Recent warm weather that extended well into November made for some great hiking and a climb of Mt. Pisgah. The colorful leaves had already fallen, yet the grasses and shrubs still held onto their color. In the distance the snowy ridges and peaks were set against the gorgeous blue morning sky.

Between 17th & 18th Streets just off of Baltimore.

Rail Compliance Inspector Greg Rastatter performs an inspection.

Standing between the East and West, facing the Grand Bazaar

upcoming show in Bangkok....

This photo is taken in the picturesque nabourhood Reyni in Tórshavn. Reyni is on of the oldest parts of Tórshavn, the houses there are made by wood and have grass roofs. Tórshavn is the capital of the Faroe Islands. The population of the municipality of Tórshavn is around 19.000.

The total population of the Faroe Islands is around 50.000. The Faroe Islands are situated in the North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland in the north, Scotland in the south and Norway to the east, there are no nabours to the west, unless we go all the way to Canada and that is very far away. Well, everyting is far away from the Faroe Islands, it takes around 12 hours with boat/ship to the nearest country, around 32 hours with ferry to Denmark, 2 hours by plane to Denmark. But these remote islands are absolutely worth a visit!

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge is the furthest downstream bridge across the River Tees. It connects Middlesbrough, on the south bank, to Port Clarence, on the north bank. It is a transporter bridge, carrying a moving 'gondola', suspended from the bridge, across the river in 90 seconds. The gondola can carry 200 people, 9 cars, or 6 cars and one minibus. It carries the A178 Middlesbrough to Hartlepool road.

Following a 1907 Act of Parliament the Bridge was built at a cost of £68,026 6s 8d (equivalent to £6,490,000 in 2015 values), by Sir William Arrol & Co. of Glasgow & Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company of Darlington between 1910 and 1911. A transporter bridge was chosen because Parliament ruled that the new scheme of crossing the river had to avoid affecting the river navigation. The opening ceremony was performed by Prince Arthur of Connaught on 17 October 1911 and was Grade II listed in 1985

The Bridge has an overall length (including cantilevers) of 851 feet leaving a span between the centres of the towers of 590 feet the beam of the bridge being carried at a height of 160 feet above the road. The bridge is the longest remaining transporter bridge in the world. The bridge is currently owned by Middlesbrough Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. Middlesbrough Council has control of the day-to-day operations and maintenance. In 2011 the Tees Transporter Bridge received a £2.6m Heritage Lottery Fund award for improvement and renovation work to mark the Bridge's centenary.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tees_Transporter_Bridge

33/52

The diving at Poor Knights is amazing!

The Poor Knights Islands are a group of islands off the east coast of the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. They lie 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the north-east of Whangarei, and 22 kilometres (14 mi) offshore half way between Bream Head and Cape Brett. Uninhabited since the 1820s, they are a nature reserve and popular underwater diving spot. The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve surrounds the island. The islands' name is said to derive from their resemblance to Poor Knight's Pudding, a bread-based dish popular at the time of discovery by Europeans.

The chain consists of two large islands (Tawhiti Rahi, the larger at 151.5 ha (374 acres), and Aorangi (101 ha (250 acres))) with a group of smaller islets between the two, the largest of which is Motu Kapiti. Tawhiti Rahi is also the Māori name for the entire chain, which has a total area of 271 ha (670 acres). The islands are the eroded remnants of a 4 million year old rhyolitic volcano.

Spring tide range for the islands is around 2 m (6.56 ft), decreasing to a neap tide of around 1 m (3.28 ft). The deep water around the island results in only moderate tidal currents. These are around the same magnitude as the prevailing shelf currents. In the general vicinity of the islands mean flows are around 0.2 m/s (0.656 ft/s) and run toward the southeast. A remarkable feature of the region is the large internal tides that occur. These are a form of internal wave driven by the local tidal flow forcing the stratification against sloping areas of the shelf face. The surface manifestation of these waves can be seen from space. These waves generate brief highly localized accelerations. Internal wave amplitudes of around 100 m (109 yd) have been observed, generating flow speeds as great as 0.5 m/s (1.64 ft/s).

The islands are protected as a nature reserve and a permit is required to land or tie boats up. Permits are usually granted only for scientific research. A notable native plant of the islands is the spectacularly flowering Poor Knights Lily. Feral pigs, which had roamed Aorangi since the departure of Māori in the 1820s, were exterminated in 1936. The islands have been identified as an Important Bird Area, by BirdLife International because they are home to a breeding population of about 200,000 pairs of Buller's Shearwaters.

