Lucca is a city on the Serchio river in Italy’s Tuscany region. It’s known for the well-preserved Renaissance walls encircling its historic city center and its cobblestone streets. Broad, tree-lined pathways along the tops of these massive 16th- and 17th-century ramparts are popular for strolling and cycling. Casa di Puccini, where the great opera composer was born, is now a house museum.
Yearly Archives: 2021
Spring Walks: ‘Quayside Marina’ – Vancouver (4K)
The Quayside (pronounced “Keyside”) Marina is on the north shore of False Creek, in the middle of Vancouver’s cosmopolitan Yaletown district.
Vancouver is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada.
Morning News Podcast: U.S. Pipeline Cyberattack, Food Delivery Prices Rise
A.M. Edition for May 10. WSJ’s Heather Haddon discusses the additional fees associated with food delivery. A cyberattack forced the shutdown of America’s largest fuel pipeline. Corn sees its prices pop.
And, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s debut on “Saturday Night Live”. Marc Stewart hosts.
Walks: ‘Montmartre – Paris’, France (Video)
Montmartre is a large hill in Paris’s 18th arrondissement. It is 130 m (430 ft) high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank in the northern section of the city. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by rue Caulaincourt and rue Custine on the north, rue de Clignancourt on the east, and boulevard de Clichy and boulevard de Rochechouart to the south,[4] containing 60 ha (150 acres).[5] Montmartre is primarily known for its artistic history, the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit, and as a nightclub district. The other church on the hill, Saint Pierre de Montmartre, built in 1147, was the church of the prestigious Montmartre Abbey. On August 15, 1534, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis Xavier and five other companions bound themselves by vows in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, 11 rue Yvonne Le Tac, the first step in the creation of the Jesuits.[6]
Tilt-Shift Travel: ‘Los Angeles – California’ (4K)
Los Angeles is the largest city in California and the second-largest city in the USA. Like everything else, L.A. looks much better in miniature. This is one of the last projects that I shot pre-pandemic, in case you wonder why nobody is wearing masks.
Los Angeles is a sprawling Southern California city and the center of the nation’s film and television industry. Near its iconic Hollywood sign, studios such as Paramount Pictures, Universal and Warner Brothers offer behind-the-scenes tours. On Hollywood Boulevard, TCL Chinese Theatre displays celebrities’ hand- and footprints, the Walk of Fame honors thousands of luminaries and vendors sell maps to stars’ homes.
World News: Rise Of E-Money, Spain’s Indignados Protests & Dostoevsky
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: the rise of e-money, ten years after Spain’s indignados protests (10:03) and “the brothers Karamazov” on stage (17:36).
The Cotswolds: Exploring The Village Of Adlestrop
Adlestrop is a village and civil parish in the valley of the River Evenlode in the Cotswolds about 3 miles east of Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire, England. The parish is on the county boundary with Oxfordshire. The River Evenlode forms the southwest boundary of the parish.
Spring Views: Washington Square Park, New York
Washington Square Park is a 9.75-acre public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City’s public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity.
It is named for George Washington (1732-1799), the commander of the Continental Army, who was inaugurated in New York City as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789.
The land was once a marsh fed by Minetta Brook located near an Indian village known as Sapokanikan. In 1797 the City’s Common Council acquired the land for use as a “Potter’s Field” and for public executions, giving rise to the legend of the “Hangman’s Elm” in the park’s northwest corner.
Used first as the Washington Military Parade Ground in 1826, the site became a public park in 1827. Following this designation, prominent families, wanting to escape the disease and congestion of downtown Manhattan, moved into the area and built the distinguished Greek Revival mansions that still line the square’s north side. In 1838 the park hosted the first public demonstration of the telegraph by Samuel F.B. Morse.
Soon after the creation of the City’s Department of Public Parks in 1870, the square was redesigned and improved by M.A. Kellogg, Engineer-in-Chief, and I.A. Pilat, Chief Landscape Gardener. Their plan followed the principles of Fredrick Law Olmsted – providing a more rustic and informal space with curvilinear paths along its periphery, retaining many of the diagonal paths within the park’s core, and defining plots of grass with shade trees. The most dramatic change was the addition of a carriage drive through the park’s interior connecting Fifth Avenue to Lower Manhattan.
The marble Washington Arch, designed by noted architect Stanford White, was built between 1890-1892 and replaced a wooden arch erected in 1889 to honor the centennial of the first president’s inauguration. Statues of Washington were later installed on Arch’s north side – Washington as Commander-in-Chief, Accompanied by Fame and Valor (1916) by Hermon MacNeil, and Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice (1918) by Alexander Stirling Calder.
Nature Views: Sandhill Cranes & Chicks Near Titusville, Florida (Video)
On this Mother’s Day “Sunday Morning” takes us among sandhill cranes and their chicks in Titusville, Florida. Videographer: Doug Jensen.
The sandhill crane is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska’s Sandhills on the American Plains.
Titusville is a city and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida, United States. The city’s population was 43,761 as of the 2010 United States Census. Titusville is located along the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center, and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore.
Analysis: India-Pakistan Conflict Explained (Video)
In February 2021, India and Pakistan agreed to strictly observe all previous agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and other sectors, and to address core issues and concerns. It was their first joint statement in over eight years. But will the agreement be upheld this time? Both countries have come close to an all-out military conflict several times in the past two decades. DW takes a look at factors that are driving the hostility between the two South Asian neighbors.
Boomers Daily 