Johnny X with his polar bear cousin from Manitoba. Betsa Marsh photo

Johnny X goes north of the border to Montreal to meet his Francophone pals!

The bear travels for Meredith Schroeder’s third-grade class at St. Joseph Consolidated School in Hamilton, Ohio, as part of the Traveling Teddy program of the Society of American Travel Writers.

Johnny X is a cousin of Cookie the Bear, who represents Rita Urry’s class at Karori West Normal School in Wellington, New Zealand. Johnny X and many of the SATW Traveling Teddies will have a chance to meet this November during the SATW convention in Wellington.

Johnny X sailed in the Montreal harbor, met the boat crew and even spent time with beavers at a historic canal. He made sure that there was also time to slurp some fabulous Canadian honey and maple syrup!

CHECK OUT THE TRAVELING TEDDY VIDEO!

Johnny X with a beaver at Lachine Canal National Historic Site in Montreal. Betsa Marsh photo

Johnny X with First Officer Yohan Mattard, left, and Capt. Eric Asselin of the Cavalier Maxim. Betsa Marsh photo

Johnny X's sweet tooth gets the best of him with Canadian maple syrup. Betsa Marsh photo

An angel communes with skulls at the Bone Church. Betsa Marsh photo

By Betsa Marsh 

Human bones as decor? Yes, well, I’ve seen it in St. Emilion, France, and the cathedral in Lima, Peru, but the Ossuary (Kostnice) in Sedlec, Czech Republic may be the creepiest joint yet. 

Sedlec, southeast of Prague just outside the UNESCO city of Kutna Hora, had the first Cistercian abbey in Bohemia in 1142, under Bohemia King Vladislav II. Just up the road, the All Saints’ Chapel has been “decorated” with the bones of more than 40,000 people. 

The cemetery was re-consecrated in the late 13th century when Abbot Heidenreich brought a handful of soil from the hill of Golgotha, where Jesus Christ was crucified, and spread it over the graveyard. Legend was that a corpse would decompose in three days, so Sedlec became a very popular burial spot. 

Development forced the clearing of the cemetery, and Cistercian monks brought thousands of bones inside. Many of the people had died in the Great Plague of the 14th century and the Hussite religious wars of the 15th century. The present arrangement is by Czech wood carver František Rint from 1870. He crafted a bone chandelier from every bone in the body, plus sconces, chalices, monstrances and the Schwarzenberg coat of arms. 

The chandelier is made out of every bone in the body. Betsa Marsh photo

Bones and candles in the Gothic chapel. Betsa Marsh photo

The Bone Church.

 The bones are memento mori, according to the chapel signs, “symbols of equality before God, resurrection and redemption.” That’s all fine, just don’t get locked in at night. 

Johnny X with Martin Luther and his wife Katharina von Bora at the ruins of the Marienthron Convent. Betsa Marsh photo

Johnny X’s head is still spinning—globespinning—from all the famous spirits he met recently in Germany. 

Johnny X, the SATW Traveling Teddy who globetrots for the third-grade class of Meredith Schroeder at St. Joseph Consolidated School in Hamilton, Ohio, started by meeting Martin Luther and his wife, Katharina von Bora in Nimbschen. Katharina was a nun for 10 years in the Marienthron Convent, now a moody ruin, when she heard of Luther’s teachings in the Reformation. He said nuns could marry and have children and be good Christians. Von Bora rebelled against, as she said, the “uselessness of being imprisoned” in a convent, and in 1523, escaped with eight other nuns—inside old herring barrels. 

She fled to Wittenberg, and married Martin Luther two years later. Today, the couple is portrayed by Dr. Fred Urban and his wife Grit. They own the nearby Hotel Kloster, much of it built with stones from the monastery. 

North in the beautiful village of Grimma, Johnny X got in the military mode with a member of the Hussars, who fought on horseback. They lived in Grimma for 100 years, from 1791-1891. 

“The Hussars were famous,” said Grimma Mayor Matthias Berger. “They lost every fight.” 

Johnny X with a Hussar at the 1442 Grimma Rathaus. Betsa Marsh photo

Moving east, Johnny X stepped into the heady world of the Saxony court, meeting the legendary Augustus the Strong and his favorite mistress, Countess Constantia Cosel. They presided over an elegant court dance in front of Augustus’ Zwinger Palace.

