Novosibirsk is a city in Siberia, southern Russia, bisected by the Ob River. The Trans-Siberian Railway fueled much of the city's 19th-century growth, symbolized by the Novosibirsk Rail Bridge, which still stands today. In the city center is the 19th-century, Byzantine-style Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, with its golden domes. The expansive Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre borders Lenin Square.

Old Absinthe House in Louisiana (The building that now houses the Old Absinthe House has a rich history. The building was erected in 1806 to house an importing firm. In 1815 the ground floor was converted into a saloon known as "Aleix's Coffee House." This coffee house was later rechristened "The Absinthe Room" when mixologist Cayetano Ferrer created the famous Absinthe House Frappe here in 1874. The original Old Absinthe House bar was to be destroyed at the start of Prohibition - as a powerful message to proprietors and others that Absinthe was to be abolished from the US and would not be tolerated. Fortunately, the bar was moved under cover of darkness to a warehouse on Bourbon Street in order to preserve it. The Old Absinthe House has played host to writers--including Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain--as well as politicians, pirates, and movie stars. The absinthe still flows at this Bourbon Street landmark and "everyone you have known or ever will know eventually ends up at the Old Absinthe House." The Old Absinthe House is rumored to be the spot where future President of the United States Andrew Jackson met with French pirate Jean Laffite to work out a strategy to subdue British forces in what would be known as the Battle of New Orleans. Patrons have reported seeing the spectral figure of a pirate floating near the Old Absinthe House bar late at night, Several apparitions craving an Absinthe House Frappe have been spotted gliding about, leaving cold spots in their wake, and laughing ghostly laughs in close proximity to the bar throughout the decades)

Picture is from around 1900......................

1906......

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Old Absinthe House

Jean Lafitte's Old Absinthe House (known to locals as Absinthe House) is located in the historical French Quarter district in New Orleans, LA. For over 200 ...

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

The Potala Palace is a dzong fortress in the Lhasa, Tibet, China. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and has been a World Heritage Site since 1994.

The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The 5th Dalai Lama started its construction in 1645 after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel (died 1646), pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries and the old city of Lhasa. It may overlay the remains of an earlier fortress called the White or Red Palace on the site, built by Songtsen Gampo in 637.

Qumran Caves in Israel (are a series of caves, some natural, some artificial, found around the archaeological site of Qumran in the Judaean Desert of the West Bank. It is in these caves that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Israel Nature and Parks Authority took over the site following the end of the 1967 war, when Israel occupied the West Bank and seized Qumran. Israel has since invested heavily in the area to establish the Qumran caves as a site of "uniquely Israeli Jewish heritage". The caves are recognized in Israel as a National Heritage Site, despite the caves being in occupied Palestinian territories; as such, the designation has drawn criticism)

Isaiah scroll......................

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15th February 1949: The first archaeological excavation at the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Qumran Caves are a series of natural and man-made caves in the limestone cliffs above the ancient settlement of Qumran in the modern West Bank. Although ...

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

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). It is underlain by the Red Sea Rift, which is part of the Great Rift Valley.

The Red Sea  has extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life and corals. The sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species and 200 types of soft and hard coral. It is the world's northernmost tropical sea, and has been designated a Global 200 ecoregion.

Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky - is a thoroughbred race horse breeding farm and burial site in Lexington, Kentucky, currently owned by Eric & Tammy Gustavson.[It was founded by Leslie Combs II and named for the great stallion Spendthrift, who was owned by Combs' ancestor, Daniel Swigert of Elmendorf Farm. Spendthrift was the great-grandfather of Man o' War. Although Spendthrift Farm is known mostly as a commercial breeding operation, they maintain a small racing stable as well. Their most notable runners are Beholder, a 4-time Eclipse Award winning mare, Lord Nelson, a three-time Gr.I winning sprinter, and Court Vision, who won the Breeders' Cup Mile and now stands at Spendthrift. In 1966 Majestic Prince was foaled at Spendthrift, bred by Combs. The famous son of Raise A Native later was returned to the farms and died there in 1981. In 1979, the great Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew was retired to stud and stood at Spendthrift until 1987. Spendthrift Farms went public in 1983.[3] In 1984 Queen Elizabeth II visited Spendthrift Farms to view not only Seattle Slew but also Affirmed as possible studs for her stable of Thoroughbreds containing 22 broodmares. In 1984 the Keeneland Association honored Spendthrift Farm with its Mark of Distinction for their contribution to Keeneland and the Thoroughbred industry.

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Take a Virtual Tour of Spendthrift Farm

Autry Graham, the Assistant Marketing Director at Spendthrift Farm, takes fans on a virtual tour of their farm. Video footage by Bryan Starr Cinematography.~...

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Thor's Well in Oregon (Nicknamed the drainpipe of the Pacific, Thor's Well appears to be stealing water from the sea itself. The natural sinkhole is nestled on the coast of Oregon, close to Cape Perpetua, and is thought to have started out as a sea cave that eventually collapsed into itself. Thought to be around 20 feet (6m) deep, the hole becomes even more mesmerizing at high tide or during intense storms when water violently thrashes over the rocks)

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Thor's Well at Sunset

June 9, 2021This is a collection of videos and photos from Thor's Well along the Oregon Coast at sunset.https://traveloregon.com/plan-your-trip/ask-oregon/im...

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

Volubilis in Morocco (is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco situated near the city of Meknes, and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of King Juba II. Before Volubilis, the capital of the Kingdom may have been at Gilda.[1][2] Built in a fertile agricultural area, it developed from the 3rd century BC onward as a Berber, then proto-Carthaginian, settlement before being the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. It grew rapidly under Roman rule from the 1st century AD onward and expanded to cover about 42 hectares (100 acres) with a 2.6 km (1.6 mi) circuit of walls. The city gained a number of major public buildings in the 2nd century, including a basilica, temple and triumphal arch. Its prosperity, which was derived principally from olive growing, prompted the construction of many fine town-houses with large mosaic floors. The ruins remained substantially intact until they were devastated by an earthquake in the mid-18th century and subsequently looted by Moroccan rulers seeking stone for building Meknes. It was not until the latter part of the 19th century that the site was definitively identified as that of the ancient city of Volubilis. During and after the period of French rule over Morocco, about half of the site was excavated, revealing many fine mosaics, and some of the more prominent public buildings and high-status houses were restored or reconstructed. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed for being "an exceptionally well preserved example of a large Roman colonial town on the fringes of the Empire")

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Volubilis (Morocco) Vacation Travel Video Guide

Travel video about the destination Volubilis in Morocco.PLANET TERRA takes you to each corner of the planet and helps you to discover the world with fascinat...

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

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. The term "White House" is often used as a metonym for the president and his advisers.

The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the neoclassical style. Hoban modelled the building on Leinster House in Dublin, a building which today houses the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature. Construction took place between 1792 and 1800, using Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) added low colonnades on each wing that concealed stables and storage In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semi-circular South portico in 1824 and the North portico in 1829.