SPENDING TIME WITH FRIENDS I NEVER MET

BY JANET STEINBERG

 

The magic carpet of travel has taken me around the world and given me the opportunity to meet some of the most famous people in the world.  It has also given me the opportunity to spend time with those I never met …but would have liked to meet.  Please allow me to introduce you to my new best bronze friends that I have never met…and, unfortunately, never will!

ALLIES SCULPTURE:  Lawrence Holofcener’s  bronze sculpture, celebrating the relationship between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was unveiled by Princess Margaret in London England on May 2, 1995.  The sculpture commemorated fifty years of peace.  I could almost hear the amiable conversation between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill holding his trademark cigar. Like millions of other tourists, I was honored to take my place between two of the 20th century’s most exalted heroes. 

ROOSEVELT & CHURCHILL IN LONDON

HUBERT, THE NAPOLEONIC SOLDIER:  Hubert is leaning on a bench in the Main Square, near the Old Town Hall, in Bratislava, Slovakia.  Legend has it that when Napoleon and his army were in Bratislava in 1805, Hubert fell in love with a local girl, stayed in the city and became a producer of sparkling wine.  Hubert happens to be the name of Slovakia’s most popular sparkling wine’s brand.  Fact or fiction?  You tell me!

NAPOLEONIC SOLDIER IN BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA

THE BRONZE FONZ:  Hey Fonzie, Happy Days were here again when we met on the Milwaukee Riverwalk just south of Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   Here was Henry Winkler, attired in his typical Fonzie outfit of leather jacket and jeans, giving me a two-handed thumbs-up.  Henry Winkler (aka Arthur Fonzarelli, Fonzie" or "The Fonz") and most of the Happy Days cast attended the August 18, 2008 dedication ceremony. Upon seeing the statue, Winkler said it was "unbelievable". 

TWO THUMBS UP FROM THE FONZ

MARK TWAIN IN BERMUDA:  “You go to heaven if you want to, I’d rather stay right here in Bermuda.”  I could almost hear Mark Twain whispering those famous words of his in my ear as we sat on his wooden bench in Hamilton, Bermuda.  And I could almost feel that the bushy haired, mustachioed Twain, dressed in his characteristic rumpled suit and bow tie, was reading my mind as I thought about the numerous Mark Twain Travel Writer Awards that some of my fellow journalists and I have been honored to receive. 

 MARK TWAIN IN HAMILTON, BERMUDA

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON IN COPENHAGEN:  Immortalized in Bronze, fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen, sits next to Copenhagen's City Hall, with his head turned toward his beloved Tivoli Gardens.  With book and cane in hand, his well-worn lap has become a resting place for kids of all ages.  H.C., as he is affectionately dubbed in Denmark, is a very important part of Danish culture, and his fairytales are known worldwide.  Henry Luckow-Nielsen’s bronze statue was erected in 1965. 

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON AND FRIENDS IN COPENHAGEN

ELVIS PRESLEY IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: This statue of Elvis Presley stands on Honky Tonk Row in Nashville, Tennessee. Statues of all subjects, shapes and sizes abound in Music City USA, but none with more frequency than those of Elvis Presley, often perched in front of gift shops tempting you to go inside and purchase your boots, belt buckles and guitars. You’ll find Elvis in a variety of outfits, from red leather to rhinestones and he may be playing a blue, brown or flag-painted guitar. 

"LOVE ME TENDER, LOVE ME TRUE!"

OSCAR WILDE IN DUBLIN, IRELAND:  Reclining on a quartz boulder in Merrion Square in Dublin, Ireland, is Danny Osborne’s lifelike sculpture of poet Oscar Wilde.   Unveiled in 1997, the statue is located near his childhood home at 1, Merrion Square. The statue is mounted on a large quartz boulder obtained by Osborne himself from the Wicklow Mountains.  The statue was formed from different colored stones from three continents.  The torso is of green nephrite jade from British Columbia, Canada, and pink thulite from Norway.  The legs are of Norwegian Blue Pearl Granite with the shoes being black Indian charnockite and finished with bronze shoelace tips. The statue also wears a Trinity College tie made from glazed porcelain and three ring... Wilde's wedding ring and two scarabs, one for good luck, the other for bad luck. 

OSCAR WILDE AND FRIENDS IN DUBLIN

TEXT AND PHOTOS by JANET STEINBERG

STEINBERG is the winner of 43 national Travel Writer Awards. She is also a Travel Consultant with The Travel Authority in Cincinnati, Ohio.