Thursday, March 21, 2013
A few days off
I'll be taking a few days off from posting to complete an assignment. New posts will resume next Thursday (3/28).
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Fun fact about Australia
Star gazing: under ideal viewing conditions, like in the Australian Outback, the naked eye can detect about 5,780 stars.
-From www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/
-From www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/
Destination Tuesdays
Blarney Castle (Irish: Caisleán na Blarnan) is a medieval stronghold in Blarney, near Cork, Ireland, and the River Martin. Though earlier fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty, a cadet branch of the Kings of Desmond, and dates from 1446.[4] The noted Blarney Stone is found among the machicolations of the castle.
The castle is now a partial ruin with some accessible rooms and battlements. At the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. Tourists visiting Blarney Castle may hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence. There are many legends as to the origin of the stone, but some say that it was the Lia Fáil—a magical stone upon which Irish kings were crowned.
Surrounding the castle are extensive gardens. There are paths touring the grounds with signs pointing out the various attractions such as several natural rock formations which have been given fanciful names, such as Druid's Circle, Witch's Cave and the Wishing Steps. Blarney House, also open to the public, is a Scottish baronial-style mansion that was built on the grounds in 1874.[11]
Information from Wikipedia and photo from Wikimedia
Barcelona
Barcelona is the only place I've visited in Spain. My mom and I had a day there after we disembarked our cruise ship last year. The guy at our hotel taught me how to navigate the city's subway system, which I did flawlessly, miraculously. I had really only two sights to see, Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell, but between getting off the subway and getting to the latter, we walked a long way, letting us see more of the city.
Barcelona is famous for mosaics and the white mosaic serpentine bench shown above is the most famous attraction in Parc Guell.
Barcelona is famous for mosaics and the white mosaic serpentine bench shown above is the most famous attraction in Parc Guell.
Spring break
I've been off for college spring break up until yesterday. I didn't go anywhere this year because I wanted to save money to do a big trip again this summer, but last spring break I went to Costa Rica. Here's some pictures:
I have way more than this, and better ones, but they aren't on my computer.
I have way more than this, and better ones, but they aren't on my computer.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
One fascinating place...
I just had to share this oddball destination because ever since I've heard about it, I've thought it would be the most unique place to go.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. In recent times the island has served as a warning of the cultural and environmental dangers of exploitation. Ethnographers and archaeologists also blame diseases carried by European sailors and Peruvian slave raiding of the 1860s for devastating the local peoples.[5]
Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.[6] The nearest inhabited land (50 residents) is Pitcairn Island at 2,075 kilometres (1,289 mi), and the nearest continental point lies in central Chile, at 3,512 kilometres (2,182 mi).
Eastern Island is a special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region and more specifically, is the only commune of the Province Isla de Pascua.[7]
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. In recent times the island has served as a warning of the cultural and environmental dangers of exploitation. Ethnographers and archaeologists also blame diseases carried by European sailors and Peruvian slave raiding of the 1860s for devastating the local peoples.[5]
Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.[6] The nearest inhabited land (50 residents) is Pitcairn Island at 2,075 kilometres (1,289 mi), and the nearest continental point lies in central Chile, at 3,512 kilometres (2,182 mi).
Eastern Island is a special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region and more specifically, is the only commune of the Province Isla de Pascua.[7]
Information from Wikipedia and photo from www.archaeology.about.com/.
|
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Greater Latrobe High School's art
I was lucky enough to go to a high school that not only was large, beautiful, and full of amazing people, but we had wonderful programs in the arts as well as the stereotypical athletics. Greater Latrobe High School had art classes in drawing and painting, ceramics, drawing the human figure, independent study art, art history, fabric design, and probably a few more that I've forgotten. I filled my schedule with as many of these as possible, with my senior year being especially art-centered.
Latrobe also boasts the largest student purchased art collection in the country. Every year since about 1933, students vote on paintings and the student government purchases a few. Our school's halls are filled with art; every few feet there's a drawing or painting on the wall. They all have individual museum lights on them and they're alarmed. More than once I've bumped a few, but I never set them off. My high school really does look like a museum. It has soft lighting and glossy floors, a central rotunda surrounded by columns with a floor mosaic in the center, and glass cases.
