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Tag: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Traveling via the Icefields Parkway to Jasper

Traveling via the Icefields Parkway to Jasper

We left Lake Louise and headed for the Jasper Park Lodge via the Icefields Parkway.  The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks are a UNESCO World Heritage Site both because of their beauty and fossils that can be found in the area. Our drive took us into Yoho National Park, Banff National Park and Jasper National Park.  The drive was one of incredible scenery with snow-covered mountains, glaciers, beautiful blue lakes colored by glacier sediment, and waterfalls.  The next pictures were taken…

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Changdeokgung Palace

Changdeokgung Palace

On a day when our son and daughter-in-law were more heavily involved in wedding preparations, we toured the Changdeokgung Palace.  When visiting Korea, we found that there were far fewer people who spoke English when compared to other countries we have visited.  The hotel concierge wrote down where we were going and gave us a card with the name of our hotel which we could give to our taxi driver, ensuring that we got to where we were going and…

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Mirror Lakes, The Chasm and Milford Sound

Mirror Lakes, The Chasm and Milford Sound

After finishing our cruise on Marlborough Sound, we went back to the airport in Blenheim and flew to Te Anau.  Te Anau is in the southern part of New Zealand’s south island, just a little more than 3,000 miles from the South Pole.  Today our tour would take us to Milford Sound – and there would be incredible beauty every step of the way.  Our first stop was Mirror Lakes.  These are small lakes very close to the road on…

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Small Towns in Italy

Small Towns in Italy

We visited several small towns in the Umbria region of Italy which include Orvieto and Assisi from my last post.  Umbria is famous for medieval towns, wine and beautiful farmland.  We stayed in Torgiano, also in the Umbria region.  The oldest part of Torgiano is still partly surrounded by a wall.  Pictured below is the Torre di Guardia which is a defensive tower dating back to the 13th Century.   As we walked to see this tower, we came across the…

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Beijing (Part Three)

Beijing (Part Three)

This will be the last “Beijing” post and will focus on the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven.  The Summer Palace was originally commissioned in 1749 but was damaged in two wars.  It was rebuilt in 1886 at the direction of Empress Dowager Cixi.  She is said to have been one of the most powerful women in Chinese history.  She was widowed when she was 26 and her five-year old son was next in line to serve as emperor. …

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Beijing (Part Two)

Beijing (Part Two)

Our tour group visited Tiananmen Square which means the Gate of Heavenly Peace.  Besides being a major tourist attraction, many celebrations and military reviews are held here.  This was also the site of the student and worker protests in 1989  which ended with many pro-democracy protesters being killed.  The first picture under this paragraph is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall.  Our guide told us that Chairman Mao is revered by the Chinese people and indeed, many Chinese were waiting to…

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