The islands were earlier inhabited by Māori of the Ngāti Wai tribe who grew crops and fished the surrounding sea. The tribe traded with other Maori.

A chief of the tribe named Tatua led his warriors on a fighting expedition to the Hauraki Gulf with Ngā Puhi chief Hongi Hika in the early 1820s. While they were away, a slave escaped the islands and travelled to Hokianga where he told Waikato, a chief of the Hikutu tribe, that the islands had been left undefended. As Waikato had been offended by Tatua some years previous, he and his warriors set out on three large canoes to attack the islands. They arrived at the islands one night in December 1823 and soon overpowered the islanders in the absence of their warriors. Many islanders jumped off the high cliffs to avoid being taken as slaves. Tatua's wife and daughter were captured and taken to the mainland where a distant relative recognised the wife and helped the two to escape.

Tatua returned to the islands to find a scene of destruction. Only nine or ten people were left on the islands, including his five year old son who had been hidden in a cave during the attack. The islands were declared tapu and Tatua left with the survivors and went to Rawhiti in the Bay of Islands where he unexpectedly found his wife and daughter.

in Our Lord in the Attic.

The attic of this bourgeois house conceals a secret Catholic church, known as Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Dear Lord in the Attic), originally built in 1663 when Catholics lost their right to worship in their own way. Among other artifacts, the museum house contains heavy Dutch furniture, table clocks and two kitchens with Delft tiles.

1 of 2, explanation is #2.

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Cora Chase

[between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:

Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.

Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see George Grantham Bain Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/274_bain.html

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Part Of: Bain News Service photograph collection (DLC) 2005682517

General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.31965

Call Number: LC-B2- 5400-2

SIGMA DP3 Merrill

View from within the Holocaust memorial between the stelae

Just offa Albany between 39th Place and 40th, near some other Gentle tags.

365 Grateful Project

11th birthday photoshoot with my muse at Monocacy civil war historic site...

Vienna Concert House (2006)

The Wiener Konzerthaus was opened in 1913. It is on the 3rd Viennese district road (Lothringerstraße) at the edge of the Inner City between Schwarzenberg Square and City Park .

Architectural History

Ludwig Baumann planned Olympion Art Show 1908, the main building Concert Hall, detail

1890 for a planned house music festivals should be considered as multi-purpose building to address a broader public than the just 200 meters away traditional Viennese Musikverein. The design by architect Ludwig Baumann for a Olympion contained several concert halls except an ice rink and a Bicycleclub. In addition, an open-air arena should offer 40,000 visitors. The skating rink and its adjacent buildings were realized in 1899 by Baumann plans, the Art Nouveau ensemble but fell in 1960 to a construction of the InterContinental Hotels Group to the victim. The Vienna Ice Skating Club is located on the then reduced by about a third place today. The popular freestyle wrestling at the Haymarket took place here.

Organised by Gustav Klimt and his friends art exhibition Vienna 1908 was held in a temporary exhibition building on the undeveloped site of the later concert hall. The Wiener Konzerthaus was finally built 1911-1913 by the Europe-wide Viennese theater architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer Younger (Office Fellner & Helmer ) in collaboration with Ludwig Baumann.

The theme of the concert hall was:

A facility for the care of fine music, a collection of artistic aspirations, a home for music and a house for Vienna.

On 19 October 1913 the Concert Hall in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I with a gala concert of the Vienna Concert Society was opened (now the Vienna Symphony Orchestra ). Richard Strauss composed this be Festive Prelude Op 61. Was combined with this modern work Beethoven's 9th Symphony - the juxtaposition of tradition and modernity should be so much in the first concert of the house.

The disintegration of Austria-Hungary brought tremendous social upheaval and financial crises - and thus flexibility and versatility was also necessary for lack of money. In addition to classical repertoire, there were in the 1920s and 1930s, important world premieres (including Arnold Schoenberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold ), concerts with jazz and pop songs, speeches from science to spiritualism and poetry readings (including Karl Kraus ). Dance and ballroom events, some large conferences and world championships for boxing and fencing completed the program.

After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, the program for impoverished "non- degenerate entertainment operation ", to many artists remained only the emigration.

After 1945, the concert hall also had the secondary task , " prop up " the bruised Austrian self-confidence in a musical way. In addition to the standard repertoire of classical and romantic and the Viennese Waltz , there were still premieres (eg Schoenberg's oratorio The Jacob's Ladder 1961) and international jazz and pop concerts. From May 1946 spaces for recording studios and administration at the German and in Vienna living music producer Gerhard Mendelson were rented, who is considered one of the most important pop producers in Austria in the postwar period.