Heading west to Leipzig,  Johnny X picked up the new musical trail that will connect 300 years of music in the city in 2011. He stopped by the Bach Museum and Archive to pay his respects and see treasures from the composer’s life, such as fragments from his oak coffin, his wife’s thimble and original music pages. 

Bach’s music was revived by Felix Mendelssohn, whose final home has been restored in the city. “Mendelssohn was the first to put up a memorial stone for Bach,” event manager Katharina Lengert said. Johnny X was privileged to hear a short concert by Judith Hering, playing a bit of Mendelssohn’s music from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” 

Johnny X with Augustus the Strong and Countess Constantia Cosel. Betsa Marsh photo

Johnny X with Bach.

Johnny X with Mendelssohn.

Just out! Cincinnati Essentials is my new app that covers the waterfront from Cincinnati’s Ghost Subway to flying pigs and frying goetta. Designed for travelers and residents alike, Cincinnati Essentials uncovers the best of the quirky Queen City.

The mobile guide for Apple iPhones, iPods and iPads is available for $2.99 on iTunes. All updates are free.

Greater Cincinnati’s major attractions and little secrets are revealed in more than 230 entries and 1,700 photos. You’ll learn how to eat Cincinnati chili five+ ways and where you’ll never get a shot of tequila at the bar, no matter how you plead.

Essential photos, GPS maps and easy searches help users:

* Cheer on the first professional team in baseball
* Track the stars on the oldest professional telescope in America
* Meet 700 dummies at the world’s only ventriloquism museum
* Try to follow Sarah the Cheetah, the world’s fastest land mammal
* Raise a stein at America’s largest Oktoberfest—and do the chicken dance.

The interactive app lists dozens of free and budget adventures, plus handy taxi maps to estimate fares.

Entries are sortable by name, distance, cost and neighborhood, as well as subjects such as art, attractions, Cincy eats, family fun, music, riverside revels, shopping and sports.

As many of you know, I covered the city on staff at The Cincinnati Enquirer. I’ve since written about Cincinnati for National Geographic Traveler, Hemispheres, Midwest Living and media across North America. I’ve reported from every continent, but still like landing at CVG.

A total history geek, I trained as a volunteer Cincinnati Heritage Programs history docent at the Cincinnati Museum Center, and you’ll see juicy tidbits from Cincinnati’s past in Cincinnati Essentials.

Horse and Rider, Turkey, 900-750 BCE. All Souls College

Some of the biggest showstoppers were included by chance: a silver mess kit, desert robes and a beautiful, gold, bejeweled dagger that belonged to T. E. Lawrence, the British army officer known for his role in the Arab Revolt and immortalized by Peter O’Toole in the 1962 movie “Lawrence of Arabia.”

With her brother on her back, a war-weary Korean girl tiredly trudges by a stalled M-26 tank at Haengju, Korea, June 9, 1951. Photo by Major R.V. Spencer, USAF

Friday marks the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War—a war that still has no end. President Harry S. Truman lived the sleepless nights of the conflict, a war that dragged his popularity with the American people to an all-time low. Now, the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum has an exhibit about this “Forgotten War”–join me to hear the curator’s take.

Researcher/writers and book publishers will help you make the transition from research to interpretation to publishing. After the session at 1:45 p.m., the Kentucky Technology in Genealogy Users Group will offer a free program, “Finding Family Histories Online–What Has Been Printed, Where to Find Them and Whether the Books Are In or Out of Copyright.”

Reservations are required by noon March 12: 502-564-1792, ext. 4460 or RefDesk@ky.gov; a light lunch is available for $6. Free Family-History Workshops repeat each month.

• A display will highlight Ohio Historical Society milestones from 1885 to 2010. Uncommon Ohio tours will feature Ohio’s Garden Path at noon and 2 p.m., and Echoes in Time Theatre will present “Saints Preserve Us! The Irish in America” at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

• In the galleries with the permanent exhibitions, Nature of Ohio and Ohio: Centuries of Change, you can meet people from the society’s past played by costumed interpreters. Shake hands with archaeologist William C. Mills, who discovered the Adena pipe in 1901, and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt J. Morton Howell, who donated the mummy known as Nasi-Khonsou-Pa-Khrodou, familiarly known as Nibit-Pi, meaning “the Mistress of the House,” and her sarcophagus to the Ohio Historical Society collections.

