Traveler's Life

B&W Manhattan, New York Travel Posters

2009-08-03T20:43:00.000+03:00

View over Manhattan, New York Print
Hoffman, Torsten
Buy at AllPosters.com

New York is the twentieth century with all its choices, availabilities, sentiments, bravery, willingness to experiment, varietyand sheer living adventure. No precious little corners, no pious chit-chat, no crocodile tears-just life, life, life on the move. No place for living in or on the past, for the unfit or lazy. She has made big mistakes but she's got a big heart and the men of stature in this city must and will help. Without delegating authority wholly to the government, they will participate in the solution of its problems so that the ancient Ephebie oath of Greece-"to leave the city a better plaee than one found it"-becomes an accepted and real duty for all its citizens. It's well worth it.

Empire State Building, East View Print
Silberman, Henri
Buy at AllPosters.com

Black & White Manhattan Poster
Berenholtz
Buy at AllPosters.com

Addresses of the Museums in New York City

2009-08-03T19:36:00.000+03:00

MUSEUMS IN NEW YORK

Metropolitan - Fifth Ave. at 81 St.
Cloisters - Fort Tyron Park at 190th.
Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design - 2 E. 90th St.
Frick - 1 E. 70th St.
Museum of Modern Art - 11 W. 53rd St.
Guggenheim - Fifth Ave. at 88th.
Whitney - Madison Ave. at 75th.
Downtown Branch - 55 Water St.
Museum of American Folk Art - 49 W. 53rd St.
Museum of Contemporary Crafts - 29 W. 53rd St.
Asia House - 112 E. 64th St.
Brooklyn Museum - Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn.
International Center of Photography - Fifth Ave. at 94th.
Jewish Museum - Fifth Ave. at 92nd.
Museum of the City of New York - Fifth Ave. at 103rd.
Museum of Natural History - Central Park W. at 79th.
Hayden Planetarium - Central Park W. at 81st.
Museum of the American Indian - The George Gustav Heye Center, NY 10004.

Famous Museums in New York City

2009-08-03T18:58:00.000+03:00

NEW YORK CITY MUSEUMS

Metropolitan Museum of Art - Fifth Ave. at 82nd St. Created in 1870, it is the largest museum in the Western Hemisphere, attracting 3.9 million visitors annually. It contains 3 million works of art, 17 curatorial departments, education and intem programs, The Cloisters at Fort Tyron Park and installed Egyptian galleries.

Museum of Modern Art - 11 W. 53rd St. The largest collection of modern art in the world including paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs, prints and illustrated books, architecture and design, films; education and lecture programs, art lending service, circulating exhibitions.

Whitney Museum of American Art - Madison Ave. at 75th St. Created in 1905 as the Whitney Studio Club, the Whitney offers changing exhibitions on American art, seminars and lectures, films, composer showcase concerts. Downtown branch is at 55 Water Street.

The Museum of the City of New York - 1220 Fifth Ave. (5341672) Devoted to the origins, culture and dynamic development of the city; it presents changing exhibitions and sponsors special research projects.

The American Museum of Natural History - Central Park W. & 79th St. In addition to its major collections and changing exhibitions, it offers educational programs, films, performances, special expeditions and tours, an environmental center, the Hayden Planetarium.

Museums in Florence Accademia Gallery of Modern Art

2009-07-28T03:22:00.000+03:00

Florence has over forty museums and art galleries. The two giants are, of course, the Uffizi Galleries and the Pitti Place. They contain priceless collections of the world's greatest art, and they require slow, unhurried, reflective visits for maximum enjoyment.

One other Florentine museum-the Accademia at the Piazza San Marco (from the Duono, walk down the Via Ricasoli to reach it)-may alone be worth your entire trip to Europe. For here, in a magnificent setting, stands the riginal of Michelango's David; and when you've seen it, you'll realize how inadequate are the weatherworn copies of it that are scattered elsewhere in Florence. Here, too, are several unfinished sculptures of Michelangelo, all the more fascinating because they give you a glimpse into the method of their creation.

The Gallery of Modern Art in the Pitti Palace contains a superb collection of all-Italian artists representing at least the first 30 years of the century; it may one day be the outstanding Italian collection representtative of our times.

Casa Buonarroti, 70 Via Ghibellina, should be on the list of Michelangelo lovers. This house, once occupied by a nephew of the sculptor, is now a museum. In addition to three original figures by Michelangelo, there is a large collection of his anatomical and architectural sketches. For those who have already admired his Pietas in the Duomo and the Accademia, the museums has reproductions of the other two which are in Milan and Rome.

Holy Family, Palatine Gallery, Pitti Palace, Florence Print
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Buy at AllPosters.com

What to expect from a travel agent

2009-07-26T04:16:00.000+03:00

Work With a Travel Agent - Your Best Vacation Resource

Agents and travel information experts, eminently qualified to help pick the package that's best for you. Here's a premier to help you preapare for a productive meeting with your travel agent:

What's your budget? It needn't be hard and fast, but the options are too vast to approach without a figure or prie range in mind.

What kind of experience do you want? Domestic or foreign? A city or countryside? The mountains or the beach?

What is the focus of the trip? Is it a family trip, where diversions for the children are needed? Is your goal to relax or do you want lots of activity? Do you want to stay or put or move around?

When do you want to travel? Plan dates-but with some flexibility. Prices change as a destination moves from its high season to a "shoulder" season and then low season.

What type of tour do you want? Are you interested in the comfort of a fully escorted motorcoach tour or cruise? Would you prefer an all-inclusive package, or do you lean toward the greater independence of a modular approach?

The Ten Golden Rules

Venice Poster
Buy at AllPosters.com

Exotic India Travel Posters & Prints

2009-07-26T04:00:00.000+03:00

Legendary adventures and unexpected pleasures. From the mountains of the Himalayas to the beaches of the Indian Ocean, you'll discover an extraordinary world of culture and diversity. There' no adventure quite like India and no time like the present to experience it. India, a country that is truly many worlds in one. As Mark Twain once said: "Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked"

Paisley Taj Print
Smith, Hope
Buy at AllPosters.com

India- Fly TWA Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Indian Prayer, India Print
Adams, Peter
Buy at AllPosters.com

Exotic India Art Print
Forney, Steve
Buy at AllPosters.com

Montreal Quebec Travel Posters

2009-07-26T03:31:00.000+03:00

The Quebec City area... legendary hospitality, joie de vivre and an ambiance unique in North America. Discover the beauty of the surrounding countryside with its breathtaking views and ancestral homes. Stroll through romantic Old Quebec where it seems time has stood still since the fortifications were first built. Enjoy it all to the full and fall in love with a city and a region like no other. Follow your heart to Quebec City*

Neighbouring - neighbourly - Quebec. Towering castles, historic museums and the tastiest cuisine. Quebec brings magic and the majesty to life. Magnificient and closer closer than you think.

Ski Fun la Province de Quebec, 1948 Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Montreal, Quebec Art Print
Blakeway, James
Buy at AllPosters.com

Chateau Frontenac From Lower Town, Quebec Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Oahu is an example of a volcanic island

2009-03-07T01:45:00.000+02:00

Oahu is an example of a volcanic island. Volcanoes which were active long ago have been worn down and cut into valleys and ridges and are now represented by the Koolau Range and the Waianae Mountains. Diamond Head, Punchbowl, and Koko Head are volcanoes which were active such a short time ago that their original. form has not been much changed.

The mountains reach a height sufficient to check the moistureladen trade winds, thus producing a fairly heavy rainfall on the windward side; but they are not high enough or continuous enough to prevent winds and rain from coming to the leeward side at Honolulu, Pearl Harbor, and Ewa. The valleys are broad enough to serve as fields for taro, and the small streams which run in most of them supply water enough for necessary irrigation. Near the seashore are groves of coconuts, and in the valleys and on the ridges at different elevations are the native trees and shrubs -- the hau, the ohia, the kukui, the koa,pandanus, and other species of plants suitable for food, for making of clothing, for the building of homes and canoes, for making cooking utensils and farming implements, and for use as medicine. On the island are more than four hundred kinds of native flowering plants. In the forests are birds which may be used for food and whose feathers are used for decoration. The coast is bordered by coral reefs, through which are passages at the mouths of the principal valleys. These passages permit the entrance of boats to safe landing places. The shallow waters at the mouths of streams make favorable sites for artificial fishponds; and the reefs themselves and the waters beyond furnish an abundant supply of sea food. On such an island as Oahu a fairly large number of people could live comfortably, either in villages or scattered about, and they could support themselves by hunting, agriculture, and fishing.

Most volcanic islands in the Pacific are well suited to human occupation; in olden times as well as to-day islands of this class, like Tahiti, Samoa, the Marquesas, Hawaii, Solomon Islands, Ponape, and Kusaie, were populated by a larger number of people in a more advanced stage of development than were the coral islands or the raised coral islands.

Pacific Ocean is the largest body of water on earth

2009-03-07T01:43:00.000+02:00

The Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest body of water on earth. It is twice the size of the Atlantic Ocean, four times the size of the Indian Ocean, and more than ten times larger than the Arctic Ocean or the Antarctic Ocean. Its length from north to south measures nearly 8,000 miles, and along the Equator where it is widest the ocean measures more than 9,000 miles. When marked out on a map, it is seen that the Pacific Ocean occupies more space than all the continents combined and covers more than one third of the entire surface of the earth.

Borders of the Pacific

The Pacific is bounded in part by land and in part by water. On the east and northeast it is walled in by land extending from Cape Horn along South America, Central America, Mexico, the United States mainland, Canada, and Alaska, a distance equal to nearly one third of the circumference of the earth. Until the Panama Canal was dug and opened for navigation in 1914, this wall was unbroken and the Pacific was entirely shut off from the Atlantic. On the north the Pacific is connected with the Arctic Ocean by Bering Strait -only 54 miles wide. On the northwest the Pacific is bounded by the continent of Asia, which is bordered by the long chain of islands known as the Kuriles, Kamchatka, Japan, and Taiwan. On the west the waters of the Pacific join the waters of the Indian Ocean by passing through straits between the Philippines, Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra, Java, and Australia. On the south the Pacific Ocean is united with the Antarctic Ocean by two great branches; one of them, that between Australia and New Zealand, is 1,200 miles wide, and the other, that between New Zealand and South America, 5,000 miles wide.

