balboa park • san diego • california

Visiting Hohenschwangau castle.

We decided to book tickets to see Hohenschwangau instead of Neuschwanstein. I think it was well worth it, not nearly as crowded as it could've been. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle due to it being privately owned but what me and the family saw was nothing short of amazing.

There was also a really good view of Neuschwanstein from the courtyard that I got to witness (1st picture).

August 26th 2023.

Preah Sihanouk, Cambodia

St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, Czech Republic

Tokyo Cityscape 3747 por www.tokyoshot.com Por Flickr: with Nishi-Shinjuku skyline.

Gorgeous! 💜

The Teatro Comunale - Noto, Sicily

The theater was built in the 1860s and opened in 1870. It was designed to harmonize with the many Baroque buildings in the town center despite being built some 250 years later. 

Photos by Charles Reeza

𝑺𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 💚🌅

1 𝒐𝒓 2? 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆?

𝑰𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒔, 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒖 🎞️

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Alcatraz Island still draws tourists for its history as a federal penitentiary. But it also has a rich past as little-known military base, erected to guard against foreign invasion. Image Credit: Mbprojekt Maciej Bledowski, iStock

Ground-Penetrating Radar Reveals Military Structures Buried Beneath Alcatraz Penitentiary

Using non-invasive techniques, archaeologists have confirmed the presence of a coastal fortification beneath what was once the prison’s recreation yard.

— By Katherine J. Wu, Published March 4, 2019 | August 02, 2023

Alcatraz might be best known as a popular tourist destination, the site of the former high-security prison that once held Al Capone. But a team of archaeologists has now unveiled new evidence of this San Francisco Bay island’s often overlooked military history.

In the study, published last Thursday in the journal Near Surface Geophysics, researchers used non-invasive technologies to pull back the curtain on a stunningly well-preserved 19th century coastal fortification that lies beneath the ruins of this infamous federal penitentiary. The work confirms that while prison construction in the early 1900s destroyed much of the former military installation, several structures were buried more or less intact, enshrining a critical sliver of Alcatraz’s colorful past.

“This really changes the picture of things,” says study author Timothy de Smet, an archaeologist at Binghamton University. “These remains are so well preserved, and so close to the surface. They weren’t erased from the island—they’re right beneath your feet.”

Study author Timothy de Smet used non-invasive techniques to create a subsurface map of remains of Alcatraz Island's former military fortification. Image Credit: Timothy de Smet, Binghampton University

Prior to the mid-1800s, Alcatraz Island was a barren strip of land capable of supporting little more than a raucous population of seabirds. But in the wake of the California Gold Rush, the United States government looked to the rocky outcrop as a potential military base to protect the newly bustling city from foreign invasion. Over the next several decades, a stone- and brick-based fortification was erected, then rebuilt as earthen structures better equipped to handle erosion. But Alcatraz struggled to keep pace with the rapid changes in artillery during and after the Civil War era, and by the late 1800s, the island’s defenses were essentially obsolete. Military pursuits on Alcatraz were abandoned shortly thereafter.

When the island’s prison was erected around the turn of the 20th century, little physical evidence of its former architecture remained—or so many thought. The new study, led by de Smet, says otherwise. To look beneath the surface, the researchers deployed ground-penetrating radar, which pulses electromagnetic waves into the earth, returning signals that can visualize remains without excavation. The strategy uncovered a labyrinth of subterranean structures, including an earthwork traverse, a kind of defensive trench, running beneath the penitentiary’s former recreation yard.

“Below the Surface, Alcatraz is Still Full of Mysteries”

“This really reinforces what several historians and archaeologists had long suspected,” says study author and Alcatraz historian John Martini. “Up until this point, we had nothing to go on except for a few visible trace remains and maps—and a lot of suspicion.”

In a way, Martini says, the findings reflect just how limited real estate was on Alcatraz, which clocks in at less than 50 acres. “On a small island, there’s only so many places you can build,” he says. “And it’s unlikely they went to the trouble of demolishing all this stuff.”

A 15-inch Rodman cannon and its gun crew, 1869. These were the largest guns mounted on Alcatraz. Image Credit: National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Because they’re both sensitive and non-destructive, techniques like ground-penetrating radar are crucial for these kinds of investigations, and can complement historical records that survived the era, says Jolene Babyak, an Alcatraz historian who was not involved in the study.

With these results in hand, de Smet and his colleagues plan to continue archaeological investigations under Alcatraz. Going forward, only time will tell what this rock will reveal, Martini says. “Below the surface, Alcatraz is still full of mysteries,” he says. “There’s still a whole lot to be learned.”

Soldiers posing in the island’s ordnance yard. A brick Citadel capped the summit of Alcatraz. 1869. Image Credit: National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Famous Antico Cafe Greco in Rome, where many artists and novelists used to visit and enjoy their conversation since 1760. — Photo via The Times / © ALAMY

Top Five 5star zurich hotels - in Switzerland

Switzerland's Zurich stands out as a top luxury vacation destination, and its Zurich hotels are essential in giving visitors experiences like no other. This vibrant city is home to numerous luxury 5-star Zurich hotels of the highest caliber, as well as breathtaking natural scenery and a vibrant cultural scene. In this post, we'll walk you through the top five 5-star Zurich hotels and provide you in-depth descript Read More

Füssen and the surrounding countryside.