After several modifications that changed the original Art Nouveau decoration slightly , the house was restored from 1972 to 1975 to the only slightly altered original plans. From 1998 to 2001 the house was renovated by architect Hans Puchhammer and expanded to include a new concert hall (New Hall) .

From 1989 to 2002 the Vienna Kathreintanz also took place in the concert hall .

Building

Saw the concert at the House of Lorraine Street (Lothringerstraße), the Schwarzenbergplatz

The floor plan approximately 70 x 40 meters large concert hall with the main entrance at the Lothringerstraße and other inputs in the Lisztstraße includes Haymarket (Heumarkt) since the opening three concert halls:

Large hall with 1865 seats

Mozart Hall with 704 seats

Schubert Hall with 366 seats

The new hall (with 400 seats) was not established until the general renovation of 1998 to 2002. The new hall was renamed at the start of the 2009/2010 season in Berio-Saal.

On the home front, the right and left of the entrance, is the inscription

Honor your German Masters, then you are storing good spirits.

Here is a quote from the final chorus for the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner.

In all rooms the same time can take place, since they do not affect each other acoustically different concerts.

Inside stands in the foyer of the original model created in 1878 by Kaspar von Zumbusch Beethoven Monument, which is situated opposite the Concert Hall at the Beethoven place. At the staircase there is a relief homage to Emperor Franz Joseph (1913 ) by Edmund Hellmer . Furthermore, a bust of Franz Liszt by Max Klinger to mention in 1904.

The complex of the concert hall and the building is part of the K. K Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (now the University of Music and Dramatic Art). Adjoining rooms for academic teaching purposes this part of the building also contains the Academy theater with 521 seats, which is used as a secondary stage of the Burgtheater world premieres among other modern plays.

Great Hall and Organ

The Great Hall has a capacity of 1116 visitors (ground floor) and additional 361 balconies and boxes, and 388 in the gallery. The auditorium is 750 m2 and 170 m2 of the podium. In the 1960s the hall was optimized by Heinrich Keilholz.

The organ was built in 1913 in the Great Hall of the Rieger organ (Rieger-Orgel) (Jägerndorf, Silesia) built. The instrument is located on the end wall of the big room, but has no visible Prospectus. The organ is located behind a grid and is thus hidden from the visitors. The cone-chest-116 instrument has five registers on manual and pedal works and is the largest organ in Austria. The special features of the organ counts, firstly, that the four manual divisions are swellable. In addition, the organ comprises a (swellable ) remote work with separate pedal. Stylistically, the organ is "Alsatian Organ reform " aimed at the so-called ideal of where along the lines of major instruments of Aristide Cavaillé -Coll, the strong voices are divided into two manuals. The tracker action is electro-pneumatic. For the inauguration of the instrument Strauss had the " Festive Prelude " for organ and orchestra composed. In 1982 the instrument was restored.

I Hauptwerk C

Principal 16 '

16 drone '

Principal 8 '

Gedackt 8 '

Flute hollow 8 '

Harmonique Flûte 8 '

Fugara 8 '

Gemshorn 8 '

Dulciana 8 '

Nasatquinte 51/3 '

Octave 4 '

Reed flute 4 '

Viola 4 '

Superoctave 2 '

Noise Quinte II 22 /3 '

Cornet III-V 8 '

Mixture V 22 /3 '

III cymbals 2 '

Trumpet 16 '

Trumpet 8 '

Clarino 4 '

Manual II ( swellable ) C-

Viola 16 '

Quintatön 16 '

Principal 8 '

Bourdon 8 '

Flauto Traverso 8 '

Clara Bella 8 '

Viola da Gamba 8 '

Salicional 8 '

Unda Maris 8 '

Octave 4 '

Octaviante Flûte 4 '

Gemshorn 4 '

Quintatön 4 '

Waldflöte 2 '

Sesquialtera II 22 /3 '

Progress . harm. III - V 22 /3 '

Mixture IV 22/3 '

8 'Clarinet

Krummhorn 8 '

Glockenspiel

tremulant

III . Manual ( swellable ) C-

Lovely - Gedackt 16 '

Violin Principal 8 '

Reed flute 8 '

Still Covered 8 '

Vienna Flute 8 '

Quintatön 8 '

Echo Gamba 8 '

