Unexpected

 

This is surely not the view you would expect to see.........

The smallest country

Size is not a criterion in our definition of what constitutes a country. A country need only be an independent state, with distinct territorial boundaries, and its own government. The smallest country is the Vatican City.

Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy, is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It's home to the Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture. Its Vatican Museums house ancient Roman sculptures such as the famed “Laocoön and His Sons” as well as Renaissance frescoes in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling.

Capital: Vatican City

Area: 109 acres

Founded: February 11, 1929

Population: 1,000 (2017)

The oldest hotel in the world

 

The Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan spa hotel was originally opened in 705 AD, and in 2011 it was declared the oldest hotel in the world by Guinness World Records (currently 1311 years old).

The hotel has been owned and operated by the same family for 52 generations since its inception.

Mexico City

General Facts about Mexico City

• Mexico City is built on a lake called Texcoco.
• The city is constantly sinking and has sunk more than nine meters in some areas over the last 100 years.

• Population Facts about Mexico City

• More than 20 million people live in Mexico City.
• The population of Mexico City has grown by more than 20 million people in just over 110 years, from 500,000 in 1900 to 21.2 million people in 2012.
• Mexico City is the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.
• Over 600,000 U.S. Americans live in Mexico City; the largest concentration of Americans living outside of the USA.

• Transportation Facts about Mexico City

• Mexico City’s Metro is the largest in Latin America and the cheapest in the world at only 3 pesos per journey ($0.23 USD/ Euro 0.18)!
• More than 4-5 million people use the metro everyday.
• The city is so big and the traffic so bad that the super rich have taken to using helicopters to get from one place to another. You can often see them landing on the tops of buildings.
• Taxi’s in Mexico City are as distinct as those found in New York, painted red and gold.
• Green ‘hippie’ vans are used as local buses throughout the city.
• Avenida de los Insurgentes is one of the longest avenues in the world.
• Mexico City International Airport is Latin America’s largest and busiest airport.

• Cultural Facts about Mexico City

• Mexico City has the most museums in the world, with more than 160, almost all of which are free on Sundays!
• The city also has over 100 art galleries, and 30 concert halls.
• Mexico City has the fourth highest number of theatres in the world after New York, London and Toronto.
• The Museo Soumaya, was donated to the city by the worlds richest man; Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim.
• The 10,000-seat National Auditorium in Mexico City was named the Best Venue in the World.
• Mexico City is also home to the largest amusement park in Latin America, Six Flags Mexico. It also has La Feria Chapultepec Mágico amusement park in the city center, it’s rollercoasters visible from various points around the city.
• The city’s famous Zócalo (large square in the city center) turns into one of the worlds biggest ice skating rinks every winter.
• Mexico City has the most IMAX theatres in the world.
• Mexico City has two of the S.Pellegrino ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurants in the World’ list compiled by British magazine ‘Restaurant’.
• Mexico City has been the only city in Latin America to host the Olympic Games, with the Summer Olympics in 1968. (Brazil will take this title away from Mexico as it hosts the 2016 Olympic Games).
• Mexico City is home to the oldest university in the Americas; the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The University is the largest university in all of North, Central and South America. The majority of Mexico’s former presidents have attended this university.
• UNAM is also the highest ranked Spanish-speaking University in the world.
• Mexico City is the capital of the media industry in Latin America.
• There are over 60 radio stations in Mexico City, as well as a huge amount of local transmissions.
•  Just in case you were thinking about visiting. 

The oldest hotel in the world

The Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Yamanashi, Japan, holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest hotel in the world. The hot-spring hotel sits at the foot of the stunning Akaishi Mountains and has been in operation since it was founded by Fujiwara Mahito in 705 A.D. Since then, it’s been in the hands of some 52 generations of the same family for more than 1,300 years.

Keiunkan has 35 rooms. All guest rooms are designed with great care for Japanese tradition.
The building frame is made of strong steel bars, but the interior is a pure Japanese-style room that values ​​the taste of wood.
All rooms have baths with hot springs.

Hayakawa / Yukawa Valley.

James Parks

How I wish there was a picture of him to show but here is who he is...

Parks was born a slave on March 19,1843 in Arlington Virginia to Lawrence Parks and Patsy Clark.

The first graves in Arlington National Cemetery were dug by James Parks, a former Arlington Estate slave. Parks was freed in 1862 at the age of 19 years under the terms of the will of his former owner, George Washington Parke Custis. He still lived on Arlington Estate when Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signed the orders designation Arlington as a military burial ground. Parks served in the U.S. Army from 1861 to 1929 (69 years) by working as a grave digger and maintenance man for the cemetery.