Depths of the Pacific

The Pacific Ocean is not only very broad but also very deep. Its waters rest in an enormous basin with steep sides and a wrinkled bottom. In several places the water covering the bottom of the basin is 25,000 feet deep, and at one place near Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, it is 32,088 feet deep. The average depth of the whole Pacific is nearly 14,000 feet, which means that, if placed almost anywhere on the bottom of the ocean, the great mountain Mauna Kea, 13,823 feet in height, would be entirely covered with water. Only near the continental shores of America, Asia, and Australia and near islands is the depth of the Pacific less than 1,000 feet.

From this deeply sunken floor of the Pacific masses of land project upward. Many of them do not reach the surface of the water; some of them, called reefs, come just about to the surface and may be covered by water during high tide and exposed to view at low tide; others remain above the surface as islands.

Oahu and Neighbor Islands

2009-03-07T01:40:00.000+02:00

The island of Hawaii not only covers 63 percent of the state's entire land area but is still growing through volcanic activity. I cannot recall any other place where the elemental forces of earth-building are so clear to see. Volcanic fumes leak out from a thousand orifices, and along great sweeps of the coastline one sees immense flows of hardened lava from outbreaks of the last few decades. One flow in 1960 added some 500 acres to the eastern coast. Mauna Loa (13,677 feet above sea level) is the world's most active present-day volcano. This mountain's volcanic activity has been going on over so many eons of time that its land mass of 2,000 square miles above the ocean make it the largest single mountain in the world. Its now dormant neighbor, snow-clad Mauna Kea (elevation 13,784), is believed to be the world's largest mountain in height, assuming one counts the rise both below and above the sealine.

While most of the volcanic eruptions pose little immediate danger to human life, they have wiped out villages in recent times, and there are continual fears that the prosperous city of Hilo on Hawaii's east coast could one day be damaged or wiped out by rifts from Mauna Loa's flank. There is little the city can do in defense or prevention. In the meantime, Hilo thrives as a sugar-loading port, county seat, and tourist center. It is a reflection of Honolulu's dominance that this little city is actually second largest in the entire state.

In the prevailing pattern of the archipelago, the Big Island has a verdant, moist northeastern side where the trade winds deposit the burden of clouds blown in over thousands of miles of open sea. The southwestern flank, by contrast, is dry and hot. Within a few miles, one can find tropical rain forest and prime agricultural land, misty plateaus and true desert. Sugar cane and cattle ranching are the traditional and still important farm industries, but Hawaii has long been America's leading orchid center and is unique in the U.S. for coffee growing along its eastern Kona coast. Now there is also a prosperous business in macadamia nut growing. Hawaii may make a lot of money over the long run from harvesting of its vast hardwood forests.

The Big Island's two big economic advances of recent years, however, have sprung from tourism. The first was the opening of Laurance Rockefeller's Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and golf course on the and South Kobola Coast. Land for the resort was sliced from the Parker Ranch, outranked in size only by the King spread in Texas. Travel writers who have had the time and money to go there report that the resort may be the most lavish on earth. Mauna Kea's setback architecture blends with rather than dominates the terrain, and the building contains a collection of fine Asian art. The guest is offered "rest, quiet, excellent food and absolute seclusion," and the diversions for the more adventurous range from golf on breathtaking occanside courses to "women, surfing, skin diving, tennis, wild boar hunting, pheasant shooting, or the great deep-sea fishing only lo miles away." With my time limited, I chose to visit volcanos and little seashore towns instead; perhaps it was a poor decision.

The Big Island's second big boost came from the direct flights between Hilo and the West Coast. A tour pattern developed in which Hilo became a popular exit gateway for tourists on their way back to the mainland, beginning the first major challenge to Oahu's monopoly on tourist days and dollars. Adverse reaction to the overcrowding of Honolulu has also contributed to interest in the numerous resort and land developments on Hawaii and other Neighbor Islands.

The birth of the Hawaiian Islands

2009-03-07T01:38:00.000+02:00

The birth of the Hawaiian Islands has been matchlessly chronicled in the gospel according to Michener, always a wonder to reread: How in the bosom of the boundless deep, countless millions of years before the first men walked the earth, a massive fissure some 2,000 miles in length suddenly appeared, exuding torrents of white-hot, liquid rock which exploded on contact with the heavy, wet burden of water, sending columns of released steam upward for nearly four miles to break loose on the surface of the sea and form a cloud and signal to an unknowing world the start of what might one day be islands. And for 40 million years, more or less, the dense, volcanic basalt built up, layer after layer; and one day, there was another molten eruption from the earth's core, except that now it reached the surface of the sea, and there was a tremendous explosion as liquid rock struck water and air together, and there was land. And then still more millions of years, the rise and fall of that and myriad other volcanic isles, and wind and water brought the first tenuous plant and animal life -- perhaps the seeds of plants and trees, or a coconut washed up against a shore, or a bird from distant realms -- and then interspersed ice ages, and finally, in the latter days of time the creation of the Hawaii we know; of lush valley and precipice, of volcanic peaks (some still active) and palm-fringed blue water, and flowers, and white surf, some islands already receding back into the sea, others still growing.

Today you can look at a map of the plateaus and trenches and seamounts of the Pacific Ocean floor, and one feature, between the Aleutians and Australia, stands out. It is the great wall of the Hawaiian Range, set seemingly in the very middle of the Pacific. The range runs in almost a straight line for 1,600 miles, the mountains within it rising as much as 18,000 feet off the floor of the surrounding ocean, but only a few ever reaching the surface.

At the northwestern tip are the Midway Islands; then in the central section La Perouse rock and the Gardner Pinnacles, shards of once great volcanic islands which have been worn down, almost to extinction, by the forces of wind and rain and surf. And at the southeastern extremity of the range, there are the 20 islands of the state of Hawaii, seven of them inhabited. The largest of these is the most southeasterly, Hawaii, the "Big Island," bearing the name of the entire chain. It has 4,030 square miles, more than twice the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. The most heavily populated island is Oahu, 200 miles to the northwest; it has the city of Honolulu and 80 percent of the people but is only a seventh the size of the Big Island.

Chief elements of the Japanese food

2009-03-06T06:54:00.000+02:00

Let us now consider the chief elements of the Japanese food. First comes rice, which we believe is by far the best in the world, and which, according to the analysis of food scientists, contains a greater quantity of food units than the rice of any other land. The proper name for Japan, as given in the Kojiki, is "Ashihara-no-mizuho-no-kuni," which may be freely rendered as "the land of abundant crops of good rice." At a pinch the Japanese could thrive on rice alone plus some vegetables. A certain writer has said that the boasted yarnato-damashii, or the national spirit of Japan, is made up of the nourishment of rice, and it is the testimony of every soldier at the front that he could dispense with any other food, provided he has plenty of good old Japanese rice. Fortunately there is no sign of the land diminishing in rice crops, and the safety of the country may be said to be assured as long as this national staple food is obtainable.

The next great pride of Japan in food is tea. In black tea we must probably give the palm to India, but in all other kinds of tea, especially in the superior varieties of green tea, Japan decidedly commands first place. The green tea has fairly made the conquest of the world, but the world at present knows only a few limited kinds. The whole range of variety and quality of Japanese tea is as yet little more than a sealed book to the rest of the world.

The third boast of Japan in food which we claim as being better than the best anywhere is fish. For reasons which need not be stated here, the fish caught in the waters around Japan, taste far more delicious than similar fish caught in any other sea. It is a fact universally conceded. The most conspicuous among them are eels, tai, maguro, and soles of various kinds. As for the lobsters and crabs, they are world-famous. What foreigner knowing anything about Japan has not tasted the lobster tempura, and Japan's canned crabs are now shipped to the remotest corners of the earth. As for the eels, they are obtainable in Europe and America, but they differ vastly from the variety found in the rivers around Tokyo, and the kabayaki cooking is unique.

In fruits, too, Japan may fairly pride herself on occupying a foremost place in the world. In some fruit Japan cannot beat other lands, such as tropical melons, pineapples, grapefruit, lemons, etc., but in others, such as oranges, pears, apples, persimmons, bananas, Japan's products stand unsurpassed by the best products of any country. The Japanese table is not without fruit from January to December.

The Japanese beef is conceded to have a better taste than that of many other lands, thanks probably to the fact that cattle-raising in Japan is still in the natural state, not as yet having attained that of industrial breeding. As for poultry and game birds such as pheasant, duck, moor-hen, partridge, snipe, etc., Japan is their native home, having exported many precious birds to the United States and other countries, and it need hardly be added that the Japanese cooks know how to dress them for the table!

Thus, in every variety of food materials Japan is abundantly blessed and is indeed a paradise for cooks. It is all the stranger that this great feature of Japan is so little advertised. It is probably because Japan possesses so many beauty points, i.e. in scenery, blossoms, etc., that her quality as a land of good eating is apt to be overlooked. Besides, she has hitherto considered it undignified to make a point of advertising her viands.

Names in Japanese cuisine

2009-03-06T06:50:00.000+02:00

Kwanto cuisine, Kwansai cuisine, Kyoto cuisine, Nagoya cuisine

Apart from this world-wide influence on the Japanese food, there have been numerous local factors to give variety to it. Thus there are such names in Japanese cuisine as Kwanto cuisine, Kwansai cuisine, Kyoto cuisine, Nagoya cuisine, etc., just as in Chinese they speak of the Peking, Shanghai, Canton, Szechwan, Yunnan cuisines.

Besides, there were numerous provincial factors to influence the Japanese cuisine, contributed by the three hundred daimyo domains. These were attributable to their peculiar local products as well as to their respective native geniuses.