Today, the Ohio Historical Society has 58 historic sites and museums around the state, including the headquarters at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus. Collections total more than 3 million items, and OHS has educational and historic preservation programs in all 88 counties.

The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio, is leading a free workshop 1-4 p.m. April 25. The center uses RootsMagic to maintain the family history of 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Pre-registration is required: 419-332-2081 or by email to bhill@rbhayes.org.

Winnipeg, Canada, has launched its first Ghost Walk, a 90-minute trail led by experienced ghost guides. What was found hidden in the walls of the old Masonic Temple? Where did the first executions in the province of Manitoba take place? How is the Burton Cummings Theatre connected to the worse maritime disaster in Canadian history? Find out Thursdays and Saturdays through Oct. 31.

• Ohio’s Hale Farm & Village in Bath will kick off a family-friendly Halloween with storytelling by candlelight at 6 p.m. Oct. 30. Adults and teens can try to conjure up spirits at 7 p.m. with “Western Reserve Paranormal.” This group, well attuned to “listening,” will lead a program and discussion on the art of discovering spiritual activity in homes and historic places. Then, a one-hour exploration of three Hale Farm historic buildings will try to uncover any lurking “activity.” This haunted lesson is for ages 16 and older. Reservations are required.

• Ohio’s Salt Fork State Park Resort in Cambridge will start with trick-or-treating from cottage to cottage in a traffic-free area at 6 p.m.  Oct. 31. Hay rides will leave from the lodge parking area, and families can warm up with hot chocolate. A costume-judging contest, along with games and crafts, will wrap up the evening at the lodge.

• Across the pond in Wales, spirits are stirring. It might be the long-dead souls at Llancaiaich Fawr Manor, a living history museum that’s set in 1645 and considered one of the 10 most haunted buildings in Britain. It’s said that eight former residents, including soldiers, children and a maid, roam the house and gardens. Or maybe it’s the sight of Robin Drwg, half man, half beast, at Maesmawr Hall in Powys. Or could it be Sir John Wynn on the spiral staircase at Gwydir Castle in North Wales? Plan your own ghost hunt here.

• England’s Alton Towers is celebrating Halloween Scarefest through Nov. 1, with indoor and outdoor scare attractions. The theme park will be open until 9 p.m. every night. A Superbreak package costs $327/£199 per family of four based on two adults and two children sharing a family room at the three-star North Stafford Hotel, including a full-day ticket to the park for all the family. Breakfast is included for the adults, children pay locally. Valid Friday to Sunday in October; Monday to Thursday costs from $391/£236.

• The National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland and its American affiliate, Royal Oak Foundation, have gone ghost hunting in their own properties.

• Better than a pink elephant?

Lift a glass with your spectral friends at Belfast’s Crown Liquor Saloon on Great Victoria Street in the city center. The pub was a stop for travelers on the Great Northern Railway years ago, and one visitor recalled sitting with three ghostly men and a woman in one of the famed booths—a snug– while waiting for her friends to arrive for cocktails.

• Kennel Club Fur-ever

Ham House in Surrey was just too nice a home for one King Charles spaniel, who refuses to leave. The dog’s portrait hangs in the gallery, and the four-legged ghost often wanders the halls. A recent investigation by the Ghost Club, a paranormal research organization based in London, concluded that there may be as many as fifteen ghosts living at the property.

• SOS

The medieval Old Post Office in Tintagel, Cornwall, now a converted manor house, is famous for its flickering lights. One clever researcher used the antique Spagnolli receiver, a precursor to Morse code, to decode the message: “Noah,” it said, over and over – the surname of a previous resident.

• Anne Boleyn in the hall

Blickling Hall in Norfolk has every right to be haunted. This was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, the husband who had the lady beheaded.

In one incident, two delivery men returned a painting to the home and when asked about the authorization, said, “Oh, the lady signed for it… the lady in the Dining Room.”

The house administrator was supposed to be the only person living in Blickling Hall at the time, so it’s assumed Anne wanted the painting returned.

She may wander at her leisure, of course, but it’s pretty certain that Anne appears on the anniversary of her death each year, May 19. The Grey Lady, her nickname because of her long grey dress with lace collar, has been spotted looking across the lake and riding up the drive in a coach drawn by a headless horseman.