Things We Are Not Taller Than

“Excuse me, would you mind taking our picture? We have a little tradition we do—just hold on and we’ll get into place.”

It started as a little gag. Tim, who is 6’5 (195cm), once put me on his shoulders and I said I was taller than anything else around. When I came to Aachen to visit him for the first time, I found a statistic on how the Aachen Cathedral. When it was built in 798, it was the tallest and largest structure north of the Alps. “I want a photo of me sitting on your shoulders next to it. It can be something we are not taller than.”

Tim paid it back to me on his visit to San Francisco in December. We drove up to Hawk’s Hill and walked the viewpoint to the Golden Gate Bridge. Onlookers laughed as I springboarded off a nearby log and scrambled onto his shoulder, whacking him in the face with my gloved hands.

And thus began the tradition. Every vacation, we try to find one thing that we are not taller than—from architectural marvels to natural wonders. And of course, someone kind enough to wait while we struggle into position. Figuring out what to pose with has become almost the first question we ask once the flight is booked. It gives us a fun launch point to start learning more about our chosen destination. Click on the links below to read about each “thing”, and track us on Instagram with #thingswearenottallerthan.