plantpower

I spent a lovely afternoon here one day last summer. There was a great flea market in a square near the center of town, and live music as well! Restaurants were very expensive, though.

I spent eighteen months here as a kid when my father came to teach a class at the Army base. I fondly remember learning to play soccer from my illegal-immigrant classmates and going hiking and camping in the mountains. This town also had America’s first drive-through fast food restaurant, although the details escape me right now.

They have the best wine in Germany, and I’m not just saying that because my friend is a vintner there! It’s also a truly artful city, and it’s just the right size for its location.

Columbia is worth visiting, if only to marvel at the bizarre street names. Each neighborhood has street names taken from the work of a famous author or poet, and many of them are downright entertaining.

Examples: Fox Grape Terrace, Mending Wall, Cloudburst Hill (all in Running Brook, the Robert Frost neighborhood). Other notable neighborhoods include Dorsey Hall (street names from Oliver Wendell Holmes), Dickinson (street names from Emily Dickinson), and Hobbit’s Glen (take a wild guess).

Oh! And there are so many trees that you can’t see the buildings, except in winter, when all the leaves fall off.