107 Search Results for "circle"

• Arctic Circle Line Arctic Circle Line

  • From: luciferer
  • Description:
  • 1 month ago
  • Views: 140
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• Pelican at Caneel Bay, USVI Pelican at Caneel Bay, USVI

  • From: SharonNaylor
  • Description:

    First thing in the morning, the pelicans soar overhead and dive down to catch fish. It's amazing to see them soaring over the water, then circle around and dive in like a bullet. This guy came right up to us on the dock.

  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 315
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• Landing in Coldfoot, Alaska Landing in Coldfoot, Alaska

  • From: Martrese
  • Description:

    My friend & I took a piper from Fairbanks to the truck stop that is Coldfoot, Alaska, way above the arctic circle, to see the auroras. I'd never felt so removed from the world. (Living in NYC at the time, that's not saying much.)

  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 503
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• New York City Bridges New York City Bridges

  • From: icjp20
  • Description:

    View from the East River at night. We are on a Circle Line Sunset Cruise in October 2011. 

  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 1106
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• City Guide - Louisville, Kentu City Guide - Louisville, Kentucky

  • From: 30-somethingTraveler
  • Description:

    Best known as the home of the Kentucky Derby, Louisville is also the starting point for exploring bourbon country and is both a foodie destination and a historic city.

    The Bourbon Trail
    Kentucky Distillers' Association

    http://www.kybourbontrail.com/

    Kentucky is home to the biggest and best bourbon distilleries producing over 90% of the world's bourbon.  If you are in Kentucky, you are never more than an hour from a visit to at least one of the historic distilleries on the famed trail.  Go for the history if not the bourbon itself.  You'll need a car and/or driver and some time - each tour takes at least an hour and the distilleries aren't nearby each other or necessarily near Louisville for that matter. 

     

    The Urban Bourbon Trail
    If you can't get out onto the Bourbon Trail, you will be able to find plenty of bourbon right in Louisville. 

     

    Churchill Downs

    Yes, there's more to Kentucky than bourbon...there's horse-racing of course.  Although we didn't make it for the Kentucky Derby, a hot sunny Sunday afternoon at the track was exciting and profitable...overall winnings of $8.20, not bad.  There's no need to dress up or wear a big hat on non-Derby days, the dress code is decidedly casual.  Be sure to check out the Paddock area where the horses promenade in in a circle in front of the crowd while a commentator gives details on the upcoming race.
    
    For more details about where to eat, where to stay and what to do in Louisville, check out http://30somethingtravel.blogspot.com/2011/05/city-guide-louisville-kentucky.html.

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
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• Paris Opera House Paris Opera House

  • From: davidspiel
  • Description:

    Okay, I almost got killed taking this picture. As anyone who knows the area will tell you; I had to stand in the middle of a traffic circle (on the road) and Parisian Drivers are not as polite as they are on foot. Yes I’m kidding! Here is another example of a building built by Napolean III and Baron Haussman during the rebuilding of Paris. Renoir hated this building because he thought societies should build buildings of their own time rather that try to imitate buildings from a bygone age. This building looks like it is made of stone but it is not. It is stone sitting atop steel girders. The interior is magnificent but expect to shell out a pretty penny to see an opera there.  And be careful, just because it’s in the Paris Opera House doesn’t mean it’s good opera—especially during the summer!

     

  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 441
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• Awesome Iceland! Awesome Iceland!

  • From: Gailhennessey
  • Description:

    
    
    Most people's response when we said we were going to Iceland was "why"?  Thirty-six years ago, on our first trip to Europe(our wedding trip), we took Icelandair and stopped at Reykjavek for 45 minutes. On the return home, we again stopped at Reykjavek and were offered a special package to stay for two days to see the land of fire and ice.  We didn’t do so but have often thought it might be a fun place to visit one day. It was always an extremely expensive destination and thus, we didn’t go. Until now.  With the financial collapse of Iceland, in the fall of 2008, the exchange rate became very positive for the American dollar. Things were 1/2 the price they had been the year before, so, we decided to make a 5 day trip to Iceland, a “green” vacation, highlighting the natural wonders of this northern European country.
    