August 25th 2023.

Katibawasan Falls in Camiguin Island, Philippines

Hope youre staying safe in all the chaos! Just out of interest, what are your opinions on tourism to sri lanka at the moment?

I am quite safe, been parked at home well away from the capital. 😊 Tourists are 100% safe to come here, or at least as safe as any other South Asian country would be. Coming here would be a huge help to the economy actually, and people would probably bend over backwards for tourists because it's one of our arterial industries and it's all but dead in the water right now.

The protests have so far been peaceful, and foreigners have even pitched in for some of them, especially at Gotagogama. 😂The violence has come purely from state enforcers, and even they think twice about harrassing a foreign national. Situations only get out of hand and result in casualties when the cops keep escalating their attacks, because it's second nature for protestors by now to head towards a clash rather than away from it. The people erupted into violence exactly one day in May, and even then the riots targeted only government MPs and their assorted enforcers. No one else was harmed. And yes, we're as flabbergasted about that as anyone.

The thing about the Aragalaya (the People's Struggle, a purely groundswell movement all over the island, dedicated to ousting the Rajapaksas) is that we're very, very clear on what we want, which is the Rajapaksas and their cronies out and the current government dissolved. Because there are so many disparate groups and factions involved, whenever one starts picking a sidequest, the others step in like "what're you doing, you're putting all of us in danger". The Aragalaya also has many middle class urbanites and moderates in the mix, whose socioeconomic privileges shield the others from the kind of police brutality the poorer ones would receive. The price of that otoh, is staying "respectable" and proving that they're aligning themselves with people exercising their democratic rights and not unpredictable rabble-rousers.

Some of us have actually been talking about "protest tourism" in a jokey but semi-serious fashion, because the Aragalaya is so wonderful and unprecedented. Gotagogama (Gota Go Village) sprung up as an encampment that grew to an organic anarchist community, subsisting entirely on mutual aid and refusing gifts of money. I haven't been able to visit it myself because I'm not well enough to travel so far and be among a high-energy crowd, but I have never seen the disability community this visible or represented anywhere before. People in wheelchairs, disabled soldiers, Deaf and Blind people and their interpreters and guides, people with physical and facial differences of every race, class and gender. Also, LGBT people with rainbow flags flying high over the heads of Catholic nuns distributing food, imams leading prayers, Buddhist monks chanting pirith. Performance art, dances, musical shows, and paintings and sculptures of so many different traditions hung all around. "Unity" is a cosmetic concept for me, that spackles over unhealed hurts, conflicts and sins. But Gotagogama is the very definition of co-existence; people with drastically different values and worldviews who can live next to each other in a co-operative community just because there is no hierarchical power to exploit against one another. This is replicated in smaller scale in the GGG satellite communities in Kandy and other protest villages in the South. It's an extraordinary thing to witness an entire nation rising up against a common oppressor in such a peaceful fashion. It's rather terrible that I have never been able to see any of these in person except through a phone screen, due to lack of health, money and transport.

Which brings me to the actual sticking point - lack of fuel. Everyone is hoping and praying that the caretaker government we're waiting on will be able to negotiate some loans and aid relief to ease the fuel crisis in the coming weeks, but right now nobody outside Colombo can find a cab for love or money, the fuel queues are miles and days long. People are trying to work from home as much as possible, the few buses still running are packed, and it's a struggle to even get in deliveries on time. I've been stuck at home for two whole weeks. The hotels would keep you well supplied with food and essentials, but the cost of living is currently around 50% from where it was a few months ago, and the country is hurting for dollars, so it might not be the budget destination of your dreams. Otoh, 1 USD could buy someone a whole meal, and 1 in 2 children are in a state of health emergency, so I am unapologetically asking people to see this as an opportunity for poverty tourism. If you can help feed a child or give someone money for their meds, then I don't give a shit if you want to see how the poors live or starving children photos you want to take. Make this your Good Samaritan Summer or something.

The only people I don't want to come here are anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. We have a robust culture of masking and vaccinating here because nobody has thought of dying of plague to own the liberals (yet, god forbid), and our vaccination drives have always been a point of national pride. But we're still way short of the vaccination targets, and masking has regrettably fallen by the wayside during the protests, the cases are spiking again and masking is non-negotiable for places of business like hotels. If you try to sneak into this country full of vulnerable malnourished people and a public health sector teetering on the verge of collapse by forging your vaccination papers, I will personally feed you to the crocodiles in Diyawanna Oya.

TL:Dr: please come, nobody's hurting foreigners, you're quite safe as long as you listen to the locals, we need your dollars desperately so choosing to come here for your tropical holiday fun is also a Good Samaritan act, transport will be an issue so don't plan to travel a lot though, and for the love of God, vaccinate yourself and mask up. ❤️

I FINALLY GOT TO SEE COCAINE BEAR!!! I'M SO HAPPY! This was kind of my parent's graduation gift to me, and it was totally worth the 4 hour drive! I've been wanting to see cocaine bear for years now and it's so awesome to have been able to see him. RIP, you magnificent creature. You were the world's most apex predator for such a short period of time. Only true legends can consume 70lbs of cocaine. 💜😆🐻