There can be no cooking without food materials to be cooked. Thus the Tokyo cuisine means largely the food made of products of Tokyo and adjacent districts. As the culinary art improved the food materials, so did the materials fashion this art. In these years of improved transportation facilities, when the products of one prefecture are almost the same as the products of the whole nation, the demarcation between this and that cuisine has become very thin and fugitive, although one may still point out the superior or inferior points in the culinary products of diverse cities. Foreign visitors to Japan will not find it easy to distinguish between the Kwanto and Kwansai cuisines, nor will even the ordinary Japanese eaters, because of the growing similarity just mentioned. We may mention, however, the typical characteristics of some districts. As Kwanto abounds in the best kind of maguro and bonito fish, more of them are used in the preparation of everyday meals than any other kind of fish, especially the dried bonito, as in imparting flavor to soups and in cooking vegetables. But Kwansai, deficient in these two types of fish, at least in the good variety which Kwanto has, makes use of other fish, and in flavoring the soup, vegetables, etc., has recourse to the seaweed, directly imported from Hokkaido. Kyoto, which was surrounded by mountains, and had no direct access to the sea, was poor in sea fish but had good freshwater fish, and also a large variety of exquisite vegetables, especially bamboo-shoots and mushrooms, than which no other city could show better. The conditions have changed, of course, but anyone with the least educated taste in Japanese food, can recognize both the fortes and weaknesses of Kyoto, something along these traditional lines. Nagasaki is still noted for its turtle dishes, chicken, beef and pork dishes, owing to the exotic influences already referred to, all of which, now spread throughout Japan, had been unknown in other parts of Japan up to the Restoration.

The Cathedral of Amiens France

2009-03-06T06:47:00.000+02:00

To one who loves Gothic architecture there are few cathedrals more interesting than the cathedral of Amiens. It was built in 1220 to 1288,--the sixtyeight years of work of the two bishops Everard, who founded it, and Godfrey, who carried it to completion and consecrated it. The name of the architect is preserved, which is not always the case with Gothic builders. Robert of Luzarches was the designer, and Thomas de Cermont and his son Rénauet completed the building.

All honor to them, for they have achieved one of the Gothic wonders of the world. If the original plan had been carried out, the cathedral of Amiens would be without a peer among Gothic churches. Unfortunately, its exterior is sadly marred by a wooden spire which is so far too small for the church that it seems quite ridiculous, and it is marred also by the failure to complete the two western towers, which were meant to culminate in spires. The exterior is hurt also by the too close crowding around it of small buildings. It is not possible from any point of view to get an adequate idea of the whole church. When these criticisms are made, as unfortunately they must be, there is nothing more to say that does not tell of almost unlimited admiration.

To convey in words the overpowering effect of the façade is not possible. It stands quite alone, in my mind, among all Gothic façades I know, easily surpassing all the others. Here is the very essence of the Gothic builder's art. Here the exquisite lines of his construction blend in the most perfect harmony with the superb richness of his ornamentation. Mr. Ruskin says that those who built the Gothic churches really believed they were building dwelling-places for Christ, and they wished to make them as comfortable and beautiful for Him as they could. The façade of Amiens certainly bears out this idea, for the central figure in it is Christ, called "Le Bon Dieu d'Amiens," who welcomes all who come to enter its portals and gives them His benediction.

But at first the figures are not noticed individually. Arch upon arch, pinnacle above pinnacle, column above column, pier above pier, its vanishing lines lost at last in the heavens above, the wondrous façade bursts upon the astonished eye in an overpowering grandeur, a wealth of sculpture, an exquisite grace of line and composition, unlike anything else in all architecture. And when the dazzled sight has become somewhat accustomed to the full blaze of this Gothic splendor, when the mind, irresistibly led at first to aspiration, can rejoice in the beauties that help make the wondrous whole, then comes the thought, "What spirit was it that inspired him who did this, and how can he move men thus through all these ages?" And the mind, answering, says it is easy to see that perfect honesty of construction and perfect beauty are not far apart. The great rose window could not be without the strong support of buttresses that permitted so large openings in such lofty walls.

Massive solid piers must give strong foundation for spires that are to touch the clouds, and as the piers rise higher and higher, and less and less supporting work is to be done, they become lighter and lighter, vanishing one by one into pinnacles, until at last the eye is led to the one supreme pinnacle,--the nearest point toward the heavens the builder's skill could reach. This utmost touch of the spire is not here as Robert of Luzarche meant it should be, but all the lower lines are eloquent of it. In their own beauty of form and thought they point to the beauty's consummation, until the completed spire is seen in a dream, almost, as Robert must have seen it.

But graceful lines and forms were not enough, however inspiring they might be. The portal of the house of God must be beautiful in every part. About the door must be the saints and angels who surround the Lord. The beauties of God's flowers and vines and leaves must lend adornment to these columns and enrich these arches. Thus the sculptor and the cunning carver help the builder. In the great central portal the apostles and saints stand reverently, but with most simple dignity, about their Master. Each figure has its niche in the recessed doorway, and as all stand upon the same level,--and the same order is preserved in the side portals,--the whole forms one long procession of apostles, martyrs, and saints on the Saviour's right hand and on His left, reaching from one side of the vast façade to the other. Above the Saviour's figure is told in stone the thought these pious builders had about the last judgment. Many another scene or story from the Scriptures is here upon the recessed arches and the great bases of the piers, nor is one spot left without its ornament or its sacred figure, excepting such as should be left unornamented in order that grace and strength and beauty of construction might quite plainly be seen.

Montreal Olympic Park, Montreal Botanical Garden, Biodome de Montreal

2009-03-06T06:44:00.000+02:00

The biggest, fastest and the best in sports can be found in Montreal.

Montreal Olympic Park

Site: 4141 Pierre-De Coubertin Avenue

Site of the '76 Olympic Games, home to the Olypic Stadium, this is the scene of big name sporting events, as well as major cultural events, and big ticket concerts Topping off the stadium, the Montreal Tower (the world's tallest inclined tower).

The prettiest, strangest and the best in attractions can also be found in Montreal.

Montreal Botanical Garden

Site: 4101 Sherbrooke Street East

One of the largest gardens of its kind in the world, with 26,000 species and varieties of flora in 10 exhibition greenhouses and 30 gardens. Don't miss the Wacky Woodwork Treehouse, from June 6 to November 16. Kids will also get a kick out of the Insectarium and its exhibit of beautiful insects from over 100 counturies.

Biodome de Montreal

Site: 4777 Pierre-De Coubertin Avenue

Four natural ecosystems in an environmental museum including a tropical forest, the Laurentian forest, the St. Lawrence marine environment and a polar world.

Casino de Montreal

Site: Parc des Iles

One of the world's ten largest casinos. An unforgettable experience. Six floors of exciment and warm, friendly service that's second to none. Don't miss it!

The Biosphere

Site: Ile-Sainte-Helene

A spectacular setting at Parc des Iles, a fascinating look at water, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Posted by deskjet at 2:04 PM Labels: 76 Olympic Games, Montreal Botanical Garden, Montreal Olympic Park, Montreal Tower, olympic stadium, Olypic Stadium, The Biosphere, tropical forest, Wacky Woodwork Treehouse Newer Post Older Post Home

Ohio River was leading Cincinnati to greatness

2009-03-06T06:39:00.000+02:00

Ohio River was leading Cincinnati to greatness. Business centered at Public Landing, where steamboats came and went, whistles blew, crowds milled, and the wharf towered high with merchandise. At mid-century a local newspaper described the scene: Bells were ringing, mates and draymen were swearing, negroes singing, boxes, barrels and bundles were rolling and tumbling, thirty to forty rousters chased one another up and down the gang plank, and above the monotony of it all, could be heard the words 'down below' as heavy articles of freight were dropped into the hold. Now and then a barrel rolled off the gang plank into the river and was chased by the rousters. All moved like clockwork. From above, a hundred or more passengers gazed upon the scene and exchanged greetings with friends upon the shore, while the pilot surveyed it from his throne upon the 'Texas.' When darkness overtook preparations, blazing jacks were used to light up the freight piles and gang ways, and the scene continued.

This enormous activity was directly traceable to the Ohio River, the great marine highway that twisted and turned for nearly a thousand miles between Pittsburgh and Cairo, Illinois. Cincinnati's epic rise sprang from its situation on the river, and from the changing types of craft that passed over it.

Boats first appeared in numbers on the Ohio during the 1780's, when Americans floated downstream to seek new homes in the West. At that time few roads penetrated the Ohio Valley, and the river offered the only easy approach to the western country. Soon a host of odd craft was all along the Ohio. Some bore people, livestock, and household furnishings to the new settlements; others carried produce to market. These batteaux, pirogues, barges, flatboats, keelboats, and arks were fantastically slow, except in time of high water; and while the Indian troubles lasted they usually were boarded with heavy side timbers having portholes for muskets and small cannon.

Fortnightly passenger service between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati began in October 1793, when Jacob Myers introduced two packets propelled by sails and oars. The packets also carried freight and sometimes convoyed other craft. After two more boats were put in service in January 1794, weekly runs were inaugurated between the two villages. Passengers were boarded and "liquored" by the management, and there was a separate cabin for women.

Since it was too costly to buy goods in Philadelphia and haul them over the mountains in horse-borne pack trains, Cincinnati and the other inland communities sent their exports to New Orleans by boat and received imports in the same way. In a few years a vast commerce rose on the rivers between Pittsburgh and New Orleans, with Cincinnati as a great midway port.

From New Orleans came cotton, tobacco, hemp, lead, powder, saltpeter, sugar, wool, and the fine clothes, furnishings, and luxuries of New York, Philadelphia, and Europe. From Cincinnati went grain, pork, and whisky; then, with the rise of industry, tools, furniture, paper, flour, and other items. Various "trades" developed between Cincinnati and the towns of Louisville, Marietta, Wheeling, and Pittsburgh; and some enterprising Cincinnatians made a good living from navigating floating groceries, sawmills, gristmills, and blacksmith shops to the villages and landings along the Ohio.

Much of this early river traffic was confined to flatboats, barges, and keelboats. Flatboats moved downstream only; they drifted with the current, often traveled at night, and progressed as little as one mile an hour in low water and five miles an hour in high water. Very numerous at first, flatboats were favored by incoming settlers because they carried sizable quantities of livestock, furnishings, and farm equipment, in addition to many passengers. Often two or more flatboats were lashed together before proceeding downstream; besides offering better protection against Indians, this arrangement permitted "visiting," swapping, frolics, and dancing. At Cincinnati and the other river towns, flatboats were loaded with produce and manufactures and sent on the long haul to New Orleans. There the cargoes were marketed and the boats knocked apart and sold for timber; then the crews returned overland from Natchez.