Aeoline 8 '

Vox coelestis 8 '

Octave 4 '

Octaviante Flûte 4 '

Delicate flute 4 '

Aeolsharfe 4 '

Gemsquinte 22/3 '

Flautino 2 '

Third, 13/5 '

Larigotquinte 11/3 '

Seventh 11/7 '

Piccolo 1 '

Harmonia aetherea IV 22/3 '

Basson 16 '

Harmonique Trompette 8 '

Oboe 8 '

Vox Humana 8 '

Harmonique Clairon 4 '

tremulant

IV solo work C

16 drone '

Clarinophon 8 '

Double - Gedackt 8 '

Concert Flute 8 '

Solo Gamba 8 '

Fifth tube 51/3 '

Octave 4 '

Solo Flute 4 '

Quinte 22/3 '

Superoctave 2 '

Wholesale Cornett III - V 22 /3 '

Tuba mirabilis 8 '

Ophicleide 8 '

Harmonique Clairon 4 '

V Fernwerk ( swellable ) C-

Delicately Gedackt 16 '

Horn 8 'Principal

Lovely - Gedackt 8 '

Reed flute 8 '

Viola d' amore 8 '

Vox Angelica 8 '

Gemshorn 4 '

Flute 4 '

Piccolo 2 '

Mixture IV 22/3 '

Shawm 8 '

Vox Humana 8 '

tremulant

C- pedal

Principalbaß 32 '

Principalbaß 16 '

Violon 16 '

Subbass 16 '

Echobaß 16 '

Salicetbaß 16 '

Quintbaß 102/3 '

Octavbass 8 '

Gedacktbaß 8 '

Bass flute 8 '

Cello 8 '

Dulcianbaß 8 '

Octave 4 '

Flauto 4 '

Campana III 102/3 '

Mixture IV 51/3 '

Bombard 32 '

Trombone 16 '

Bassoon 16 '

Trumpet 8 '

Basset 8 '

Clarino 4 '

C- pedal distance

Subbass 16 '

Octavbass 8 '

Pairing :

Normal coupling : II / I, III / I , IV / I , V / I, P / I , III / II , IV / II , V / II, I / II , IV / III , V / P, I / P, II / P III / P IV / P

Superoktavkoppeln : II / I, III / I , IV / I , V / I , III / I , IV / I , III / II , IV / II , IV , V, I / P , IV / P.

Suboktavkoppeln : III / II .

Game Help: Free combinations (5 banks by 1000 = 5000 general memories ), storage rack (roll on, Pair of roller coupling to IV of roller, Manual 16 ' down, Reeds off (as buttons ), the main pedal off, remote pedal off (as flip switches ), Einzelzungenabsteller ), Tutti (push button), principal pedal down, Fernwerk pedal from, sills V in expression pedal II coupled (toggle button), kicks, interact with flip switches (switching I-IV of P, normal couplers II-IV to I, roll off ) Registercrescendo (roller for the organist, coupled with a second roller for the registrant ) .

Program

The concert hall is the main venue of the Vienna Symphony , the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Sound Forum. Since 1913 the Vienna Academy of Music has its permanent home of the Konzerthaus. In separate events at the Wiener Konzerthaus other international orchestras, soloists and chamber ensembles in addition to the Vienna Philharmonic regular guest. In addition, there are also numerous other events organizer at the Konzerthaus. So for example the Bonbon Ball, but also concerts in jazz and world music.

The program of the Vienna Konzerthaus also includes some festivals , such as

the Early Music Festival in January resonances

the Vienna Spring Festival

the International Music Festival

Wien Modern in autumn

Between 2003 and 2006, gave the series with the latest music generator .

From 2008, a year early in the season with a festival held focus " on a particular region or cultural community ". The first event in September 2008, the two-day festival Spot On : Yiddishkeit , in which a cross section is presented by the diversity of Jewish music creation.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Konzerthaus

myth=mithya, A handbook of Hindu Mythology by Dr DevDutt Pattanaik, that I read in-between my regular books.

I thought my photostream deserved a sunshiny shot!

Modelo: Thais Lucena

Fotografia e Tratamento: Jackson Carvalho

Cabelo e Maquiagem: Priscila Gomes

Stylist: Julian Vieira

Agradecimentos: Sociedade Teatral de Fazenda Nova

www.artedigitalstudio.com.br

2013, Todos os Direitos Reservados

Sony Nex-7 + Zeiss Distagon 18 ZM

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Between Oxford and Swindon

This spot is cool

The difference between a walk and a wander is the time spent. I had little over an hour spare once I arrived, so instead of getting some lunch, I took photos instead.

