Japan is an island country in East Asia, located in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.
Tag Archives: Travel
Walking Tour: Rethymno – Crete, Greece (4K Video)
Rethymno, or Rethimno, is a city on the north coast of the Greek island of Crete. In the old town, the Venetian Harbor is filled with fishing boats and lined with tavernas. Rethymno Lighthouse was built in the 1830s. West, the hilltop Fortezza is a star-shaped, 16th-century citadel. The Historical and Folklore Museum preserves local crafts like textiles and ceramics. Long, sandy Rethymno Beach stretches to the east.
Aerial Views: The Cities & Landscapes Of Poland (4K)
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country located in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces, covering an area of 312,696 square kilometres, and has a largely temperate seasonal climate.
Design: Italy Approves New Retractable Arena Floor For Colosseum In Rome
The Italian government has approved plans designed by engineering firm Milan Ingegneria to create a remote-controlled, retractable floor within the Colosseum amphitheatre in Rome.
The design competition for the new Colosseum arena floor, launched at the end of 2020, originated in 2014 with an idea by the archaeologist Daniele Manacorda and was included in the Strategic Plan for Great Cultural Projects in 2015.
The design envisages bringing to life the integral components of the largest amphitheater in the ancient world which is estimated to have held up to 87.000 spectators. The indoor arena measures 86 × 54 m with an area of 3.357 sqm. The new platform is to be placed at the height it had at the time of the Flavians and takes up the layout of the original plan. The beams will rest on the existing walls, with no mechanical anchors or any invasive impact, and will be completely reversible. Having the new floor will allow us to fully understanding its original uses and functions, while the technological solutions will guide visitors in discovering the complex organizational and scenic machine that governed the shows in Roman times.
Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/?p=1644269
Aerial Views: Cape Town – South Africa (4K Video)
Cape Town is a port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath the imposing Table Mountain. Slowly rotating cable cars climb to the mountain’s flat top, from which there are sweeping views of the city, the busy harbor and boats heading for Robben Island, the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela, which is now a living museum.
Bike Tours: ‘Lucca – Northern Italy (4K Video)
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.
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.