    The drive to John F Kennedy International Airport took over 5 hours. Normally, it should take about 3 1/2 hours.  We endured horrific rain for the first hour. We almost turned back so my husband could build an ark. Then, we had a horrible traffic delay by the  Delaware Water Gap where I crept along at about 3 miles per hour for an hour! The fight was on schedule, at least until we boarded the plane. It was then that the pilot announced a two hour delay due to poor weather conditions. Once we were in flight, the five hours went quickly will little turbulence.
    
    We arriving at Reykjavek , the most northern capital city in the world, about 7:45, and took the Reykjavek Excursions’ Flybus, about $14 per person, from the airport to the hotel, about  a 40 minutes ride.  I marveled at the barren landscape, the snow covered mountains, the moss covered lava fields.
    
    We walked around city centre for a while and had a brunch later in the afternoon. Our hotel was great. A 4 star, Hilton Nordica, was  priced about $160 a night including a fabulous morning brunch!  I couldn’t even stay at the Marriot Courtyard in Paramus, NJ, for about this rate last month!
    
    That first night, we took an excursion to see the Northern Lights(Aurora Borealis). For those of you that watch reruns of Seinfeld, it was a definite Seinfeld moment. The excursion, the bus ride from hell to see the Northern Lights, was a disaster from the start. We should have been weary when the original tour company cancelled due to inclement weather!  You can’t see the northern lights, swirling green and red lights in the polar regions, with cloud cover! Yet, when the registration desk took us that Icelandic Excursions, the largest operation in the area, WAS going out that evening and that they had a great track record of finding the northern lights, we booked the evening tour. Think four hours,traveling a distance of about 120 miles, over back roads in search of the lights in  the rain! Despite the fact it was obvious we wouldn’t see the lights in such weather, the two guides wouldn't give up and kept us "captive" as they continued bouncing us along the paved and unpaved roads in their search so that they could say they tried to find the Northern Lights display. In a Seinfeld episode, Kramer kept passengers on his tour bus, as he tried to find a place that would take his muffin stumps! At first upset, (I was crying) from lack of sleep-we’d been up nearly 40 hours,  made my husband and I get silly. We started to  laugh hysterically when I made the Seinfeld connection that we might never get back to the hotel!(along with about 75 other captives on the bus). We were on a bus from 8:30 until almost 1AM! Thankfully, we did have 1 bathroom break!  The guide would say, “Look, over there...I think that’s a star” or “ That haze to your left is from the city lights of Reykjavek”. The tour started with the caveat that they couldn’t guarantee a sighting of the northern lights but they should never have taken us out on a cloudy evening! Oh, well.
    
    The next day, with jet lag and only 5 hours sleep, our next excursion  began with our guide David(Island Horizon), a Brit who moved to Iceland in 1985. He was wonderful and I totally recommend a tour with him as he uses a mini van and takes a small group as opposed to a large bus tour. He also makes sure that he times arrivals to the different stops BEFORE the large tour buses get there to insure a quite and uncrowded visit!  He was constantly talking through his headset,  sharing information on Iceland’s history and culture. Did you know that Iceland does not have an army, navy, or air force? It does have a Coast Guard. Did you know that Iceland doesn’t have any railways? Or that there is only one main road,the ring road which goes around the island? David said it took him five years to learn to speak Icelandic. He told us there are 36 letters in the Icelandic alphabet. There are no C and W. And, no letters are silent when reading a word.  And, there are no regional languages!  There is only one way to say each and every word. Takk is thank you, Bless is goodbye and Goda Nott is goodnight. The Northern Light tour could take a lesson from David. Instead of constantly chatting with the driver, the guide could have used all those hours to talk with the tourists about his country!
    