Prior to his death Jim Parks gave specific locations for the wells, springs, slave quarters, the slave cemetery dance pavilion, old roads, icehouse, blacksmith shop, and kitchens. He stated that all of his grandparents and parents were buried in the slave cemetery. At the time the article was written the Departments of Agriculture was in the process of uprooting the sacred ground for a farming area. It is not known what happened to the bodies interred in the slave cemetery.

At he time of his death he left behind one of the few slave accounts on record from much of the restoration of Arlington House was based. His testimony provided a complete record of the people who inhabited the plantation, the slaves and the Custis-Lee family.

When James Parks died on August 21,1929 the Secretary of War Dwight Filley Davis granted special permission for him to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. He was buried at Arlington. Rest in Peace.

Check this out...

Located in Portsmouth, UK
In the middle of the Solent on one of the restored "Palmerston", (19th century) forts.
A short (30 minute) boat journey brings you to this location which has been totally restored to offer a hotel with 360 degree uninterrupted views, roof terrace with fire pit, sauna/hot-house, hot tubs and lighthouse tower. The rooms are HUGE (with all en-suite facilities) and there are numerous "gentlemens club" type lounges.

There are only nine luxurious suites and you will be treated like a king and queen

from the time to arrive until time to leave.

 

 

Fire pit

 

 

Spa with a killer view

 

Definitely not the norm..

 

 

 

What you don't know won't hurt you....

Several years ago we made a trip to Funchal,Portugal
http://monirae.blogspot.com/search?q=funchal
and only recently did I read that their airport is the most dangerous in the world!!


If I had seen these pictures before I may not have gone...

 

 

 

Well we had a wonderful time so glad I just didn't know about it.

 

 

 

Our Statue of Liberty

Location	Liberty Island Manhattan, New York City, New York,[1] United States
Coordinates	40°41′21″N 74°2′40″W / 40.68917°N 74.04444°W / 40.68917; -74.04444Coordinates: 40°41′21″N 74°2′40″W / 40.68917°N 74.04444°W / 40.68917; -74.04444
Height	Base to torch: 151 feet 1 inch (46 meters) Ground to torch: 305 feet 1 inch (93 meters)
Dedicated	October 28, 1886
Restored	1938, 1984–1986, 2011–2012 Sculptor
	Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi A gift to us from France Bartholdi who was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who is said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples. He may have been minded to honor the Union victory in the American Civil War and the end of slavery. Laboulaye proposed that a gift be built for the United States on behalf of France. Laboulaye hoped that by calling attention to the recent achievements of the United States, the French people would be inspired to call for their own democracy in the face of a repressive monarchy. Due to the post-war instability in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue and the Americans provide the site and build the pedestal. Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions. Here are some pictures of it being built...               Arriving at New York Harbor, Bartholdi focused on Bedloe's Island as a site for the statue, struck by the fact that vessels arriving in New York had to sail past it. He was delighted to learn that the island was owned by the United States government       The building of the pedestal as agreed upon     The book she carries is a tablet (evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.  A broken chain lies at her feet.     The statue has been restored three times, this is a picture of Nancy Regan in the red at the re-opening of the statue in 1986      I have had the privilege of seeing it like this          but it stands at its best from out at sea......           My Dad sailed by her while being shipped out for World War II and said he didn't think he would ever see it again but here he is coming home on the Queen Mary!! What a wonderful sight it must have been.

Sites around the world

 This was cited as a lake above a lake but it is a little deceiving due to the angle of the picture

 

in truth it is a lake above the ocean

 

It is one of the biggest lakes on Faroe Islands and as you can see it runs into the ocean.

Still pretty amazing if you ask me:)

 

 

 

The Dr. Seuss House

This is the Dr. Seuss House located in the Alaska wilderness. The story is that the original owner worked on it for 10 years and then died. It was so have sat abandoned for nearly as long....

 

Winter

 

 

 

Summer

 

Supposedly it was built after a forest fire in the area and the owner wanted to build it high enough to see Mt. McKinley. As the trees grew he built it higher and higher. You can't visit the house in person but can get a good view on the Alaska's train north or hire a bush pilot for a aerial view. Wouldn't you like to know what the inside looks like?

 

9/11 Living Memorial Plaza

Did you know that this monument was erected in Jerusalem?