The task of going upstream as well as down was met by barges and keelboats, which depended upon the muscular exertions of the boatmen to buck the current, get through shallows, and cross sandbars and other hindrances. Barges were almost entirely covered by low, stout cabins, from the roofs of which men propelled the craft by means of long, oarlike "sweeps." A number of barges, built locally, traded out of Cincinnati. One of the finest was the Missouri, a 44-oar boat that made the 180-mile journey to Louisville in 22 hours and 24 minutes while carrying 1,600 barrels of flour. Another, the Cincinnati, achieved the shortest time on record when, in 1811, it did the 1,500-mile run from New Orleans to Cincinnati in 78 days. At that date it usually took six months for barges to make the round trip between the two towns; but by 1816 the time had been shaved to permit two round trips during the navigation season.

Until the steamboat arrived, the fastest freight haulers on the western waters were the keelboats. These narrow, light-draft vessels had heavy keels on their bottoms; the keel eased steering and protected the bull against logs, snags, and shoals. Each keelboat had running boards along its sides, from which the keelers plunged long, iron-tipped poles into the river bed, walked aft with their weight against the poles, then ran forward to repeat the performance. In low water--then very common to the Ohio--keelers had to go ashore with long ropes and literally pull their craft until a deeper pool was reached.

About 1805 there were 50 keelboats in trade between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, but by 1815 the total had jumped to 150. Two months were required for the round trip between the two towns, each keelboat attempting to make three complete trips during the navigation season.Cincinnati saw the hell-roaring keelers for several decades and cried "Thank God!" when the steamboat at last drove these hearties farther west. The keelers were the wildest and toughest men on the frontier. Breeched in buckskin or linsey-woolsey, and shirted in flaming red, these big-boned fellows walked with long strides, whooped bellicose taunts at flatters, bargers, and townsmen, and often provoked fights just for the exercise. Following such an outburst of high spirits, these buckoes tapered off by demolishing signs, outbuildings, and furniture and glassware in near-by taverns.

Keelers liked to wench, gamble, drink, dance, sing, spit, and shoot at mark. Mike Fink, most redoubtable of all the keelers, best illustrated their temperament when he set fire to his woman to caution her against infidelity. All keelers liked to fight, and a boatman wearing a red feather in his cap had to meet any challenger. Such contests usually started with a little mutual "blackguarding"--a game in which the keeler tried to silence his opponent with a barrage of picturesque boasts, epithets, and insults.

Japan is an island country

2009-03-02T01:19:00.000+02:00

Japan lies in the Pacific, with her face toward the morning sun and her gates open to the east. Geographically defined, Japan is a series of long and narrow volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, lying off the north-eastern coast of the Asiatic continent in the shape of a longitudinal curve.

This simple definition would require a detailed explanation were we to exhaust its full meaning --a task for which we have now no space at command. All we can do is to take up one by one the salient points of the definition and treat them from the standpoint of anthropo-geography. In the present discourse, I wish to amplify the following points: 1st, that Japan is an island country; 2d, that it is volcanic; 3d, that it is narrow; 4th, that it is long; 5th, that it lies off the coast of the Asiatic continent; 6th, that it lies in the Pacific Ocean.

Islands naturally possess a maritime climate, the distinctive features of which are equability, relative humidity, and great cloudiness. One curi- ous effect of our moist atmosphere is the frequent use of very warm baths, which are taken at a temperature as high as 120° Fahrenheit. New- comers to Japan regard such a practice as highly unhygienic, but a few years' residence demonstrates to them that the custom is dictated by climatic demands. Our people are not happy unless they bathe frequently, and this habit of daily ablution is perhaps due to atmospheric humidity.

It has throughout the year an average of 150 days of snow or rain, and 215 days of fair weather; that is, for every three days of rain or snow, we have four fine days. As to quantity, the rainfall ranges, according to locality, from twenty to thirty inches a year.

Being located where they are, the Japanese islands are farthest removed from the centre or centres of world politics,--from European capitals or from the Atlantic coast of this continent. It is over seven thousand miles from New York to Yokohama.

Tahiti has an unexcelled climate for the tropics

2009-03-02T00:37:00.000+02:00

Tahiti has an unexcelled climate for the tropics, the temperature for the year averaging seventy-seven degrees and varying from sixty-nine to eighty-four degrees. June, July, and August are the coolest and driest months, and December to March the rainiest and hottest. It is often humid, enervating, but the south- east, the trade-wind, which blows regularly on the east side of the islands, where are Papeete and most of the settlements, purifies the atmosphere, and there are no epidemics except when disease is brought directly from the cities of America or Australasia. A delicious breeze comes up every morning at nine o'clock and fans the dweller in this real Arcadia until past four, when it languishes and ceases in preparation for the vesper drama of the sun's retirement from the stage of earth.

Typhoons or cyclones are rare about Tahiti, but squalls are frequent and tidal waves recurrent. The rain falls more than a hundred days a year, but usually so lightly that one thinks of it as liquid sunshine. In the wet quarter from December until March there are almost daily deluges, when the air seems turned to water, the land and sea are hidden by the screen of driving rain, and the thunder shakes the flimsy houses, and echoes menacingly in the upper valleys.

Papeete, the seat of government and trade capital, is a sprawling village stretching lazily from the river of Fautaua on the east to the cemetery on the west, and from the sea on the north to half a mile inland. It is the gradual increment of garden and house upon an aboriginal village, the slow response of a century to the demand of official and trading white, of religious group and ambitious Tahitian, of sailor and tourist. Here flow all the channels of business and finance, of pleasure and profit, of literature and art and good living, in the eastern Pacific. Papeete is the London and Paris of this part of the peaceful ocean, dispensing the styles and comforts, the inventions and luxuries, of civilization. Papeete is the entrepot of all the archipelagoes in these seas.

Coastal Posters Tropical Palm Trees Home Decor Print

2009-02-22T11:09:00.000+02:00

Palm Trees, Grand Cayman Island Photo Print

Oze, George

Buy at AllPosters.com

Rome Flea Market Italy

2009-02-19T11:19:00.000+02:00

Though nearly every major European capital has a Sunday "flea market," I like the one in Rome best. It's cheaper than its Paris equivalent, provides better bargaining opportunities (offer only 50% of the asking prices, and stick to your guns), and has a far wider selection of articles-everything from seventeenth-century candelabra to second-hand toothbrushes!

For those unfamiliar with the term, "flea market" refers to a big open field in Rome on which merchants, every Sunday, set up make-shift booths, or spread a blanket on the ground, for the sale of every conceivable second-hand article-clothes, old gramophones, wooden Sicilian statues, old busts and medals of Mussolini, fraying at-the-edges etchings and posters, antique door-knobs. if you bargain properly, you can stock up on amazing values, limited only by your estimate of what you'll be able to stuff in your suitcase. Naturally, you'll be heartbroken over having to pass up the bulkier items that are too heavy to lug across Europe. Hope still dreams of the two 6-foot-long torches-on-a-pole, painted pale blue and yellow (the kind that lean out from a wall, at an angle), which we couldn't carry away from our last trip to the Rome flea market.

The flea market in Rome is located at the Porta di Portese (bus from Terminal Station goes within 3 blocks of it), in the Trastevere section-ask anyone to point the way-and operates only once a week, on Sunday. It's such an exciting, colorful sight that I've placed it here, because you'll want to see it, even if you don't plan to buy a thing.

Rome Metropolitana

2009-02-19T11:03:00.000+02:00

Rome Panoramic of Colosseum Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

The subway in Rome (Metropolitana) has only one line from the front of Terminal Station to the port of Ostia, on the Mediterranean-but what a line that is! If you buy a ticket and stay on the train until two stops beyond Ostia, you'll be at the sea, within a few blocks of several public beaches. But if you get off at "Ostia Antica," two stops before Ostia, you'll find excavations that rival Pompeii. Ostia was a well-developed port in the days of ancient Rome-during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, particularly-and archaeologists are currently digging in a huge area of the imperial city. You can eat a picnic lunch while sitting on the ruins.

No restaurant really begins serving meals until 1 p.m. (for lunch) and 7 p.m. (for dinner). Don't show up before those times, or you may have to wait unattended in an empty restaurant. You'll find, by the way, that the habit of a noon-day siesta in sunny Rome is a marvelous way to stay refreshed during the remaining, cooler periods of the day. It's fruitless to spend the time on your normal sightseeing rounds.

No Italian restaurant serves spaghetti with meat balls, and no one here has heard of biscuit tortoni. The pasta dishes are eaten by discerning Italians only at lunchtime; the evening meal is a lighter one, and begins with soup, not pasta.

Because there is so much to see and do in Rome, it occurred to me that it might prove helpful with a fast summary of the indispensable sights for a first-time visitor. If there were only ten visits for which I had time in Rome, l'd make them:

(1) St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum (including the Sistine Chapel); (2) the Colosseum; (3) the Roman Forum (preferably at night); (4) the Campidoglio Hill (Capitoline Square), again at night.

Rome Evening Entertainment

Kirishima-yama, Japan Photo Poster

2009-02-19T10:40:00.000+02:00

Spring Cherry Trees and Mountain Scenery, Takachiho Farm, Kirishima National Park, Kyushu, Japan Photo Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

In the mountain-studded islands of Kyushu there are three great volcanic ranges--Unzen-ga-take, Asosan and Kirishima-yama--not counting others famous locally. These three have been declared National Parks, for each possesses characteristics of scenic beauty and revered memory peculiarly its own. The fame of Kirishima-yama may be attributed to its legendary memories linked with the dawn of the Japanese Empire, and its majestic volcanic mountain scenery.

Kirishima-yama is a collective term used to denote the 22 gracefully-shaped peaks, each having an individual name. Of these, the two giants stand forth more than 5,000 feet above sea level, facing each other, the King and Queen among the mountains. The one in the east, Higashi-Kirishima (5,174 feet) is known by the sacred name of Mount Takachiho while the western Kirishima (5,610 feet), the higher, is called Karakuni-dake, or China-and-Korea-viewing Mountain.

This area, 84.5 square miles, extending in the north to Shiratori Spa, and in the South to Kirishima Shrine, bound on the east by the town of Takaharu, and on the west by the villages of Kurino and Makizono, has been marked as Kirishima National Park. In its vast bosom are found all the features of volcanic mountain scenery: wonderful craters, lakes, cascades, forests, hot springs, rare trees, flowers, etc.

