The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for 900,000 square kilometres (350,000 sq mi), covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa.  The Kalahari Desert was not always a dry desert. The fossil flora and fauna from Gcwihaba Cave in Botswana indicates that the region was much wetter and cooler at least from 30 to 11 thousand BP (before present) especially after 17,500 BP

Luray Caverns in Virginia (originally called Luray Cave, is a cave just west of Luray, Virginia, United States, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The cavern system is generously adorned with speleothems such as columns, mud flows, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and mirrored pools. The caverns are perhaps best known for the Great Stalacpipe Organ, a lithophone made from solenoid-fired strikers that tap stalactites of various sizes to produce tones similar to those of xylophones, tuning forks, or bells. A Smithsonian Institution report of July 13 and 14, 1880, concluded: "[I]t is safe to say that there is probably no other cave in the world more completely and profusely decorated with stalactite and stalagmite ornamentation than that of Luray.")

Great Stalacpipe Organ, which can play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata by using rubber mallets to strike 37 stalactites of varying sizes...................................

Dream Lake which has a surface so glassy it perfectly mirrors the stalactites above......................................

Luray Caverns Wishing Well has donated over $1 million in cavern “wishes” to charity over its years..............................

Not known when this was taken but shows woman collecting the coins from the well.................

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Luray Caverns Tour & Great Stalacpipe Organ

We visited the amazing Luray Caverns in Virgina in the Shenandoah Valley, and was also able to experience the surreal Great Stalacpipe Organ playing music. ...

Calling it a night.........................

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown. The memorial is located at the eastern exit of the town and marks the starting point for one of the main roads out of the town that led Allied soldiers to the front line. “Menin” is the traditional name of the gate in this location of Ypres' city walls because it leads to the town of Menen. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and built by the Imperial War Graves Commission (since renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), the Menin Gate Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1927.

Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany (is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honour of Richard Wagner. This "Mad" king is said to have been obsessed with fairytales (and opera) and built numerous castles across Bavaria as a result. Ludwig chose to pay for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds. Construction began in 1869, but was never fully completed. The castle was intended as a private residence for the King, until he died in 1886. It was open to the public shortly after his death. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer)

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Neuschwanstein, Germany's fairy tale castle | 10Best

This German castle looks like it was pulled straight out of a fairy tale. And, in a way, it was! RELATED: 10 beautiful lakes in Europe - https://youtu.be/6Hb...

Disney took inspiration from the castle for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle..................

and for Cinderella's..............................

Off to work.......................

The Öresund or Øresund Bridge  is a combined railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, running nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island Peberholm in the middle of the strait. The crossing is completed by the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) Drogden Tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager.

The bridge connects the road and rail networks of the Scandinavian Peninsula with those of Central and Western Europe. A data cable also makes the bridge the backbone of Internet data transmission between central Europe and Sweden.^] The international European route E20 crosses via road, the Øresund Line via railway. The construction of the Great Belt Fixed Link (1988–1998), connecting Zealand to Funen and thence to the Jutland Peninsula, and the Øresund Bridge have connected Central and Western Europe to Sweden by road and rail.

Popeye Village in Malta (also known as Sweethaven Village, is a purpose-built film set village that has been converted into a small attraction fun park, consisting of a collection of rustic and ramshackle wooden buildings. It is located at Prajjet Bay/Anchor Bay, 3 km (2 mi) from the village core of Mellieha, Malta. It was built as a film set for the production of the 1980 live-action musical feature film Popeye, produced by Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. It is open to the public as an open-air museum and seaside resort. The construction of the film set began in June 1979. A construction crew of 165 working over seven months was needed to build the village, which consists of nineteen wooden buildings. Hundreds of logs and several thousand wooden planks were imported from the Netherlands, while wood shingles used in the construction of the roof tops were imported from Canada. Eight tons of nails and 2.5 cubic metres (2,000 US gal) of paint were also used in construction. In addition, a 60–75 m (197–246 ft) breakwater was built around Anchor Bay's mouth to protect the set from high seas during the filming. The set was completed in seven months, and filming commenced on January 23, 1980 and wrapped later that year on June 19. The film, based on the comic strips by E. C. Segar, is set around the fictional village of Sweethaven, where Popeye the sailor arrives in an attempt to find his long-lost father. Although the film had mixed reviews, Popeye Village remains a popular tourist attraction)

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POPEYE VILLAGE MALTA | Full Tour of Popeye Village Mellieha Malta | Filming Location Virtual Walk

POPEYE VILLAGE MALTA | Full Tour of Popeye Village Mellieha Malta | Filming Location Virtual WalkA virtual walk through the amazing village used as the filmi...

Calling it a night......................

Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest borough of New York City in area; it is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long Island to its west and Nassau County to the east.

Roman Baths in England (are well-preserved thermae in the city of Bath, Somerset, England. A temple was constructed on the site between 60-70AD in the first few decades of Roman Britain. Its presence led to the development of the small Roman urban settlement known as Aquae Sulis around the site. The Roman baths—designed for public bathing—were used until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th Century AD. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the original Roman baths were in ruins a century later. The area around the natural springs was redeveloped several times during the Early and Late Middle Ages)

Old photos of the bath, not sure the year they were taken.......................

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Roman Baths - Full Tour. Bath, Somerset, England.

The Roman Baths in the city of Bath, Somerset, are a beautiful place to visit, with it's fine stone architecture and mystical green waters it is perhaps the ...

Off to work........................

Sistine Chapel, papal chapel in the Vatican Palace that was erected in 1473–81 by the architect Giovanni dei Dolci for Pope Sixtus IV (hence its name). The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, in Vatican City and the official residence of the pope. Originally known as the Cappella Magna

Trakai Island Castle in Lithuania (is an island castle located in Trakai, Lithuania, on an island in Lake Galve. The construction of the stone castle was begun in the 14th century by Kestutis, and around 1409 major works were completed by his son Vytautas the Great, who died in this castle in 1430. Trakai was one of the main centers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the castle held great strategic importance. The castle was rebuilt in the 1950s–1960s by Lithuanian initiative, although it had received resistance from Soviet authorities. The Trakai History Museum was established after the reconstruction)

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Trakai Island Castle, Lithuania

Trakai Island Castle is an island castle located in Trakai, Lithuania, on an island in Lake Galve. The construction of the stone castle was begun in the 14th...

Taking a break.......................