spot, but they had major storms the night before.


Fort Donelson - a Confederate fort during the U.S. Civil War.


 The Parthenon in Nashville, built for the Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exhibition. This is a full-size reproduction of the original Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.


We were fortunate enough see the original Parthenon on a visit to Greece in 2009.  The original temple was dedicated to Athena, the patron goddess of Athens.


Close-up of one of the pediments, this one showing the birth of the goddess Athena.


Athena, goddess of wisdom, strategic war, and skilled crafts.


Athena Parthenos!
The statue of Athena is over 41 feet tall, and Nike, the goddess of victory in Athena's hand is 6 feet 4 inches tall.  Even taller than Steve!


The tour guide provided some great info about the artistic construction of the temple. 

A few notes: the extra tall steps going up to the temple cause the head to naturally bow as you go up to the temple doors.  As you enter, the door frames the statue. Unfortunately, the large bronze doors at the entrance aren't open to see this.

The pillars in the main hall could have gone to the ceiling but were split about waist-level on the statue by the horizontal beams. This immediately draws the eyes to the statue.

Due to its size, from the waist up the statue is oversized, which makes it look "correct" when viewed from below.

In the original temple, lighting would have been much dimmer, so the gilded statue in the dim temple would have been a much more impressive sight.


One of the figures on the 7.5 ton giant bronze doors.  Many people, including Steve, feel the need to pet the lion's nose.


A reproduction of one of the griffins adorning the roof of the Nashville Parthenon.  The Greek version of a "maneki neko" (beckoning cat) statue?


The opposite end of the building.  The pediment on this end shows the competition between Athena and her uncle, Poseidon, to become the patron god/goddess of Athens.  Athena won. 


The visitor's center at Stone's River National Battlefield.  We stopped just long enough to get a stamp in our National Parks passport.


We stopped in Chattanooga, TN, and visited the Ruby Falls cave on Lookout Mountain.




"At 1,120 feet underground, Ruby Falls is one of the deepest commercial caves in the world. "




 


"At 145 feet tall, Ruby Falls is one of the largest underground waterfalls accessible to the public."


"Ruby Falls" - the tall waterfall inside the cave.  Named for Ruby, the wife of the cave's discoverer.
This was one of the more beautiful caves we've visited.


The top of the inclined train on Lookout Mountain.


A panoramic view of Moccasin Bend from Point Park on Lookout Mountain, part of the Chicamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park.


Time for a little quiet meditation at Point Park, part of a Confederate fort on Lookout Mountain.
我坐在石岩上,想起一個故事,有一僧人懊腦自己禅坐常昏沉,所以決定坐在石岩上以警戒自己精進專注,但還是失敗,結果跌下山崖。當僧人跌下時,即心生懺愧,就這一心生起,却被菩薩救度了。
你相信這故事嗎?
我呢,連這樣的決心試法,都不敢。


After leaving Chattanooga, we took a southern route, sneaking up on the Great Smoky Mountains from the North Carolina side.  We stopped briefly in Bryson City for information and some great ice cream from The Chocolate Shoppe, before heading up to Cherokee and into the mountains.


  At an elevation of 6,643 feet, Clingman's Dome is the highest point in the park.


The trail from the visitor's center to the observation deck is only 0.5 miles, but the altitude makes it a tough, uphill walk.


The 360 degree view from Clingman's Dome was spectacular.  This is the view to the east.



360度的視野。


眼界有多遠?
How far is the view?



看世界是需要眼,更需要腿,才能帶着眼去看。
To see the world, we need eyes.  Legs are important too, to take the eyes with us.



但眼不能看得遠,眼還得帶着心,才看得遠。
However, the eyes couldn't see very far.  The eyes need bring the heart, then we can see the far view.


The North Caroline-Tennessee border passes through the mountains.
Standing in two states at once!


Gatlinburg.  A tourist town - a cross between Niagara Falls in Canada and Branson in Missouri. 


The next morning, we went back into the Smoky Mountains to explore more.  This is the old homestead house at Cade's Cove beside the visitor's center.


At the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Steve found the Tiny Titan - a small computer cluster used to teach high performance computing concepts.  Now, he wants to build one at home.


On the way home, we stopped to hike a little at Lilly Bluff overlook on the Obed Wild & Scenic River.
This trip we drove about 1,450 miles through 6 states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina.
至今,10年遊13州。

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tennessee waltz

大忠

Anonymous said...

Same like china, China has about 3000 big and small city (not town). If 1 city take you 3 days. You need 24 years to look only

Teng Keong

Anonymous said...

May your dreams come true

Soo

Anonymous said...

不用去計算能否遊得完,或幾時遊完?每年都安排去遊一二州,能遊到哪裡就哪裡,開心就好。

Choo Choo

Anonymous said...

Tennessee is so very beautiful. We really liked Fall Creek Falls State Park and their lakeside hotel, also Lookout Mountain just south of Chattanooga is great. Very good outdoor restaurant at the very top in Rock City Gardens (pricey but worth it), after the scenic walk through the rocks. Have a wonderful time!
Well, Rock City would take several hours anyway. I love Tennessee, but it sure was humid and hot.
As I recall, it (Rock City) was $20 each admission, the courtyard inside was all touristy shops, and there was a lovely long walk to the top through interesting rock formations. At the top there were long distance views from the steep cliffs, (although the actual scenery wasn't all that great), and the restaurant. Actually, I think two open-air restaurants, with a couple of guys singing and playing guitar, I think. I thought it was worth it for the nice walk among the rocks, although overpriced.

Anonymous said...

好享受啊!

Lily

Anonymous said...

妳好勇敢,至少敢坐在那边,我就不行了,心跳加速

Lay Kean

Anonymous said...

是妳坐在那吗?这么美的境界
景色太美了

Been Ting

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the photo comparison. I see what you mean--unless I needed to touch the columns for research (without the dough for an actual trip to Athens), it would be a long drive for an attractive, but not much more than an empty ruin itself, exhibit. The Parthenon has been determined to have had painted stieles (wc? the embossed figures along the gables). It would be interesting for those to be painted similar to a Harvard exhibit that proposed what the original structure would have looked like in color. It is an enormous err in our conception of Washington DC Greek-like buildings that we presume the marble was left bare. That would be like archaeologists reconstructing American homes without the interior dry wall against the plywood and beams.

The explanation is interesting. The Greeks were cunning regarding the viewer's perspective. They even did tricks with pillars to defeat the foreshortening effect.
I'm also impressed by their idea to create the beams between the upper and lower columns so that the columns point you to the statue, not to the ceiling.
In addition to the dimmer lighting, there air might have been thick with incense smoke--though I may be wrong by assuming the Greeks burned incense. I bet there would have been something that gave off a strong scent. The Greeks at least knew about "playing with perceptions" in their "mystery" temples.

Tim

eHeart said...

There are also other architectural innovations in the original - first mixing of Doric & Ionic columns in a building, coffered ceilings to save weight, adjusting the foundation for curvature of the earth so it appears flat...brilliant artists & architects.
They really should build the rest of the Acropolis around the Parthenon.

Steve

Anonymous said...

That would be interesting. And it wouldn't be relatively expensive. At the very least, painting the parthenon would be interesting--though I suppose the building itself is historical, given its debut for a world's fairl (?) and marring it would be not much different from painting over the actual Parthenon ruins... can't believe the Turks or Greeks thought it was a good idea to store munitions inside it......

Tim

Google