Mount Takachiho is to the Japanese what Mount Olympus was to the Greeks. Upon this summit descended at the dawn of history Ninigi-no-mikoto, the grandson of the Sun Goddess, charged with the command to make peaceful occupation of the Land of Reedy Moors ( Japan). It was his grandson, Jinmu, who, after subjugating the savage aborigines of the land, proclaimed himself the first Emperor of Japan at Kashiwara, Yamato, in the central Japan. It was on February 11th in 660 B.C., the anniversary of which is observed as a national holiday under the name of Kigensetsu, or Empire Day. On the summit of Takachiho Peak, which is a small tableland of seven feet square, stands the famous "heavenly halberd," made of ancient bronze, stuck in the ground hilt heavenward. It is much the worse for time and weather but is none the less venerated as a relic of the god. A mile or so below this peak is the active crater, 292 feet deep and 666 feet around, emitting smoke in a lazy, nonchalant manner.

There is something ethereal about every high mountain, as we look at it from below, and especially the volcanic mountain, which gives the impression of being "alive" or charged with a power at once ominous and awe-inspiring. No wonder that simple country folk who heard the voice of the gods in thunder should have seen, in the eruption of a volcano with its fearful detonation and ejection of ash, fire and molten rock for miles around, dramatic evidence of some awful presence in the bowels of the earth. Kirishima bears many traces of this latent power within, which, added to the beauty and grandeur of its scenery, make it all the more awe-inspiring.

Karakunidake is less shapely than the sacred peak, but has a wider and more majestic view. It has also a crater, 21/2 miles below its summit, but instead of emitting smoke or fire, harbors an emeraldgreen lake (21/2 miles in circumference), called Ōnamiike, or great-wave-pond, but its unruffled surface, reflecting the peaceful verdure of the surrounding trees quite belies its name. Standing on the top of the mountain you will see this pond right under your feet, like a gem set in a sea of sylvan beauty. Immediately to the east you see its grand and handsome sister peak, Takachiho, with its smoke-emitting crater, soaring above its more humble neighbors. Turning northward, you behold a strikingly extensive view, over Shiratorisan, of various mountain ranges of central Kyūshū, including Asosan and Sobosan. But the grandest sight of all is that facing southward. Here, in one marvelous, comprehensive panorama are included the crystal bay of Kagoshima with the fair Sakurajima, and, away on the Pacific shore, the high peak of Kaimondake, the Fuji of Satsuma, or the most southerly mountain outpost of Japan.

Both these wonderful peaks of Kirishima are not, as mountains of Japan, very high, though higher than the highest peak in Great Britain, and strenuous climbers could combine the two in one day, covering part of the distance, thanks to the traffic of motor-buses. No, their glories do not lie in their height. The first glory among them is their beauty of scenery--not only the great views they command but in their own peculiar handsomeness. Behold the colors and depths of 5,050 acres of virgin forests, clothing the lower half of the mountains, which the woodcutter's axe has never touched since the age of the gods, containing graceful forest giants, over 1,000 years old, soaring to a height of 130 feet. These trees, together with the resplendent Kirishima azaleas --blooming in May--the color and variety of which baffle description, and some of which are as large as 17 meters high and 7 meters around--are numbered among the precious "natural monuments" for which the State now tenderly cares. In the same breath must be mentioned the sacred Kirishima Shrine, dedicated to the soul of Ninigi. It is situated on the south-western side of Takachiho Peak, 1,640 ft. above sea level, built over 200 years ago. It commands beautiful views of the surrounding valleys and higher mountains around, sheltered by century-old trees imparting an air of sacred solemnity before which the spectator unconsciously bows his head. This, and the other sacred shrine, Higashi-Kirishima Shrine, which marks the birthplace of Emperor of Jinmu, make the two hallowed spots on Kirishima to which no Japanese visitor will omit to pay his respects.

The famous Kirishima spa is a collective term including more than 20 villages. They lie within easy distance from one another, 2399 feet up, on the way to Karakuni Peak. They are free from snow in winter. The ascent of the peak is made through paths teeming in beautiful foliage, blossom and landscape, and the famous red pines make a striking contrast with the green trees around. It is easy of access, thanks to the constant bus traffic from below. The hot baths there are of various kinds--sulphur, iron, salt, alum--making a splendid stop-over station for rest and recuperation.

The only drawback, if it is a drawback, of Kirishima Park is its remoteness from the center of Japan. This accounts for the fact that the hotel accommodation and other factors of comfort, though far from lacking, are not quite as perfect as they are at Hakone or Unzen. The relative absence of modern amenities is regarded, however, as an attraction in the eyes of young tourists, who love nature and adventure and who would prefer roughing it a bit to the pampered ease of the Pullman car and the palatial hotel. Indeed, it would seem a pity in these days of spreading modernism to damage any of the primitive charms of Kirishima so associated with the age of the gods, even for the doubtful meed of converting it into a popular resort.

Daisetsuzan National Park

2009-02-19T10:15:00.000+02:00

Furano Mountains, Daisetsuzan National Park, Hokkaido, Japan Photo Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Daisetsuzan Park, in central Hokkaido, contains a peak which forms the "roof" of the island, the height being 7,560 ft. above sea level. This is a volcanic mountain, perforated with numerous smokeholes, and tipped with a perpetually smoking crater. It is easy to climb, being done in 4 hours if the proper route is taken, and the panoramic views it commands quite justify its claim of being the pinnacle of Hokkaido.

Daisetsuzan Park itself covers an extensive area of 500,000 acres, nearly 20 miles from east to west, 15 miles from north to south. It includes the three major volcanic ranges, separately known as Daisetsu, Tokachi and Tomuraushi; the beautiful lake, Shikaribetsu and the canyons of marvelous beauty and grandeur, forming the upper reaches of the four great rivers flowing from the mountains. Thus, Daisetsuzan is only one of the mountainous systems in this park, and its name, meaning "great-snow-mountain," is selected to represent the whole range of mountains. It is indeed a great snow mountain, from the summit of which the snow never melts, even in midsummer -- a fairyland for skiing enthusiasts, attracting as many skiers in winter as mountaineers in summer.

If Akan is a park of mountain lakes and forests, Daisetsuzan must be considered as a park of snowy mountains and forests. The only lake in the whole area, namely, Lake Shikaribetsu, situated in the south-eastern extremity of the park, is made much of, perhaps a little more so than is really justified. However, it is hedged in by thicklywooded high mountains -- a hallowed spot in the depths of sylvan grandeur, with a Benten islet in the center. It is certainly worth a visit, if one visits the park at all, though the approach to it is somewhat steep.

The two other mountain ranges have features of their own, besides the common characteristics of snow and volcano. Of the several high peaks, Hokuchindake (7,360 ft.) and Hakuundake (7,314 ft.) are the best on which to see Asahidake and the panoramic views around. Tokachi (6,854 ft.) is famous for its skiing slopes, which competent authorities have pronounced as the best in Japan. Other lures of the mountains are the "flower gardens" decorating the slopes of Hakuundake and Daisetsuzan, made up of mountain azaleas and other flowering plants peculiar to the place, which blend in a riot of color in summer, whilst cherry blossoms in spring and maple foliage in autumn make it, indeed, a park of infinite floral beauty.

The paucity of lakes in Daisetsuzan is made up for by the extraordinary beauty of water-bearing canyons, or rocky gorges forming the upper reaches of the four great rivers flowing out of the mountains: Ishikari, Chubetsu, and Tokachi. The grandest of them all is the Sounkyo gorge, situated in the northern part of the park. It runs for 15 miles or more, rushing, plunging and gurgling over gorges made of fantastic rocks of every shape and dimension. At the points called "Obako" (large box) and "Kobako" (small box) the waters run in a quiet stream along the perpendicular rocky cliffs rising straight to a dizzy height of 2,000 feet, justifying the strange local names. In its eventful course through these canyons and gorges the rushing waters make many picturesque cascades called by such fanciful names as "white serpent," "shooting stars," "milky way," "silken cords," etc. Such are the upper reaches of the greatest river in Japan, the Ishikari, running for 227 miles before it reaches the Japan Sea. Discovered only in 1852, it forms one of the greatest sights of the Park.In short, the chief lures of Daisetsu are the high peak of Asahidake with its grand views, the snowy slopes of Mount Tokachi for its incomparable skiing, the "flower gardens," the solitary Shikaribetsu lake, and, to crown all, the wonderful canyons of Sōunkyō.As with Akan, however, Daisetsu's greatest claim to our attention is the newness, or we should perhaps say, antiquity of its leaving the sealed book of mystery. It was only in 1852 that some parts of Daisetsu were discovered by modern explorers, though relics and implements of Ainu people, unearthed here and there, are evidence that the Ainu must have known them long ago. Primeval forests, curious alpine plants, and bizarre geological phenomena, added to the usual volcanic scenes of craters, crater lakes, steaming fumaroles, hot springs, gorges, ravines, etc. make up the qualifications to justify a great National Park.

Western Caroline Islands - Eastern Caroline Islands

2009-02-16T05:50:00.000+02:00

The division between the eastern Caroline Islands and the western Caroline Islands represents a major geological division. The major islands and island groups of the western Caroline Islands are the tops of submerged mountain ranges that rise above the surface of the sea. The Palau group, Yap, Fais, and Sorol, at least, are elevated portions of great ridges that are wrinkles in the continental shelf and are similar in origin to the areas nearer Asia, such as Japan and the Ryukyus. All these islands are west of the sial or andesite line, which marks the edge of the continental shelf. They are recent elevation, and the process of elevation is still going on, as is proved by recently elevated marine terraces and by earthquakes. The islands of the eastern Caroline Islands stand on a great submarine shelf that is fairly stable, although there may be some subsidence in the western portion. Truk shows signs of subsidence whereas Ponape and Kusaie do not.

There are three main types of islands: the high volcanic islands, the low coral atolls, and raised atolls. Each of these types presents its own peculiar setting as a home for man. There are five volcanic islands or island groups: the Palaus, Yap, Truk, Ponape, and Kusaie.

The Palaus and Yap are composed of recent volcanic lavas and ancient metamorphic rock that testify to their continental nature. Truk, Ponape, and Kusaie are composed chiefly of basaltic lavas. Some of these volcanic islands have elevations of more than 2000 feet above sea level. The low coral atolls seldom rise to more than 6 or 8 feet above sea level. The partly raised atolls, such as Fais and Angaur, have elevations up to about 60 feet and usually contain phosphate deposits.