Down the street lined with shops to the town square with the large church, town hall and many wonderful looking bars and restaurants.

I was in town for a few hours for a meeting, I drove over, then drove back. As you do.

Not a bad day, but I think I will try the train next time....

--------------------------------------------

Leuven (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈløːvə(n)] ( listen); French: Louvain, pronounced: [luvɛ̃], often used in English) is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in Belgium. It is located about 25 kilometres (16 miles) east of Brussels, close to other neighbouring towns such as Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre. The municipality itself comprises the historical city of Leuven and the former municipalities of Heverlee, Kessel-Lo, a part of Korbeek-Lo, Wilsele and Wijgmaal.

It is home to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewing group and one of the five largest consumer-goods companies in the world; and to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the largest and oldest university of the Low Countries and the oldest Catholic university still in existence.[2] It is also home to the UZ Leuven, one of the largest hospitals of Europe.

The earliest mention of Leuven ("Loven") is from 891, when a Viking army was defeated by the Frankish king Arnulf of Carinthia (see: Battle of Leuven). According to a legend the city's red and white arms depict the blood-stained shores of the river Dyle after this battle.

Situated beside this river, and near to the stronghold of the Dukes of Brabant, Leuven became the most important centre of trade in the duchy between the 11th and 14th centuries. A token of its former importance as a centre of cloth manufacture is shown in that ordinary linen cloth is known in late-14th-century and 15th-century texts as lewyn (other spellings: Leuwyn, Levyne, Lewan(e), Lovanium, Louvain).[3]

In the 15th century a new golden era began with the founding of what is now the largest and oldest university in the Low Countries, the Catholic University of Leuven, in 1425.[4]

In the 18th century the brewery Den Horen (meaning "the horn") flourished. In 1708 Sebastien Artois became the master brewer at Den Horen, and gave his name to the brewery in 1717, now part of AB InBev, whose flagship beer, Stella Artois, is brewed in Leuven and sold in many countries.

Leuven has several times been besieged or occupied by foreign armies; these include the Battle of Leuven (891), Siege of Leuven (1635) and Battle of Leuven (1831).

Both world wars in the 20th century inflicted major damage upon the city. Upon Germany's entry into World War I, the town was heavily damaged by rampaging soldiers. Some German soldiers shot the burgomaster, the university rector and all of the city's police officers.[5] In all, about 300 civilians lost their lives.[6] The university library was also destroyed on 25 August 1914, using petrol and incendiary pastilles.[7][8] 230,000 volumes were lost in the destruction, including Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts, a collection of 750 medieval manuscripts, and more than 1,000 incunabula (books printed before 1501).[8][9] The destruction of the library shocked the world, with the Daily Chronicle describing it as war not only against civilians but also against "posterity to the utmost generation."[10] It was rebuilt after the war, and much of the collection was replaced. Great Britain (on the initiative of the John Rylands Library, Manchester) and the United States were major providers of material for the replenishment of the collection.[6] The new library building was financed by the National Committee of the United States for the Restoration of the University of Louvain and built to the design of architect Whitney Warren; it was officially opened on 4 July 1928.[11]

In World War II, after the start of the German offensive, Leuven formed part of the British Expeditionary Force's front line and was defended by units of the 3rd Division and Belgian troops. From 14 to 16 May 1940, the German Army Group B assaulted the city with heavy air and artillery support. The British withdrew their forces to the River Senne on the night of 16 May and the town was occupied the next day.[12] The new university library building was set on fire by shelling on 16 May and nearly a million books were lost.

The Town Hall, built by Sulpitius van Vorst (nl), Jan II Keldermans, and, after both of them died, Matheus de Layens between 1439 and 1463 in a Brabantian late-Gothic style. In the 19th century, 236 statues were added to the exterior, each representing a prominent local scholar, artist or noble from the city’s history. The reception hall dates from 1750.

The St. Peter's Church (1425–1500) was finished by Jan Keldermans and Matheus de Layens. During the Second World War the church was damaged; during the restoration a Romanesque crypt from the 11th century was found. In the church itself there are several paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries (among others, Dirk Bouts's famous painting of the last supper) and the grave of Duke Henry I of Brabant. The 50-metre-high tower — which was meant to be 169 metres high, but was never completed — is home to a carillon. The tower was included in UNESCO's list of Belfries of Belgium and France in 1999.