    David told us that Iceland has up to 500 earthquakes a day, most less than 3 on the Richter Scale.  He said that Iceland was due for a volcanic eruption, and I just hoped it wouldn’t be as we meandered around the volcanic areas. Called the Golden Circle Tour (about $85 per person),we traveled a 190 mile circular route with David,  from around 9-4.  We  first stopped at the  Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant and learned about how Iceland makes their energy. At the plant, the steam is separated from the water , the water is then also hot enough to supply secondary steam. The remaining water is then returned to the ground to start the process, again. Amazing process of renewable energy which supplies 99% of the countries energy needs! David called our attention to a field of growing marshmellows(really hay bales).We stopped at a volcanic crater called Kerio, a great example of a caldera crater. Because of the great acoustics at this site, there are many concerts and Pavarotti performed here. We saw a landscape of much moss covered lava fields, few trees, high cliffs and open spaces. David shared a joke about the forests of Iceland. “How does one find their way out of an Icelandic forest? Answer-You stand Up!” We traveled to the oldest geyser, called geyser(meaning “the gusher”)...that’s from where the word originated. Geysir doesn’t erupt very much any more. Next to it was Strokkur(meaning “on the struck”), which faithfully erupted ever few minutes. We then travelled on to the Gullfoss(means “golden fall”), the largest waterfall in Europe.  The 105 ft. waterfall was very beautiful amongst a  huge canyon. I envisioned the beautiful rainbows the mist created on a sunny day. I also liked the fact that the restaurant buildings were made away from the falls so you can’t see anything other than the falls. An interesting story tells of a woman who is created with saving the falls. Seems than in the early 1900s, people wanted to build a hydroelectric plant at the site.  Sigriour Tomasdottir , who lived near the falls, threatened to jump into the falls if this happened. She is created with her efforts to save the falls.  A monument of her was erected by the falls in 1978. Our last stop was at an area called Thingvellir National Park. It is here where you can see evidence of where the North American tectonic plate and Eurasian tectonic Plates meet and are spreading apart. It is also here at  Thingvellir, where Iceland’s earliest democracy began. Iceland, the world’s oldest democracy, dates back to 930. Different chieftains would travel to the area of Thingvellir  and set up shelters where people could come to discuss issues of concerns. This lasted for two weeks.  Afterwards, the different chieftains would meet to share the concerns of their clans. Laws were established and announced by the lord-chief for those in attendance to hear and take back to their regions of Iceland. The area was a wonderful natural amphitheater! Games were also played among different clans during this two week get-together and people who had broken the laws were brought to the yearly gathering for their punishment.
    
    The next day, we rested by doing some sightseeing of the city centre and taking in a geo thermal pool down the street from the Hilton Nordica. Laugardalur, the largest thermal swimming pool in Iceland is Olympic sized.  It also has four smaller hot pots(or gossip pots) which we used.The temperature outside was a windy 41 degrees, but the pools were about 99F. For only about $4 gave entrance to the pool/locker rooms. Another $4 paid for the rental of a towel. Not having experienced an Icelandic pool before, we had to have someone explain the procedure.  All must first take a shower before going outside into the pool area and shoes must be removed prior to entering the locker room. In the locker room. I haven't seen so many naked women since I was in high school gym class! There is definitely a totally different mentality toward the human body. In the locker room, women strolled around or sat and blow dried their hair in the buff as I scurried around in my towel to find (a none existent) shower with a curtain! We also took a bus to the Pearl, a huge dome building, which also has a restaurant and Viking museum.  From the observation deck, you have a wonderful view of the city, it’s colorful buildings, the surrounding snow covered mountains and bay, with all its fishing boats. We actually walked the way back to city centre and walked by the US Embassy, located near the city centre, at 21 Laufasvegur. We also passed by the largest church steeple in Iceland.
    
    The next day, we went with David’s associate, Ragner of Super Jeeps,Is, for an adventure to the South Shore and the town of Vik.(about $200 per person). Icelandic families have different last names. That’s because Icelandic people name their children after their father’s first name plus the name son or daughter added at the end.  So, if a boy named Ragner’s dad’s name is Eider. His last name would be Eidersson.  If a girl in the same family was named Dugg. Her last name would be Eidersdottir. Telephone books list by first names alphabetically.  Icelandic people always use first names, even when speaking students speak with their teachers. There is a list of accepted names. All names must be Norse names. Even new words such as radio, television and computer are made into Norse words. 
    The weather was not cooperating with extreme winds and sand storms.  We traveled to see one of Iceland’s black beaches, and one of Iceland’s oldest towns, Stokkseyri ,founded around 900 AD. We past by many greenhouses, powered by geo thermal energy, that enables the Icelandic people to have fresh fruits and flowers year round. We visited a number of waterfalls including: Seljalandsfoss and Skogan Falls. We could see Mt, Hekla, a very active volcano and Snaefellsjokull, the glacier made famous by Jules Verne in his book, Journey to the Center of the Earth.  We were heading toward Solheimajokull glacier. We didn’t get to the tongue of the glacier due to the dangerous winds. Instead, Ragner took us off road and I mean off road. After a brief ride down a gravel road, he veered off onto an earth path with dried up tire ruts. He kept going up and up and eventually left this “road” to blaze a trail of his own over stones, and landscape that looked like we’d taken a wrong turn and ended up on the lunar surface. Thank goodness for his large size tires which he said cost about $800 a piece. Interestingly, NASA used the terrain of Iceland to train the Apollo astronauts and when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he joked that he thought he was in Iceland! We traveled up about 5100 ft from the shore with hurricane like winds(about 50 mph).  I could hardly stand upright when we summited  and got out for photographs. Our guide, Ragner, said he'd never taken tourists up to the site before, a majestic view of the Vestmannaeyjar Islands!  In 1973, the only town on the Vestmannaeyjar( or Westman Islands) of Heimaey, was pretty much destroyed by a volcanic eruption. All of its 5000 residents had been evacuated. The thick ash and lava covered many of the homes. Today, excavation is find the homes well preserved and residents are finding some of their possessions still  intact. Heimay is called the “Pompeii of the North”.
    On the way down, he played Queen's "We are the Champions"-kind of appropriate as we had survived the unusual side excursion!
    