Caroline Islands Climate - Temperatures

2009-02-16T05:42:00.000+02:00

Although there are slight climatic variations over this large area, the low latitude and oceanic location combine to produce uniform conditions at any one station during the entire year. Although the climate is oceanic in character, it is dominated by the northeast trades except in the area west of about 145° east longitude, where the effect of the Asiatic monsoon is felt during the summer months. From November to April the prevailing winds over the whole area are from the northeast or east. In the northern summer, the southeast trades are dominant over the southern Carolines and occasionally reach as far northward as the Marianas.

Typhoons, or tropical cyclones, do considerable damage in the Carolines. They can occur in any month, but they are most common from July through November, with the highest frequency in September. There is an average of 25 typhoons each year. Originating in the Carolines and Marianas, they may occur anywhere west of 160° east longitude and 5° north latitude. Although they are commonest between Yap and Guam, at rare intervals one strikes as far east as the Gilberts.

In general the rainfall is heaviest in a belt between 1° 30′ and 8° 30′ north latitude, which marks the zone where the northeast and southeast trades meet. The rainfall is usually over 120 inches in this belt. However, there is orographic influence on the high islands that results in heavier rainfall on the windward side. The 2000-foot mountains of Kusaie produce as much as 255 inches on their windward (west) side whereas on the leeward side the annual rainfall is only 177 inches. The low coral atolls do not produce this orographic effect and are much drier.

Temperatures are uniform throughout the area. The mean monthly temperatures are seldom less than 79° F or more than 83° F. The difference between the means of the summer and winter months is rarely more than 2°. The daily range usually amounts to about 9° or 10° F. Day temperatures vary from 83° to 89° F, and night temperatures from 74° to 77° F. The mean relative humidity is high throughout the year. The early morning relative humidity varies from 85 to 95 per cent; the early afternoon readings may vary from 70 to 80 per cent. There is little variation in the humidity from month to month.

Manta Ray, Yap Islands, Caroline Islands, Micronesia Photographic Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

SOILS
Great contrast exists between the soils of the high volcanic islands and those of the low coral islands. On the coral isles the soils consist of group-up coral and shells with an accumulation of humus near the surface. This is seldom very thick and is speedily lost under cultivation. These soils do not retain moisture well as the rainfall quickly soaks through the sand and is lost in the porous coral beneath.

There is greater variation on the volcanic islands. The parent material is more varied, and there is an accumulation of fairly fertile alluvium on the coastal plains and in the stream valleys. However, the frostless year with high rainfall is favorable to leaching and alluviation, with the result that tropical laterites or lateritic soils with little fertility are common.

Caroline Islands History Spanish, German & Japanese Periods

2009-02-16T05:29:00.000+02:00

Sunset over Pacific Ocean, Yap Islands, Caroline Islands, Micronesia Photographic Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

In a series of voyages after Magellan's Pacific crossing, most of the islands of the Carolines were discovered. As little wealth was found, the islands were neglected and, as they were a hazard to navigation, were avoided as much as possible during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Spanish missionaries made a few unsuccessful attempts to convert some of the natives early in the eighteenth century.

New England whalers followed the sperm whale into the Marshalls and eastern Carolines in the 1840's and brought close outside contact to the natives of Kusaie, Ponape, and Truk. The traders and whalers, who came in increasing numbers, brought smallpox and other disastrous new elements to the entire area.

The missionaries were not far behind the sailors, and in 1852 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established bases on Ponape and Kusaie. Hawaiian missionaries followed soon after. From the original bases on Ponape and Kusaie, the missionaries branched out into the Marshalls and other sections of the Carolines.

THE SPANISH PERIOD

The 1870's saw increased German commercial activity in these islands as in other parts of the Pacific. Spain's jealousy was roused, and she attempted to claim sovereignty that brought her into conflict with both Germany and Great Britain. The matter was referred to the Pope for arbitration in 1885, and he ruled in favor of Spain.

The Spanish immediately occupied Yap and in 1887 established a settlement, Colonia de Santiago, on Ponape. The occupation of Ponape resulted in trouble with both natives and well-entrenched American missionaries. The trouble with the natives, which was expensive and also costly in lives, continued even after the missionaries were removed. In 1898, as a result of defeat in the Spanish American War, Spain ceded Guam to the United States and in the following year sold the rest of her Micronesian possessions to Germany.

THE GERMAN PERIOD

The Carolines, during the German period of occupation, were under the jurisdiction of the governor of German New Guinea. After 1911 they were divided into the western Caroline district, which was administered from Yap, and the eastern Caroline district, which was administered from Ponape.

Although there were never many German administrators or settlers in the area, this was a period of rapid economic and political change. Copra became the economic foundation of the islands although they were never self-supporting. The Germans reduced the power of the chiefs and made changes in the forms of land tenure. Roads were constructed with native labor, public buildings built, and some of the harbors improved. The Germans paid some attention to native health and sanitation, with the result that in some places the decline of the native population was checked. Schools were left largely ill the hands of the missionaries. The changes did meet some resistance from the natives, especially from the chiefs, who lost some of their prerogatives.

One of the outstanding accomplishments of this period was the laying of the Pacific cable in 1905. Yap was made the center for the lines connecting Japan, Asia, and the south. Control of Yap was later to be a source of international friction.

THE JAPANESE PERIOD

In 1914 the Japanese navy took over the German possessions in Micronesia and ruled the islands until 1922, when a civilian government was placed in charge. In 1919 Japan received the islands as a class C mandate from the League of Nations. The type C mandate was administered as an integral part of the mandatory state, and eventual independence of the territory was not contemplated. After Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations in 1935, the islands were retained, with the Japanese military playing an increasing part in their administration.

The Japanese followed a policy of economic development that was intended eventually to make the islands pay for themselves and supplement the Japanese economy by the production of tropical commodities that could not be produced in Japan, by the development of such minerals as were present, and by securing fish that play an important part in the Japanese diet. Although the islands did form an outlet for some of Japan's growing population, it was always recognized that the islands were too small to absorb more than a small part of the increase. However, by the outbreak of the Second World War, the number of the Japanese in the whole of the mandated territory exceeded that of the natives. After the war, the islands became trust territories of the United States, eventually gaining independence.

Yokohama - progressive career of New Japan

2009-02-15T18:20:00.000+02:00

Minato Mirai, Yokohama, Japan Photographic Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Since then Tokyo has grown enormously; much of the foreign trade, once almost monopolized by the foreign merchants of Yokohama, has passed into Japanese hands. Many of the old foreign firms have therefore moved their head offices to Tokyo so that Yokohama is not what it used to be in the early years of Meiji. This does not mean, however, that it has dwindled in any way. On the contrary, Yokohama's growth is as remarkable as that of Tokyo. What it has lost in one way it has gained in another. It has lost in its piquancy and in its foreign color; it has gained in its substantial prosperity as a modern city.

In the days of its Foreign Settlement, Yokohama was divided between Kwannai and Kwangai--" the inside and outside of the barrier." Within the barrier the foreigners had their residences and places of business, and outside lived the Japanese who formed a constantly shifting population of semi-adventurers in foreign trade. In course of time the Kwannai and Kwangai have merged, and the "native quarters" have become increasingly inhabited by wealthy permanent settlers.

Thus, much of the foreign nomenclature of Yokohama has lost its meaning, supplanted by the new names of streets and numbers, as set by the Municipality, such as Kaigan-dōri (Bund), YamaShitachōō, Yamatecho; (Bluff), Honcho (Main Street), etc. No longer does Yokohama consist of narrow strips of land confined by the Bund and the Bluff. It means the bulk of greater Yokohama, of which the so-called "native districts" are now the principal parts, including the hatoba (the landing stage) and its neighborhood, the former "Foreign Settlement."

Both the charms and drawbacks of Yokohama are due to its being a new city. A pioneer port-city, Yokohama is daring, ready to make experiments. There is something pungent and hectic about the lighter side of its life, especially its night life. People have less prejudice, and perhaps rather fewer scruples than the inhabitants of the older cities, and are much freer in intercourse and more open-minded. You are asked to take them as they are and at their face value. Frank, open-minded, quick in action and business-like in speech, without unnecessary ornament in words and manners, the native sons and daughters typify the spirit of a premier port which took the lead in the progressive career of New Japan.

At the time Commodore Perry lay off Yokohama in 1853, it was a sleepy fishing village of less than 100 thatched houses. In fact, Yokohama as such was non-existent. It was at Kanagawa (now a part of the city of Yokohama), the second stage on the old Tokaido road, that the Shōgunate authorities met the American Commodore and conducted negotiations. But instead of the thriving Kanagawa which was to have been opened to foreign trade, Yokohama, the small and out-of-the-way village, was chosen. Thus, whatever be the present condition of affairs, the foundation of Yokohama was laid by a band of pioneer foreign merchants and their Japanese co-workers, of whom the present Yokohama represents the second or third generation.

View Yokohama from Nogeyama

2009-02-15T18:00:00.000+02:00

Yokohama City Mount Fuji Photo Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

The best point of vantage to view Yokohama from is Nogeyama, just behind Sakuragichō Station. It affords a fine view of the city and the harbor, and in itself is a charming little park, one of the city's favorite haunts. Hard by is Kamonyama, a hill adorned with cherry trees, on which stands the somewhat uncouth statue of Lord Ii, the courageous Prime Minister of the Shōgunate who opened the port to foreign intercourse in spite of the fiery opposition of the reactionary party. Below, in the busy, commercial and shopping district run the famous streets of Honchō, Motomachi, Benten-dōri and Isezakichō, which by day and night attract great throngs of shoppers, saunterers and amusement seekers, not only from the rest of the city but from districts far away, as far in fact as Tokyo on the one side and on the other, Kamakura, or even Hakone. They abound in department stores, theaters and amusement houses of all sorts dear to the hearts of youths and flappers. Yokohama's dance-halls are by no means the least of its attractions.