It measures 30 feet and is made of granite bronze and aluminum. A piece of melted metal from the ruins of the Twin Towers forms part of the base on which the monument rests. It takes the form of an American flag waving and transforming into a flame at the tip. Embedded on the metal plate are the names of all the victims tragically lost that day.

Israel also issued a postage stamp with the 9/11 Memorial plaza as a tribute to the World Trade Center victims.

Thank you Israel

 

Price Tower

UNESCO World Heritage Nominee
Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower

 

Because we have stayed here I received a email about this event. Located in Bartlesville, OK. (70 miles from Ponca City, Okla.).  It is the only skyscraper that Frank Lloyd Wright built but it is nothing less than genius.

"This geometry was the first of its type to be used, replacing the designs of a conventional steel frame. 
The hollow concrete spine contains the all the building's plumbing, elevators, and air-conditioning systems and breaks the structure into four quadrants.  Three of the quadrants were designed to be used as office spaces, and the remaining quadrant for duplex apartments.  The vertical central core absorbs the weight of each successive floor, similar to how a trunk supports the branches of a tree."

 

Sleeping area

 

Everything is small scale but it lacks for nothing.

The dinning room is called the Copper Room

I suppose that was a no brainer since the bar is solid copper. The food was wonderful and the view is great. We stayed her two times while I was writing the book and if it were closer I would go back in a minute. Hope they get the award.

 

 

 

Lombard Street

This is the famous Lombard Street in San Francisco, Calif.

It is said to be the crookedest street in the world. Built in 1922, the design was intended to reduce the hills natural 27% grade. It is about 600 feet long and is paved with red bricks. The sign at the top recommends 5 mph. It is lined in flowers and greenery and is beautiful but because of the tourist is have become bit of a hazard.

 

But how about going down it on a skateboard with no brakes?

Not for the weak hearted

 

The tallest building in the world

At 2,722 ft

 

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world

Here are some comparisons

Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure and completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010

A 304-room Armani Hotel, the first of four by Armani, occupies 15 of the lower 39 floors.

The  sky lobbies on the 43rd and 76th floors house swimming pools. Floors through to 108 have 900 private residential apartments (which, according to the developer, sold out within eight hours of being on the market). An outdoor zero-entry swimming pool is located on the 76th floor of the tower. Corporate offices and suites fill most of the remaining floors, except for a 122nd, 123rd and 124th floor where the At.mosphere restaurant, sky lobby and an indoor and outdoor observation deck is located respectively.

There are a total of 57 elevators and 8 escalators and the building has 2,909 stairs from the ground floor to the 160th floor.

Look at the buildings next to it!

 

No trick or treat here....just the facts.

 

Voting time

I hope each person that has the privilege to vote, studies and prays about their choices. For me, when it comes time to  decide on judges this is my highest quality.


integrity

1. 1.

   the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

   "he is known to be a man of integrity"

   synonyms:

   honesty, probity, rectitude, honor, good character, principle(s), ethics, morals, righteousness, morality, virtue, decency, fairness, scrupulousness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness "I never doubted his integrity"

   antonyms:

   dishonesty

2. 2.

   the state of being whole and undivided.

   "upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty"

   unity, unification, coherence, cohesion, togetherness, solidarity "the integrity of the federation What are some of your standards that you  make your voting decisions by?

Mercy Ships

Can you imagine the excitement of seeing his ship in port!

 

Started 38 years ago from a man with a vision of bringing hope to the world

 

 

This woman was able to see her child for the first time thanks to the free surgery on the Mercy Ship.

https://www.mercyships.org/blind-mother-receives-sight/

The Great Ocean Road

If I could wiggle my nose and be transported somewhere....this is a place I would go.

A  coastal drive along Australia's southwestern shore that winds its way around rugged cliffs, through lush rainforests and windswept beaches.

A little history via the internet....
By the time of World War I, the rugged south-west coast of Victoria was accessible only by sea or rough bush track. Besides being dedicated as a memorial, it was also envisaged that the road would connect isolated settlements on the coast, and become a vital transport link for the timber industry and tourism

Construction on the road began on 19 September 1919, built by approximately 3,000 returned servicemen as a war memorial for fellow servicemen who had been killed in World War I. An advance survey team progressed through dense wilderness at approximately 3 kilometres a month. Construction was done by hand; using explosives, pick and shovel, wheel barrows, and some small machinery, and was at times perilous, with several workers killed on the job; the final sections along steep coastal mountains being the most difficult to work on.

 

 

 

What awesome beauty

 

 

and Koala to boot!