    
    The last day of our visit to Iceland, we stopped at the famous Blue Lagoon for a dip (www.bluelagoon.is). Reykjavek Excursions runs a very popular tour to the lagoon and then on to the airport. (cost is about $45 per person including admission to lagoon and trip to airport)They also keep your luggage for you so you don’t have to lug it around at the Blue Lagoon. If you don’t have a bathing suit, you can rent one as well as towels and robes. The thermal seawater pool , is located in  a lava field called Evil Lava, created during an eruption in 1226. The hot pool is created from the run off of the nearly geo thermal plant. White silica  mud, collected and put into nearby pots, is thought to be therapeutic for the skin. People apply it to their faces, leaving it on for a few minutes before washing it off.
    
    In addition to many different types of fish and lamb dishes, Iceland has some unique foods on their menus. There is sheep head, puffin bird, rotten shark called "hakarl,, grilled foal, and whale!  I did like one of their traditional desserts called skyr. Skyr, is a yogert type dish flavored (or unflavored) with different fruits. I recommend the Restaurant Reykjavek for their fish buffet located at Vesturgata 2. The restaurant also has a unique bar... an ice bar.You don coats and enter a bar lined with blocks of ice and with has a bar and bench made of ice as well. It was really cool....in several different ways!  We also at a restaurant called Caruso’s  and near the Hilton Nordica, was a great place and value, the Brasserie Askur.
     Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Gail-Hennessey-Inc/115702661817612

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 841
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• puppet maker at home puppet maker at home

  • From: gmaso
  • Description:

    A puppet maker at her home in Jaipur. The living conditions are very primitive: dirt floors, a stone circle hearth with no roof over it for a kitchen, no running water, bootlegged electricity. But they were very friendly and surprisingly clean gievn the overall conditions. One thing these slum blocks did all seem to have though was TV.

  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 113
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• Getting to the Philippines Getting to the Philippines

  • From: tofurkey207
  • Description:

    This fat jerk in front of me is going soooo slowly. hurry up hurry up yes that goes in the bin too YES you have to take your belt off, god you didn't wear socks? sick. People who are not experienced in airport protocol have their own specially reserved circle in hell where they must be frisked by demon TSA officials for all eternity. THANK YOU he's through the line and now its my tur- awesome I have been randomly selected to go through the fancy new body scanner thing. Just this morning on my way to the airport I heard a story about how some TSA guy got caught touching himself while looking at people going through the scanners. Oh well enjoy the view, guy.

    Getting to the Philippines is not the most pleasant experience. To save money I bought the cheapest tickets I could find which resulted in sitting in the middle seat of the middle row between a borderline midget Aussie and a 6ft 5ish? guy with dreads who.. what the hell? brought his own cheesecake? That is something that should not be allowed, now I have to fly for 12 hours straight next to a man enjoying his own cheesecake and not even sharing. 

    Layover in Tokyo I get to wash up in the AMAZING restrooms though Im not sure if it is really all that amazing or just the fact that I spent 12 hours sharing a bathroom with 150 people who seem to just constantly poop. Am I the only person on the plane who is thinking about how much poop we are carrying at the end of the flight.

    Next flight to Manila all of a sudden its like being on a party plane, it is almost midnight local time on a Tuesday and everyone is getting plastered, but as I come to find out this is what the Philippines are all about.