As Yokohama is an irresistible magnet to the numerous smaller towns lying around, the latter in their turn exercise the same magnetic power over Yokohama. It is the dream of all Yokohama boys and girls to spend their week-end at some spot among the rural scenery, away from the port's bustle, say, at Kamakura or Hakone. But Yokohama itself abounds in beautiful places, of which Negishi, with its famous race-course and golf links (near the Bluff), and Sugita plum garden (at the tramcar terminus of Sugita), Tsurumi (4.7 miles from Yokohama Station) with its Sojiji Temple and Kagetsuen Garden, are most frequently mentioned. In fact, one is advised to make a temporary home at Yokohama, from which to visit the cardinal centers of business and pleasure, for here there are complete facilities of communications over land and water, and the accommodation afforded by Japanese and foreign-style hotels of various grades is as good as the best anywhere. Yokohama has many sides, its serious dignified side, as in the upper walks of the Bluff, commanding a grand view of the land and seascape, and its hectic side as din the gaiety of Isezakichō and vicinity.

Yokohama 1923 Earthquakes

2009-02-15T17:55:00.000+02:00

Every newcomer to Yokohama will be told the tragic story of 1923. The old Yokohama was wiped clean off the map. At the first shock of the earthquakes most of the weaker houses crashed to the ground, and the rest of the stronger houses were destroyed by the fires which broke out everywhere and raged for three days on end. Altogether 21,384 persons were killed, 278,388 (or 64 per cent. of the whole population) lost their homes, and ¥904,000,000 worth of property went up in smoke.

Of all this tragedy, however, one scarcely sees any trace today. Unless you go out of your way to look for them, you will never notice the scars of 1923. No former resident of Yokohama, who left it in the pre-Earthquake days, if he returned today, could believe that anything like such an earthquake had ever happened, and he would be greatly surprised to find many an improvement upon the old city: roads cleaner and wider, parks smarter and prettier, houses newer, taller and more prosperouslooking, and business brisker and haunts of pleasure gayer, and the people everywhere working as diligently and smiling as happily as ever they did. It all testifies to the dour enterprise of Yokohama's brave children. And Yokohama's spirit is the spirit of Japan, worthy of a city forming the doorway to her Empire.

Yokohama, Japan Photo Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Great Japan Cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kobe, Yokohama, Nara

2009-02-15T17:37:00.001+02:00

The inevitable process of urban centralization, which has become so evident in recent years is, comparatively speaking, not so pronounced in Japan as in some countries of Europe. One reason is that the population of Japan, principally agricultural, is dispersed all over the land in well-proportioned numbers, and each district with a radius of 10 or 20 miles, is sure to have an urban center of some pretension, so that the rural populations everywhere have little reason to miss city atmosphere. The trouble in Japan, if it is a trouble at all, is in the urbanization of rural districts rather than in the urban centralization of rural populations.

Kyoto: Small Street in the Restaurant and Bar Quarter Photographic Print

Buy Kyoto and Japan Posters at AllPosters.com

One of the first geographical phrases our schoolboy learns is the "santo" (the three capital cities), namely, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. After these are pointed out the four interesting cities: Nagoya, Kobe, Yokohama, Nara, each of the latter not only being a notable modern city but having a character of its own, worth describing, as has already been done. There are other fine cities, following close upon the heels of the big seven. Some of them are hardly worthy of mention in a book like this, such, for example, as Yawata and Omuta of Kyūshū, which have attained the city status because of their coalmine and iron-works populations respectively. But there are others which either in age, in historic associations, or in natural beauty, justly rank with the big seven, but we have space to mention only their names, with their respective areas. They are:

Hiroshima (Area 26.9 sq. miles)
Fukuoka (Area 34.1 sq. miles)
Hakodate (Area 7.3 sq. miles)
Kure (Area 18.6 sq. miles)
Sendai (Area 33.8 sq. miles)
Sapporo (Area 9.3 sq. miles)
Kumamoto (Area 17.5 sq. miles)
Kanazawa (Area 7.0 sq. miles)
Otaru (Area 21.9 sq. miles)
Okayama (Area 18.3 sq. miles)
Kagoshima (Area 5.9 sq. miles)
Shizuoka (Area 23.3 sq. miles)
Saseho (Area 19.2 sq. miles)
Niigata (Area 7.8 sq. miles)
Sakai (Area 5.6 sq. miles)
Wakayama (Area 12.5 sq. miles)
Yokosuka (Area 13.2 sq. miles)
Hamamatsu (Area 5.9 sq. miles)
Moji (Area 16.0 sq. miles)
Shimonoseki (Area 6.0 sq. miles)

New York Skyscraper Workers Poster - Manhattan

2009-02-14T06:17:00.000+02:00

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper Giant Poster

Charles Ebbets

Buy at AllPosters.com

RCA Building (GE Building) - Manhattan - New York Construction Workers eating lunch on a Crossbeam - 1930s Vintage Photograph

Black & White Manhattan Night Mini Poster

2009-02-14T06:13:00.000+02:00

Manhattan Night Mini Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

Black & White Manhattan Morning Mini Poster

2009-02-14T06:10:00.000+02:00

Manhattan Morning Mini Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

United Kingdom Political Map Poster

2009-02-14T06:06:00.000+02:00

U.K. Political Map Poster

Buy United Kingdom Political Map Poster at AllPosters.com

Vintage Nice France Travel Poster Print

2009-02-14T06:02:00.000+02:00

Nice Vintage Travel Print

De'Hey

Buy at AllPosters.com

Monte Carlo, Biarritz, Nice attract many northern Europeans, lucky enough to escape the damp, raw winters of their homes. In summer, also, many visitors enjoy the warm sunny days so rare in the North Sea countries.

1930s Grand Central Station Poster Print

2009-02-14T05:46:00.000+02:00

Grand Central Station Print 1930s

Hulton Archive

Buy at AllPosters.com

Santorini Bell Tower Poster Print - Greece

2009-02-07T21:24:00.000+02:00

Bell Tower of Santorini Print

Rossenbach

Buy at AllPosters.com

Vintage Miami Beach Print

2009-02-04T23:06:00.000+02:00

Miami Beach

Giclee Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Vintage San Diego Marine Print, California

2009-02-04T22:51:00.000+02:00

San Diego, California Giclee Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Vintage Santa Monica Travel Print - California

2009-02-04T22:38:00.000+02:00

Santa Monica, California Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Musee Paris Posters Louvre, Musee Rodin, Paris Photos

2009-01-29T10:10:00.000+02:00

Louvre, Paris, France Photo Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Musee Rodin, Paris, France Photo Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Clockface at the Musee d'Orsay Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Les Musées de Paris France, Musée du Louvre, d'Orsay, Rodin - Paris Museums: Louvre, d'Orsay, Rodin

To describe a great city like Paris to an American, or a mighty American city such as Chicago to a French, is a comparatively difficult matter. One of the most distinctive features of France is the great importance of Paris in the life of the country as a whole. The location of Paris is almost ideal. Paris exerts an almost mystical attraction not only on Europe but on the rest of the world as well. Its architecture may be rather oldfashioned, its general appearance far from clean, and its entertainments not always of the highest, but the visitor forgets all this. The wide boulevards with their cafes, the crooked streets of the Montmarte, and the Latin Quarter, where shops offer all sorts of products from paintings to bad-smelling cheese, the quiet border of the Seine River where open-air bookstalls invite the literary enthusiast, the public gardens and parks where children, guarded by uniformed nurses, sail tiny boats on the grass-bordered ponds. All this is the Paris which one learns to love.

Paris Monuments Posters Arc De Triomphe Eiffel Tower

2009-01-29T09:59:00.000+02:00

Paris, Notre-Dame Print

Campiglia,...

Buy at AllPosters.com

La Tour Arc De Triomphe Print

Vandenack, Toby

Buy at AllPosters.com

Afternoon In Paris Eiffel Tower Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

City of Paris exerts an almost mystical attraction not only on Europe but on the rest of the world as well. Its architecture and panorama may be rather oldfashioned, and its entertainments not always of the highest, but the visitor forgets all this.

Located originally on an island where it is easy to cross the Seine River, Paris has become not only the capital and largest city of France, but also one of the Europe's greatest cities. The term "greatest" applies not so much to the number of inhabitants as to cultural and artistic influence. In this respect no other city rises to such a level, and no other city attracts so many visitors, temporary as well as permanent, to enjoy French culture.

Nevertheless, the social, educational, and political attraction of Paris has been a tremendous drain on the rest of France. No other city has had a chance to become even locally a cultural center. Today, as for many centuries, Paris is the focus of all ambitions, the magnet attracting the Europe's energy and brains.

Visit Paris Posters Eiffel Tower l'Ile de la Cite

2009-01-29T09:47:00.000+02:00

Eiffel Tower at Night Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Paris, l'Ile de la Cite Print

Plisson,...

Buy at AllPosters.com

Train Accident at the Gare Montparnasse, Paris, 1895 Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Paris 62 Leagues Print

Sylvan Lake...

Buy at AllPosters.com

Time-Lapse Traffic in Front of Paris Opera House Photographic Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Americans go to Rome for art's sake, to Berlin to study music and to economize, and to London for social triumph; but they go to Paris to enjoy themselves. The American visitor is not only undaunted by the strange language, but unimpressed by the signs of years of vivid history about him. He sandwiches a glimpse at the tomb of Napoleon, and a trip on a penny steamer up the Seine, and back again to the Morgue, with a rush through the Cathedral of Notre Dame, between the hours of his breakfast and the race-meeting at Longchamps the same afternoon.

Paris Morning Posters - Morning in Paris

2009-01-28T18:20:00.000+02:00

Morning in Paris Print

Bonnard, Pierre

Buy at AllPosters.com

Morning Light on Notre Dame, Paris, France Photographic Print

Bibikow, Walter

Buy at AllPosters.com

An Early Morning Stroll Print

Kieffer, Christa

Buy at AllPosters.com

Morning Light on Notre Dame, Paris, France Photographic Print

Bibikow, Walter

Buy at AllPosters.com

Sunday Morning in Paris Print

Prendergast,...

Buy at AllPosters.com

Paris Evening Posters Prints Evening in Paris

2009-01-28T17:36:00.000+02:00

Evening, Paris, France Photographic Print

Panoramic Images

Buy at AllPosters.com

Notre Dame Cathedral on a Winter Evening, Paris, France Photographic Print

Kennedy, Taylor...

Buy at AllPosters.com

Summer Evening, Paris Giclee Print

Hassam, Frederick...

