In Ireland, the Rock of Cashel stands as the most complete complex of historical structures from the Medieval Ages. In a self-guided tour of the site, you view excellent examples of: 1. early Christian architecture, (the Round Tower;) 2. Romanesque (newly-restored Cormac’s Chapel, frescoes;) and, 3. Gothic, (ruins of the main cathedral, built between A.D. […]
This summer, a trip to British Columbia in Canada included a visit to the Okanagan. A series of lakes, valleys, and mountains – the result of glaciation – greeted me as I crossed the northcentral border with Washington state. The pace felt slower, more relaxed, and agricultural; just what I needed for a vacation-break. Today, […]
From quiet and tranquil to wild and daring, this video looks at the four-season landscapes of British Columbia — Nitobe Memorial Gardens at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a Japanese-style public garden; and, Whistler resort, with its art museums, activities, and accommodations, the home of the Winter Olympics of 2010.
Reopening this summer after a two-year seismic retrofit, The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Colombia should be on your list of places to visit in the greater Vancouver, Canada area. No pun intended, but I could have been one of the first people to visit this homage to First Nations culture after […]
As part of my adventures, I like grand national parks, horizon-filling national monuments, and beautiful open spaces of all kinds. These places highlight nature in all of its wide-open magnificence. Yet, I also love the smaller scale, more detailed, intimate gardens I visit. In that sense, the Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver, Canada, surprised me […]
This is a quick song and video about Japan’s quick trains, the “Shinkansen.” At first, train service in Japan, (subway, local commuter routes, high-speed bullet trains,) can be daunting and confusing. I was aware of some of the humorous looks I got while pondering over the signs and directions in the station. Once I got […]
From big city hustle to forested ryokans (traditional Japanese inns,) Japan has it all. Japan is a mix of the old and the new. Though wars and earthquakes have been destructive, Japan has rebuilt itself in the styles of the past and the modern. Here, you find people living in modern housing and traveling on […]
During my recent trip to Japan, I photographed a number of castles and museums. Of the former, there were pictures of: (1) Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, (originally built in 1333) – the white “Egret” Castle, one of the top three castles in Japan; (2) Tokyo’s Imperial Palace – formally the site of […]
Japan is an island, (I should say “islands” much the same as the state of Hawaii is made up of several islands.) Japan is a language and a culture, (again much the same as Hawaii.) Thus, Japan has its own unique designs and architecture. In this video, I have selected a few design/architecture statements that […]
Japanese gardens can be found all over the world. They are a well-known and respected form of landscape architecture that shuns the man-made, borrows from the surrounding scenery, and features the natural materials of rock, sand, water, ocean, fish, flower, and more. Many of the gardens I visited in Japan have existed for centuries. In […]