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.
Tag Archives: Travel
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.
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]
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.
Walking Tour: Honolulu – Oahu, Hawaii ( 4K video)
Honolulu, on the island of Oahu’s south shore, is capital of Hawaii and gateway to the U.S. island chain. The Waikiki neighborhood is its center for dining, nightlife and shopping, famed for its iconic crescent beach backed by palms and high-rise hotels, with volcanic Diamond Head crater looming in the distance. Sites relating to the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor include the USS Arizona Memorial.
Aerial Views: Porto Alegre – Southern Brazil (Video)
Porto Alegre is the capital city of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil. On the main square, Praça Marechal Deodoro, is the Renaissance-style Metropolitan Cathedral, with religious murals on the outside. The neoclassical Piratini Palace houses the state government. The 19th-century São Pedro Theater is nearby. The city is known as a gateway to the tall canyons of Aparados da Serra National Park.
Views: Landscapes & Cities Of ‘Ukraine’ (4K Video)
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest country in Europe, after Russia, which it borders to the east and north-east.[a] Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It covers an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi),[b] with a population of about 41.5 million,[c] and is the eighth-most populous country in Europe. The country’s capital and largest city is Kyiv.
Walks: ‘Rue Des Petits-Champs’ In Paris, France
Rue des Petits-Champs is a street which runs through the 1st and 2nd arrondissement of Paris, France. It was officially created in 1634 by orders of the king during the construction of Palais-Cardinal, it was named “rue Bautru” then “rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs”, In 1881 it was given its present name. In 1944, the part of rue des Petits Champs which extends across Opera near the Place Vendome was renamed rue Danielle Casanova after a French Resistance fighter who died in 1943.
Boomers Daily 