Buy at AllPosters.com

Evening in Paris Art Print

Bonnard, Pierre

Buy at AllPosters.com

Good Evening Art Print

Kieffer, Christa

Buy at AllPosters.com

Paris in the Evening Print

Kieffer, Christa

Buy at AllPosters.com

NYC Skyline Poster Night Panorama

2009-01-18T04:48:00.000+02:00

New York Skyline at Night Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

New York Skyline at Night Door Poster - NYC Travel Poster - NYC Skyline Poster - NYC Panoramic Photo Poster

NYC Black & White Skyline Poster

2009-01-18T04:42:00.001+02:00

New York, Skyline Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

NYC Black & White Skyline Poster - New York City Skyline Poster Black & White - New York Black & White Travel Poster - New York City Black & White Photo Poster

Vintage Waikiki Travel Advertisement Posters

2009-01-17T19:15:00.000+02:00

Waikiki Beach Art Print

Erickson, Kerne

Buy at AllPosters.com

Aloha from Waikiki, Hawaii Giclee Print

Lantern Press

Buy at AllPosters.com

Waikiki Art Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

United Airlines, Hawaii Hula Girl Giclee Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Wish You Were Here, Hawaii, Palm Atoll Art Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Hawaiian Lady with Islands Art Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Vintage Hawaii Surf Poster - Travel Posters

2009-01-17T19:11:00.000+02:00

Hawaii print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Vintage Paris Airway Poster - Posters

2009-01-17T18:36:00.000+02:00

Over Paris Art Print

Erickson, Kerne

Buy at AllPosters.com

Pan American World Airways - Vintage Travel Airway Poster Print - Paris Travel Advertisements

Vintage Greece Travel Poster - Posters

2009-01-17T18:29:00.000+02:00

Greece Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

Greek Travel Posters - Vintage Greek Travel Advertisements - Greek Islands Travel Ads

Vintage Rio Christ Statue Travel Poster - Posters

2009-01-17T18:18:00.000+02:00

Flying Down to Rio Art Print

Lawler, Paul...

Buy at AllPosters.com

Flying Down to Rio in Five Days Via Pan American - Rio de Janeiro Christ Statue - Vintage Travel Advertisement - Vintage Pan American Airway Advertisement

Political World Map

2009-01-17T18:14:00.000+02:00

World Political Map Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

Vintage French Travel Poster - Vintage Posters

2009-01-17T18:09:00.001+02:00

Avranches Art Print

Bergevin, Albert

Buy at AllPosters.com

Avranches, France - Vintage French Travel Poster - Vintage European Travel Posters

Hong Kong Vintage Travel Poster - Posters

2009-01-17T18:03:00.000+02:00

Hong Kong Poster Print

Ignacio

Buy at AllPosters.com

Hong Kong Vintage Travel Poster - Vintage Travel Posters - Asian Travel Posters

Seychelles Posters Mahe Island, Seychelles

2009-01-17T17:57:00.000+02:00

Mahe Island, Seychelles Poster

Fuste Raga, Jose

Buy at AllPosters.com

Seychelles Poster - Mahe Island, Seychelles

Rialto Bridge Posters Venice Prints

2009-01-15T21:37:00.000+02:00

Rialto Bridge, Venice Art Print

Lawrence, John

Buy at AllPosters.com

Venice Canals Italy Posters Gondolas Prints

2009-01-15T21:17:00.000+02:00

Venice - Italy Art Print

Black, Stuart

Buy at AllPosters.com

Venice Posters Italy Posters Cityscape Poster

2009-01-15T21:08:00.000+02:00

Venice Italy Poster

Downs, Robert

Buy at AllPosters.com

Venice Gondolas Poster - Gondolas Posters

2009-01-15T21:00:00.000+02:00

Venice Gondolas Poster

Buy Venice Gondolas Poster at AllPosters.com

Venice Canal Black & White Poster - Photo

2009-01-15T20:38:00.000+02:00

Venice Canal Art Print

Schick, Cyndi

Buy at AllPosters.com

Venice Painting Posters - Venezia Italia

2009-01-15T20:35:00.000+02:00

Venezia Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

Piazza San Marco, Venice Posters, Italy Prints

2009-01-15T20:29:00.000+02:00

Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy Poster Print
Segal, Mark
Buy at AllPosters.com

St. Mark's Square, Venice Posters, Italy Prints

2009-01-15T20:26:00.000+02:00

St. Mark's Square, Venice, Italy Poster Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Stonehenge Wall Mural England Wall Murals

2008-12-23T17:09:00.000+02:00

Stonehenge was Built in Four Stages Beginning Sometime Around 3,100 B.C. Wall Mural

Buy Stonehenge Wall Mural at AllPosters.com

Rotterdam Vintage Travel Advertisement Print

2008-12-15T07:23:00.000+02:00

Rotterdamsche Lloyd Art Print

Stein

Buy Rotterdam Vintage Travel Advertisement Print at AllPosters.com

Le Mont Saint-Michel Poster

2008-12-15T07:12:00.000+02:00

Visitez Art Print

Villemot, Bernard

Buy Le Mont Saint-Michel Poster Print at AllPosters.com

Portofino Poster Print Travel Posters

2008-12-15T06:37:00.000+02:00

Portofino Art Print

Stento, Steve

Buy Portofino Travel Poster Print at AllPosters.com

Antilles Travel Poster - Caribbean Vintage

2008-12-15T06:25:00.000+02:00

Caribbean Air Art Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Exotic Sunset Poster Hawaii Travel

2008-12-15T06:21:00.000+02:00

Hawaiian Sunset Poster

Buy Hawaiian Sunset Poster at AllPosters.com

Aloha Hawaii Fly to Hawaii Waikiki Posters

2008-11-30T22:16:00.000+02:00

Kapalua Village Course, Maui, Hawaii Posters

2008-11-30T22:06:00.000+02:00

Kapalua's Village Course, Maui, Hawaii, USA Photographic Print

Buy Kapalua Village Course, Maui, Hawaii Poster at AllPosters.com

Kapalua: The Ritz-Carlton, The Kapalua Villas, Kapalua Bay Hotel, Golf Courses
Kapalua is firmly commited to the preservation and conservation of its 23,000 acres which contain some of the most pristine and biologically rich areas remaining in Hawai'i. In 1992, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, the parent company ofKapalua Land Company, dedicated an 8,661-acre native forest to The Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i.

Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai

The Hawaiian Islands rise above an elongated submarine platform or ridge that stretches for almost 2000 statute miles in a southeast to northwest direction, between the parallels of 18° 40′ to 28° 40′ north, and, the meridians of 154° 30′ to 178° 40′ west. The platform is supposedly constructed of volcanic materials that were erupted from a zone of fissures on the ocean floor; besides the visible islands there are several submarine peaks and numerous banks.

Kapalua Plantation Course, USA Framed Photographic Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

Pineapple Field on a Landscape, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii, USA Photographic Print

Panoramic Images

Buy at AllPosters.com

Maldives Travel Poster

2008-11-30T21:54:00.000+02:00

Jetty Maldives Poster

Borchi, Massimo

Buy Jetty Maldives Poster at AllPosters.com

Sinbad or Sindbad, the Sailor
Being becalmed in the Indian Ocean, he and some others of the crew visit what they suppose to be an island, but which is in reality a huge whale asleep. They light a fire on the whale, and the heat wakes the creature, which instantly dives under water. Sinbad is picked up by some merchants, and in due time returns home.

Fihalhohi Island, Maldives Door Poster

Buy at AllPosters.com

La Digue Island, Seychelles, Indian Ocean Art Print

Hanel, K.H.

Buy La Digue Island, Seychelles, Indian Ocean Art Print at AllPosters.com

Brasil Soccer T-Shirt

2008-11-30T17:10:00.000+02:00

Soccer - Brasil Vintage Flag T-Shirt

Buy Brasil Soccer T-Shirt at AllPosters.com

Puerto Rico T-Shirt

2008-11-30T17:08:00.000+02:00

Around the World - Puerto Rico Palm T-Shirt

Buy Puerto Rico Palm T-Shirt at AllPosters.com

The notion of travel as an exercise in universalizing discourse, particularly fitting to scholastic notions of how knowledge was to be sought, endured for a long time. But it was increasingly overlapped and eventually eclipsed by another tradition, which gave preeminence to the "eye" and to silent "observation." To a modern reader, one of the most anomalous features of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century travel sermons is the consistency with which they digress into human anatomy, rhetorically arguing the superiority of the eye over the ear. With inevitable juridical reference, travel is praised through favorable contrast between "eyewitness" and "hearsay" as legally admissible evidence and ground for valid judgment. Auricular knowledge and discourse identified with traditional authority, Aristotelianism, and the Schoolmen are devalued in favor of an "eye" believed to yield direct, unmediated, and personally verified experience. The shift accompanies a new naturalistic orientation and attains its purest expression in the seventeenth century, when it is nurtured by a fashion in courtly circles for Natural Philosophy and an epistemological individualism which enjoins every man to "see," verify, and, in a sense, create" the world anew for himself.

Argentina Flag Women's T-Shirt

2008-11-30T17:03:00.000+02:00

Women's: Argentina - Vintage Flag T-Shirt

Buy Argentina Flag Women's T-Shirt at AllPosters.com

Travel was first widely proclaimed as an art, and openly secular forms of tourism were first systematically practiced by European elites, in the early sixteenth century. One need only turn to the treatises on travel method produced during a period which was preoccupied with the problem of "method" in all branches of learning to find evidence that sightseeing did not always enjoy its later pride of place. The travelers that treatises addressed, scholar-courtiers and young aristocrats preparing for diplomatic and legal careers, went abroad seeking educational experience at universities in Paris, Bologna, or Padua, as well as opportunities to engage the services of Europe's foremost dancing, music, fencing, or riding masters with whom they would be forced to speak in a foreign tongue. Books played a prominent part in the preparation for a journey and their purchase was one of its objects. The aristocratic traveler who was addressed, often by his tutor, in early manuals on advice went abroad for discourse rather than for picturesque views or scenes. The art of travel he was urged to cultivate was in large measure one of discoursing with the living and the dead--learning foreign tongues, obtaining access to foreign courts, conversing gracefully with eminent men, assimilating classical texts appropriate to particular sites, and, not least, speaking eloquently upon his return.