Saint-Anthony's Chapel, Pater Damiaanplein, from the 17th to the 20th centuries, contains the tomb of Father Damien, the "leper priest" of Molokai, who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday October 11, 2009.[15][16] The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him "the Apostle of the Lepers",[17] and elsewhere he is known as the "leper priest". The Catholic priest's remains were returned in Belgium with great fanfare in 1936, after having been originally buried on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai where he had served the outcast lepers until his death.

The Linen-hall, in an early-Gothic style, with baroque addition, is today the University Hall.

The Church of Saint Michael was built in the typical Jesuit Baroque Style.

The Church of Saint Quinten incorporates remains of a Romanesque church built in the 13th century.

The University Library on the Ladeuzeplein was built by the American architect Whitney Warren. It was a gift from the American people to Leuven after World War I, during which the Germans burned down the original library. The tower houses one of the largest carillons in the world.

Totem is a statue at the centre of the Ladeuzeplein; it is a work of the Belgian artist Jan Fabre. Featuring a 23-metre-high needle impaling a giant jewelled beetle, the statue towers over the square in front of the university library.

There is a neo-Romanesque Abbey on the Keizersberg ("Emperor's Mountain"), where there once stood a 12th-century ducal castle, which was demolished in the 17th Century.

The Large Beguinage is one of the world's best remaining examples of its architectural type. It was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1998.

There are several other smaller churches and chapels throughout the town.

"Fonske" is a statue near the centre of town. Its full name is Fons Sapientiae, Latin for "fountain of wisdom". The statue represents a university student who, while reading a book, lets wisdom flow into his head as liquid from a glass. Just like Manneken Pis in Brussels, Fonske is, from time to time, dressed in costumes appropriate for specific occasions.

The 'Oude Markt' or "Old Market" square located in the center of Leuven features a vibrant social scene the center of which displays a lifesize statue of 'De Kotmadam', or "The Landlady" resting on a bench.

Lerkeveld is a famous Jesuit abbey, and headquarters of the Jesuits in Belgium.

St Anthony's College, Leuven was located in the city, on Pater Damiaanplein. The Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe is now located on the premises.

Sint-Donatus Park contains remains of the medieval city wall

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuven

Millennium UN Plaza Hotel New York

One United Nations Plaza

44th Street between First and Second Avenue

New York, NY, 10017

One United Nations Plaza is on the left. Two United Nations Plaza is on the right.

----------

In the 1960s the U.N. had grown from 51 missions to over 120 missions without any parallel office and hotel room capacity being built in its neighborhood. According to the NY Times the city of New York was receiving complaints from the United Nations about the shortage of office space and hotel accommodations on the mideast side and it was having thoughts about leaving the city.

The city took action. In 1968 a joint agency was formed by the city, state and U.N. to develop a large scale extension of facilities across First Avenue from the U.N. The agency, the United Nations Development Corporation, acquired the land on the north side of 44th Street at 1st Avenue, essentially across the street from the U.N. headquarters.

The United Nations Development Corporation contracted with the architecture firm Roche-Dinkeloo. Kevin Roche acted as the principal designer for the firm while John Dinkeloo provided expertise in construction and technology. In the 60s and 70s they created stimulating examples of civic and corporate architecture. Later in the early 1990's they designed the 56-story Morgan Bank in the financial district.

The plan emerged for a four building complex of 40-story towers. The first building -- a combined office, apartment and hotel tower was completed in 1976.

The height of the tower was curtailed to 39-stories as it could not exceed height of the Secretariat Building of the U.N. Contradictorily - in 2000 Donald Trump built The Trump World Tower at United Nations Plaza three blocks to the north and was allowed to go 72 floors.

Known as One UN Plaza, it was completed with office space to the 26th floor and 247 hotel rooms on floors 27-39. On the 27th floor a health club with its glass-walled swimming pool was built. On the 39th floor is the only hotel tennis court available in Manhattan.

The 2nd phase known as Two UN Plaza was a mixed use office and hotel building. It was completed in 1983. It contained another 180 hotel rooms.

The exterior of the two buildings is uncompromisingly uniform in composition, being made of rectangular green-tinted glass plates tied together with narrow aluminum bands. The facade grid consists of floor-high elements of mirror windows -- the first used in NYC -- with four windows forming one element.

