Wilton Road East

 When I moved to Ridgefield two years ago I bought a place quite near Wilton Road East and was puzzled that so many old houses from the 1700s had been built on this nondescript, out-of-the-way road.

Circa 1780.

Circa 1730

1725

I have learned that Wilton Road East was once the main road connecting Ridgefield and Wilton, immediately to the south.  Today the main road between Ridgefield and Wilton is State Route 33, a considerably wider road that is called Wilton Road West in Ridgefield and Ridgefield Road in Wilton.  

Pope Park

Back in Connecticut.

Boston entrepreneur Albert A. Pope saw a display of European bicycles in the late 1870s.  He started importing some and contracted for a Hartford manufacturer to make others under the "Columbia" brand.  

By the mid-1890s, Pope was manufacturing about a quarter million bicycles a year in Hartford.  He went on to manufacture automobiles.  Pope is credited as the first automobile manufacturer to use mass production techniques, but competition was intense and he went bankrupt in 1907.

In 1895 Pope donated 90 acres for a Hartford public park.  

The Olmsted brothers did the original design.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Athens

The final stop on this trip was in Athens.  When you have a day in Athens, you climb the Acropolis again.

The parthenon needs no explanation. 

The Temple of Athena Nike looks good at the top of the Acropolis, too.  The original caryatids (female columns) have been moved inside to the museum to preserve them.  The replacements are made from artificial stone.  They look indistinguishable to my eyes and will hold up better against time and weather.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Heraklion, Crete

 Heraklion is a modern city on the northern shore of Crete.  What impressed me most was the archaeological museum, which holds and displays a wealth of artifacts from thousands of years ago.

Beautiful Cretan clay and bronze figurines and vessels.  1450 - 1370 BC.

A bull-leaping fresco, with a male athlete doing a backwards somersault over a bull while two female athletes restrain the bull.  1600-1400 BC.

Decorated clay vessels of different sizes and shapes from the Palace of Knossos.  1500-1400 BC.

On the left, a carved bone Cretan figurine.  2300 - 2100 BC.  The others are Cycladic-type figurines from 2600 - 2200 BC.   (The Cyclades are 30 Greek islands, including Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos and Andros.)

Vessels from shrines, including a bull's head, from 1600 - 1450 BC.

The Poppy Goddess is the biggest of these figures.  She has opium poppy fruit in her crown, conveying the message that she relieves pain and heals her worshippers.  1300 - 1200 BC.

Several of these vessels were made for a luxury dinner service for banquets at a Minoan palace.  

1300 - 1200 BC.  

A clay cauldron with griffins.  7th century BC.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Rhodes

The Palace of the Grand Masters is one of the most visited sites on the Greek island of Rhodes.  It is a medieval palace that was originally the home of the Knights Hospitaller.  The Italians occupied Rhodes in the 1930s, and the palace underwent an extensive restoration in anticipation that it would be occupied by King Victor Emmanuel III and the dictator Benito Mussolini.  Neither ever occupied it.

A statue of Laocoon and his sons.

 The Italian restorers did an excellent job of installing ancient mosaics scavenged from other sites all over the palace.  This one is Medusa.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Ephesus

 Ephesus was an ancient Greek city dating back to the 10th century BC.  It is near the modern resort city of Kusadasi, Turkey.  The buildings are more extensive and in a better state of repair than those found in other settlements of its age.

The Library of Celsus is the star of the show.  It was built around 125 A.D. by a governor of Roman Asia in the Roman Empire.  It is said to have held 12,000 scrolls.

Visitors see the Library of Celsus from the long walkway lined with the remains of other structures.

The Temple of Hadrian has a fairly intact facade.

Medusa.

The Nymphaeneum Traiani is a fountain from 102 AD to honor Emperor Trajan.

Odeon was a theater.

Out of the Jurisdiction: My Superpower

 I can watch a parade from the back row.  Lost your friends or family members in a crowd?  I can spot them for you.  Having trouble navigating through a throng of people?  Step aside and follow me. 

Grand Bazaar above.  Spice Bazaar below.

That's my superpower.  I'm 6'6"and can see over just about everyone.  

Click here for other superpowers.