Cahokia Mounds, the Late Woodland Culture September 28, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cars, Europe, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, USA , 2commentsThis 2,200-A0 (890HA) site is situated just to the east of St Louis, in southern Illinois, close to Collinsville (not, confusingly, near the town of Cahokia). It is the remains of a large city and ritual complex which was first occupied around AD 700, developed, flowered, declined and was abandoned by AD 1500. At its peak it covered some six square miles (1,550ha) and had a population of about 20,000. It was certainly the largest community in prehistoric times in what is now the USA, and its influence extended for great distances. (more…)
The Ruined Mayans City of Chichen Itza continue… September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Central America, Destination, Hotels, Mexico, Museum, New York, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsThe Caracol (the name means ’snail’ because of the structure’s appearance and interior winding staircase) exemplifies this involvement with Venus in particular and the heavens in general. The structure consists of a cylindrical tower on a two-tiered rectangular platform, and it was probably Mayan originally with later Toltec- influenced additions. The upper part of the tower has crumbled, giving an appearance coincidentally reminiscent of modern domed observatories. This probably helped speculation over a long period about possible astronomical aspects to the building. Some of this speculation has been shown by fairly recent research to be wrong, but Anthony Aveni can now claim that Chichen Itza is one of ‘the most secure examples of the incorporation of a horizon-based astronomy in architecture’: (more…)
Avebury Village & Related Megalithic Sites: Remarkable Monument, Ceremonial Landscape part 2 August 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Destination, Europe, London, Memorial, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Travelling Bag, United Kingdom , 2commentsThe whole was covered with soil, each step of the chalk cone being filled and smoothed into the overall profile of the hill except the top one, which was left as a terrace or ledge running about 17 feet (5m) below the flat summit. Today this terrace is clearly visible on the eastern side of the mound, although the western part of the circuit is less distinct. Whether this was deliberate, or due to erosion by the prevailing southwest winds, is unclear. But the segment of the hill between terrace and summit is significant, as we shall see. (more…)
Avebury Village & Related Megalithic Sites: Remarkable Monument, Ceremonial Landscape August 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Destination, Europe, Hotels, Memorial, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip, United Kingdom , 3commentsThe two great henge mountains of Stonehenge and Avebury are only about 20 miles (32km) apart in Wiltshire, yet each has its own surrounding ceremonial landscape containing many other monuments. All are entered as site number 96 on the World Heritage List, but here we will describe each of these major monuments and landscapes in turn. (more…)
Passing on Victoria Water Falls, Shooting the Zambezi, Escape into Africa July 10, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Botswana, Hotels, Lodges, Passport, South Africa, Tour, USA, United Kingdom, Victoria Falls, Zambia , 4commentsA white line still bisected the bridge, but its meaning had gone and the menace with it. Now the only sentry was a baboon sitting on a fence barking at a warthog on the other side of the road.
Early morning, sun up but cool, just two of us on the bridge at Victoria Falls, between Zimbabwe and Zambia. We looked down at the pale green Zambesi 300 feet below. Cecil Rhodes had wanted the bridge built close enough to the Falls to catch the spray. Usually it does. However, this was September and the “Falls” in front of us were just a curtain of rock. The rains had been good; not good enough, though, to make up for years of drought.
Only on the Zimbabwean side did the river reach over and plunge in. Its noise was like distant motorway traffic.
We were about to go down the river on a rubber raft. We were to start at the bottom of the Falls and travel six miles down the Zambesi through zigzagging gorges . . . and over nine rapids. Why on earth had we agreed to it? Sarah didn’t even like putting her head under water in the bath. As for me, the wake of a passing launch under a scull on the Thames was the nearest I’d ever got to white water. (more…)
My Thailand Travel Diary part 2 June 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Bangkok, London, New York, Thailand, USA , add a commentToday’s Bangkok Post features a photo of the float on which a Buddha relic was taken yesterday to Sanam Luang for veneration. Other photos are of barefoot and ragged children from the north who have been subsisting on dried lizards. The front-page story is about monkeys pickpocketing tourists and snapping television antennae in the vicinity of the summer palace of King Rama IV (Yul Brynner). It seems that an attempt was made to entice the marauders into banana-baited cages, but the ruse failed when a long-tailed macaque successfully ejected a clump of bananas before the trap had sprung. A parliament of monkeys was then convened on the palace roof, after which none of them approached the cages again.
Mr. Niloubel, who comes for me at 8 A.M., spends most of my temple- visiting time praying. The solid five-and-a-half-ton Golden Buddha sits in stifling heat, humidity, and incense at the top of steep staircases, the saffron scarf of peace draped over the left shoulder. (more…)
The relentless uniformity of the bays of the south facade of the Escorial continue… June 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Austria, Europe, Library, USA , add a commentThe church itself is a central-plan building focusing on four great piers that support a hemispherical crossing dome. The general scheme of the interior follows the example of St Peter’s in Rome, but the architect has transposed the details into a solemnly majestic key, his personal interpretation of the Doric order. The enormous scale, the relative absence of ornament and the unrelenting austerity of the granite surfaces produce an awesome, almost suffocating effect. Fortunately this tension is relieved by the presence of a number of outstanding works of art, which act as aesthetic oases, so to speak. The east wall is entirely filled by a great retable designed by Giacomo Trezzo of Milan, incorporating paintings by Pellegrino Tibaldi and Federico Zuccaro and sculpture by Leone and Pompeo Leoni. (more…)
Windsor Castle: A fortress gradually converted into the residence of Kings continue… May 24, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Europe, France, London, Memorial, Museum, Round The World , add a commentCharles II, who had spent much of his youth in France, had plans to rival the splendour of Versailles at Windsor and built a complete new range of state apartments on the north terrace. The building was severely classical in style and entirely plain except for a huge Garter Star, but if the outside was austere, the interior was lavish in decoration with a mass of exuberant woodcarvings by Grinling Gibbons and Philipps, and twenty vast’ painted ceilings by Verrio of which only three now survive. In addition to this, Charles constructed a grand avenue stretching away to the south of the castle for three miles. (more…)