    My brother picks me up at the airport he is easy to pick out and he finds me easily as well, though there are hundreds of people walking around we are both easily a head taller than everyone else. This is my first time in the Philippines and I learn very quickly that staring is 100% encouraged, my brother and I might as well be fucking gorillas.

    We make our way through the crowds and taxis and motorbikes to find the taxi driver my brother paid extra to stay and wait for us, we are heading to a hostel. I am so excited, I made it to Asia I get to see my brother my new nephew and sleep.

    More to come! 

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 365
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• Palms above the Arctic Circle Palms above the Arctic Circle

  • From: jfenson
  • Description:

    Whimsical palm trees with baleen fronds in Barrow, Alaska

  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 335
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• spyceboy

  • Points:652
  • Views: 84
  • Since: 3 years ago
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• Arctic Circle Sign, Dalton Hig Arctic Circle Sign, Dalton Highway, Alaska

  • From: Martrese
  • Description:

    My friend & I flew to Coldfoot, AK, but drove the eight-hour trip back to Fairbanks a few days later. We stopped to document our crossing the Arctic Circle.

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 390
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• -10º - Fairbanks -10º - Fairbanks

  • From: Martrese
  • Description:

    And this wasn't even the coldest temperature we encountered that trip. Once we got above the Arctic Circle, we got a reading of -31º - and that was with the sun out.

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 156
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• Golden Circle Tour, Iceland Golden Circle Tour, Iceland

  • From: dbreen67
  • Description:

    A view of a glacier from the tourbus - Golden Circle Tour, Iceland.

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 163
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• Andrea72

  • Points:652
  • Views: 105
  • Since: 3 years ago
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• Avebury stone circle Avebury stone circle

  • From: julie rosaleen
  • Description:

    Summer 2010 trip to Britain and Ireland.  An annual event.

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 125
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• Circle of Sacred Smoke Circle of Sacred Smoke

  • From: biglannie
  • Description:

    Circle of Sacred Smoke Sculpture Devil's Tower Wyoming.
    
    The circle of sacred smoke sculpture honors the American people as a gesture of world peace by sculptor Junkyu Muto. The sculpture is designed to help raise visitor awareness of the importance of the tower to over twenty affiliated tribes. It is the third of seven works planned by the sculptor around the world. The first two are located at Vatican City and Bodhi, India. The sculpture represents the first puff of smoke from a newly lit pipe.

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 340

• Motorbikes are not hard to mis Motorbikes are not hard to miss in Saigon

  • From: ditraveling
  • Description:

    If you’re in Saigon, the one of the things I highly suggest you do is to walk around District 1 at dark. You can wander around the Ben Thanh Market, the circle right outside of the market, Nguyen Hue Flower Street [set up annually for Tet - the Lunar New Year], Le Loi Street. What you'll notice is that people are always out and the motorbikes are out in high numbers (which pretty much is my reason for checking out Saigon at night).

    It's a great way to experience the city.

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 26
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• The Circle of Life The Circle of Life

  • From: CottageCheese
  • Description:

    Sea Turtle Eggs on the beach at Tybee Island, GA

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 254
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• Callanish Stone Circle, Isle o Callanish Stone Circle, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides

  • From: Hypnotoad
  • Description:

    My husband, Mark, and I spent three glorious weeks in Yorkshire (first week) and in a cottage in Staffin on the Isle of Skye. The photos I've included here are only a fraction of the beautiful scenery, people and warm memories this trip has given us! Were it not for Mark's 250 ft fall from a cliff in the Quirang, it would've been the most perfect vacation ever, and we travel as much as possible.

    Yes, Mark survived with four cracked ribs, a 11-stitch head gash and a myriad of deep scrapes and abrasions, but had to be airlifted to Broadford Hospital for an overnight stay and treatment. We were deeply moved by the number of people who helped us during this stressful time. From other walkers who looked out for me, or immediately climbed down into the gully to help Mark, to Mountain Rescue, Emergency Services,  HM's Coast Guard and hospital staff, we were truly treated with great concern, care and decency. Blessings on them all--many of whom came to the hospital the next day to check on Mark. Our flight back to N. America two days later was a tough one for my husband, but despite that, we carry with us warm and happy memories and I, personally, cannot wait to return!

  • 3 years ago
  • Views: 287