When the hotel opened in 1977 it was known as the United Nations Plaza Hotel - and in small print - (a United Nations Development Corporation project, managed by Hyatt International Corporation)

In the 1980s Hyatt added the hotel to its new Park Hyatt brand and altered the hotel's name to U.N. Plaza Hotel-Park Hyatt – New York, NY. Rakesh Sarna, the Chief Operating Officer for Hyatt International Operations, served as the hotel's general manager in the early 80's.

In 1997 the NY Times reported that Mayor Rudy Giuliani determined it was time for the city to sell off assets -particulary those that put the city in the role of landlord. He felt the city should not be in the hotel business and thought there was a growing demand by investors for New York City hotels. J.P. Morgan, the city's financial advisor, circulated the prospectus spelling out the terms of the hotel sale to large international hotel concerns, including Hyatt International which held the management contract to operate the hotel. The hotel portions of the two buildings had a complex ownership structure involving the city and the United Nations Development Corporation which complicated the sale.

The hotel quickly sold in 1997 ending the city's 21 year tenure in the hotel business. It was thought the city made out like a bandit receiving $102 million from Hong Kong-based Regal Hotels International. The $238,000 price per key for each of the 428 rooms was much more then earlier city estimates of a price range of $40 million to $85 million. The hotel was rebranded to the Regal UN Plaza.

During the preceding 10 years New York City's share of the hotel's profits, rent payments and property taxes averaged $2.48 million. By shifting the United Nations Plaza Hotel's ownership from public to private hands the city expected to receive annual city taxes of $6 million, which could increase to $9 million by the year 2010.

On July 28, 1997 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani "handed-over" the city-owned 427-room U.N. Plaza Hotel to Hong Kong-based Regal Hotels International - the final step of the $102 million purchase. The mayor was joined at the ceremony by Daniel Bong, Deputy Chairman of Regal Hotels International Holdings LTD, Douglas Pasquale, President and CEO of Regal Hotels and the hotel's General Manager Richard Wilhelm. Wilhelm later worked for Donald Trump as President and Managing Director of the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

In November 1999 the London real estate company Millennium & Copthorne, acquired the 28 Regal hotels in the United States from Regal Hotels International paying $640 million ( $253 million in cash plus assuming $387 million in debt).

Some of the hotels included in the deal were the Regal U.N. Plaza in New York, the Regal Biltmore in Los Angeles, the Regal Bostonian in Boston and the Regal McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Millennium & Copthorne is 52.4 percent owned by Singapore based CDL Hotels International. Millennium and Copthorne already owns 42 percent of the Plaza and has interests in the Millennium Broadway and the Millennium Hilton, all in Manhattan.

In 2001 Millennium Copthorne renamed the Regal UN Plaza to - Millennium Hotel, New York, UN Plaza.

In 2010, Wanda Chan, the General Manager for the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel New York, told leadersmag.com the hotel would start guest room renovation in 2011, including new furniture, new wall coverings, new carpets, and new window treatments. Also, the lobby lounge is to be redesigned as a social space and an amenity for the guests and the general public by serving coffee/teas in the afternoon and wine in the evening.

Kicking up the snow as it speeds towards Birmingham 172 232 is at work on the 11.28 Dorridge - Stourbridge Junction train. The photograph was taken from the end of Tyseley station platform 4 during falling snow, 18/01/2013

The rain stopped just long enough today that my son managed to stay dry at the St Georges Day Parade he went to for Beavers this afternoon. Taken for the ODC theme of "Parallel Lines"

Come check out my BLOG, I would would love to see you over there too.

Between Worlds

4464 drops downgrade between Tarago and Lake Bathurst with 8L04 up LVR shuttle for Streamliners 2016

Sunset between cloud decks. Shot taken from the Lunch Counter on Mount Adams.

Heading into Caernarfon. First view of the town walls from Glan Mor.

Between towers 4 and 5. The entrance at Northgate Street near Bank Quay.

Caernarfon town walls

Caernarfon's town walls are a medieval defensive structure around the town of Caernarfon in North Wales. The walls were constructed between 1283 and 1292 after the foundation of Caernarfon by Edward I, alongside the adjacent castle. The walls are 734 m (2,408 ft) long and include eight towers and two medieval gatehouses. The project was completed using large numbers of labourers brought in from England; the cost of building the walls came to around £3,500, a large sum for the period. The walls were significantly damaged during the rebellion of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294, and had to be repaired at considerable expense. Political changes in the 16th century reduced the need to maintain such defences around the town. Today the walls form part of the UNESCO world heritage site administered by Cadw. Archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham describe the defences as "a remarkably intact walled circuit".