The paintings had special signifigance for me, and not just because I'm an art lover. Being new to the school at the start of high school, I learned my way around by the paintings; the colorful jesters hanging on the wall marked where my homeroom was. Paintings were meeting places, markers, and familiar friends we all passed every single day for three years. They were a part of my high school experience, just like the prom and writing for the magazine.
Latrobe also boasts the largest student purchased art collection in the country. Every year since about 1933, students vote on paintings and the student government purchases a few. Our school's halls are filled with art; every few feet there's a drawing or painting on the wall. They all have individual museum lights on them and they're alarmed. More than once I've bumped a few, but I never set them off. My high school really does look like a museum. It has soft lighting and glossy floors, a central rotunda surrounded by columns with a floor mosaic in the center, and glass cases.
The paintings had special signifigance for me, and not just because I'm an art lover. Being new to the school at the start of high school, I learned my way around by the paintings; the colorful jesters hanging on the wall marked where my homeroom was. Paintings were meeting places, markers, and familiar friends we all passed every single day for three years. They were a part of my high school experience, just like the prom and writing for the magazine.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Destination Tuesdays
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, opening in 1973 after a long gestation that had begun with his competition-winning design in 1957. Joseph Cahill's New South Wales Government gave the go-ahead for work to begin in 1958. The government's bold decision to select Utzon's design is often overshadowed by the scandal that followed.[3] The Sydney Opera House is on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It sits at the northeastern tip of the Sydney central business district (the CBD), surrounded on three sides by the harbour (Sydney Cove and Farm Cove) and inland by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Contrary to its name, the building houses multiple performance venues. The Sydney Opera House is among the busiest performing arts centres in the world, hosting over 1,500 performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people. It provides a venue for many performing-arts companies, including the four key resident companies Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and presents a wide range of productions on its own account. It is also one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, with more than seven million people visiting the site each year, 300,000 of whom take a guided tour.[4][5]
The Sydney Opera House is administered by the Sydney Opera House Trust, under the New South Wales Ministry of the Arts. On 28 June 2007, the Sydney Opera House was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[6] It is one of the 20th century's most distinctive buildings and one of the most famous performing arts centres in the world.[7][8][9]
I would love to visit Australia and New Zealand, especially to see this, the Great Barrier Reef, and the beauty. It really does feel like a whole other strange world.Information from Wikipedia and photo from www.destination360.com |
Monday, March 4, 2013
On heritage
Of the seven foreign countries I've visited (Panama, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, France, Vatican City, and Canada), I have heritage from only one: France. It's a very small percentage, but my maternal grandmother seems to think the last name in question was French. I'm happy to go with it; France has always been to me a place of decadent food, luxury, and snobby sophistication, and thus a country that appeals to me. Here are some of my pictures of the French Riviera from Nice.
Friday, March 1, 2013
A mystery painting
This is my only other acrylic painting, and a definite favorite of mine. The topic was surrealism (dreamlike, fantasy, not found in reality) for this assignment, and I had a lot of fun coming up with this. Try to guess what it means, if you like.
Written/Spoken series
My college recently had an event called the "Written/Spoken Series," where local published writers and poets come to campus to read their work, sell and sign books, and talk to students. One particular piece by Stephen Ramey, author of a short story collection entitled "Glass Animals," was about a depressed white man in a coffee shop talking to a girl working there who was of mixed race. Their interaction and compare and contrast of differences made me think of how much we encounter the same thing while traveling.
Traveling offers us a rainbow of different people to meet, with different backgrounds, looks, and ways of talking. So many of my favorite and memorable exchanges while traveling have been with strangers from foreign lands. Not only are conversations interesting and out of the ordinary, but I pretty much always walk away having learned something, with a new perspective on the world.
Traveling offers us a rainbow of different people to meet, with different backgrounds, looks, and ways of talking. So many of my favorite and memorable exchanges while traveling have been with strangers from foreign lands. Not only are conversations interesting and out of the ordinary, but I pretty much always walk away having learned something, with a new perspective on the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)