Grade I listed building.

Caernarfon Town Wall

History

The borough of Caernarfon was established by Edward I of England under the Statute of Wales in 1284. It was the centre of government for N Wales and was protected by the erection of the Town Wall, with Caernarfon Castle at its S end. The construction of the Town Wall had begun in 1283 in conjunction with the building of Caernarfon Castle, probably under the direction of James of St George who was architect of the castle. Masonry work on the first phase of the Town Wall was completed by 1285, re-using some stone from Segontium Roman fort. The Town Wall was badly damaged in the native uprising of 1294 and were restored and improved in 1295 at a cost of £1195. The wall walk and towers were further repaired in 1309-12. Of other entrances, only a single postern gate has survived intact, the Greengate to the SE. Former posterns on the W side are infilled and can be seen in the W wall of the church of St Mary and gable end of the police station. Another postern, the Water Gate at the end of Castle Ditch, has been altered. Further openings facing Bank Quay, from Church Street, Market Street and Northgate Street, are later insertions. The bell tower at the NW corner was converted for ecclesiastical use as accommodation for the chaplain of the church of St Mary, built 1307-16. The Bath Tower facing the Promenade was converted in 1823 when the Earl of Uxbridge created public baths on the site of the present 11-17 Church Street, part of a scheme to attract visitors to the town, when the upper stage of the Bath Tower became a reading room. The main E and W entrances survive substantially intact (are listed as separate items).

Exterior

High coursed rubble-stone wall in several straight sections forming an irregular plan and a circuit approximately 730m long, with 2 gate houses (listed as separate items) and eight 2-stage round towers contrasting with the polygonal towers of the castle. The quality of masonry in the wall is variable, accounted for by various repairs and restorations. The towers have mainly open gorges and were originally crossed by timber bridges, one of which has been repaired on the NE side. The upper stages of the towers have arrow loops, while the embattled parapet, where it survives, has similar loops to the merlons. The walls have regular brattice slots. At the SE end the wall has been demolished across Castle Ditch and begins on its N side, where on the inner side facing Hole-in-the-Wall Street stone steps to the wall walk survive at high level, and where there is a postern gate, known as the Greengate, under a 2-centred arch with portcullis slot. The adjacent tower has a shouldered lintel to a fireplace in the upper stage. The wall, with 2 towers and the East Gate to High Street, continues on a high bank, around to the N side facing Bank Quay. The NE tower survives to the full height of its battlements and has stone steps on the inner side. A skewed archway has been inserted leading to Northgate Street. Further W, an inserted segmental arch spans a double-carriageway entrance to Market Street, while the tower on its W side also retains stone steps. A lower segmental arch leads to Church Street immediately to the E of the church.

On the NW side the church of St Mary is integral with the Town Wall and its NW, or Bell Tower, houses the vestry, while its upper storey served as a priest's dwelling. Facing N it has a 2-light Tudor window under a hoodmould, with sunk spandrels, while the W face has a plainer 2-light window in the upper stage. On the parapet is a gabled bellcote. A blocked former postern gate is on the return facing the promenade, incorporated into the church. The next tower facing the promenade is the Bath Tower, which has early C19 detail in connection with the baths established in 1823. It has its doorway in the S side facing the Promenade, which has a pointed arch with studded boarded door and Y-tracery overlight. In the N and S faces the upper stage has restored 3-light mullioned and transomed windows incorporating iron-frame casements, and restored embattled parapet. A 2-storey projection with parapet is built behind. At the W end of the High Street is the former gatehouse known as Porth-yr-Aur, beyond which there is a single tower behind the former jail. The tower is enclosed at the rear by a late C19 wall with segmental arch flanked by small-pane windows under lintels. Further S is a segmental arch across Castle Ditch, on the S side of which the reveal and part of the keyed arch of an earlier gateway is visible, while the wall abutting the castle is an addition of 1326.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade I, the medieval Town Wall has survived to almost the complete extent of the original circuit, defining the medieval town, and with Caernarfon Castle is of national significance in the survival of a medieval garrison town.

Scheduled Ancient Monument CN 034.

World Heritage Site.

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The night before I toke this photograph a small snowfall covers partially this beautiful forest, the morning light was amazing, it was a cold and cloudy day but under the trees the visibility was really great. Without any sign of usual mist I was able to capture even the most distance trees with great detail.

You can download this picture as an HD wallpaper on my website: www.marcgcphotography.com