SeaWorld, San Diego

Sea World, San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego is a marine animal theme park in San Diego, California. With rollercoasters, water rides, and animal exhibits, SeaWorld is a popular destination for families to spend the day in southern California.

The Bayside Skyride, a gondola ride over Mission Bay, and the Sea World Sky Tower, offer panoramic views of San Diego and the bay near the park. The Journey to Atlantis attraction is a flume ride and rollercoaster themed for the lost city of Atlantis. The park’s raft ride, called Shipwreck Rapids, takes riders through the wild turtle exhibit and right through a waterfall, while Manta is Sea World’s biggest thrill ride.

Animal exhibits at SeaWorld include dolphins, killer whales, Beluga whales, Pacific Walruses, penguins, polar bears. Animal interactions take place at Rocky Point Preserve in Dolphin Cove, where visitors can interact with dolphins, and California sea otters.

Navy Pier in Chicago

Navy Pier in Chicago

The top tourist attraction in Chicago, Navy Pier is an entertainment center of the city. Navy Pier extends out onto the Lake Michigan, and features rides and attractions, restaurants, theaters, museums, and souvenir shops. The pier’s amusement park, Pier Park, offers a Ferris wheel, carousel, and swings to entertain while providing great views of the city. Amazing Chicago’s Funhouse Maze completes the carnival atmosphere, while Chicago Children’s Museum is a fun and educational way to spend a day.

Navy Pier hosts live entertainment performances and various expositions throughout the year, like the Strictly Sailboat show and the Chicago Flower and Garden Show.

Westminster Abbey, London

Westminster Abbey, London at the time of Sunrise

Westminster Abbey is basically a Gothic Church and its profile is more of a Cathedral located in Westminster, towards the west side of the Palace of Westminster. It serves as the venue of coronation as well as burial of the British monarchy.

Westminster Abbey is a stunning architectural marvel, which dots the London city landscape. The Abbey has been the venue for every Coronation that has taken place since 1066 in Britain. Today it still serves as a church and is one of the most preferred places of Christian congregation in London. However, one has to bear in mind that the Abbey is neither a parish church nor a cathedral, but somewhere in between.

A staggering 3,000 people are buried here and one the most revered monuments is the one which has the engraving written as – “The Unknown Warrior”. The Lady Chapel in particular is splendid and has a stunning fan vaulted roof. The superb craftsmanship of renowned Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano is amply evident in the grave of Henry VII.

The year 1540 saw the culmination of the medieval monastery. Of course, during its 900-year-old history, the Abbey has witnessed lot of renovation and even extension, but the core area has remained unchanged.

The transepts which are located to the north and south are a virtual treasure trove. The southern transepts which is popularly called as Statesman’s Aisle has the graves of renowned personalities like William Pitt, Charles Fox, William Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli to name just a few.

The south transept, on the other hand, is known for its beautiful rose windows, the glasses of which dates back to 1902. You will marvel at the two exquisite 13th century wall paintings that adorn the door to St. Faith’s Chapel.

One of the most popular facade of the Abbey is the Poet’s Corner. The first poet to be buried at Poet’s Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer. Even the great Edmund Spencer was buried here. William Shakespeare who was originally buried at Stratford-upon-Avon was moved here in 1740, when a monument designed by William Kent in honor of the great poet appeared in Poet’s Corner.

The Chapter House is one of the must-see places at the Abbey. It was from here that the monastery functioned and it also used to be the venue where the parliament met in the 14th century.

No visit to Westminster Abbey is complete without a visit to the library, which has an impressive collection of historical books, manuscripts and archived materials

Bryce Canyon National Park in USA

Bryce Canyon National Park at Utah in United States

Bryce Canyon National Park in southwestern Utah is one of the best places to understand the tremendous force Nature is. At the heart of the national park is the Bryce Canyon, a collection of huge domes or amphitheaters dug out by the multitude of short-lived streams that crisscross the region. The largest and most striking among these is the Bryce Amphitheater which spans over six square miles.

The rock spires that have been formed by the erosive effects of water and wind on the sedimentary rocks of this region are called the hoodoos. Over a million visitors head to the Bryce Canyon Park each year. While most of them come here to take a hike down the rugged trails, there are also the daring sorts who take a horseback rides down the canyon and commune with the wilderness.

The national park is located at the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, the peaks tower at a height of about 8,000 to 9,000 feet from the base of the canyon. The western tableland is thickly forested while the eastern ridges feature a sharp bare drop straight to Paria Valley, 2,000 feet below.

Covering an area of over 35,835 acres, the Bryce Canyon National Park provides visitors spectacular views of the red, orange and white stone formations and of the breathtaking sunrises and sunsets that can be witnessed here. For millions of years, the rocks of the canyon have expanded and contracted to the frost and the steam giving birth to a stunning landscape and a coveted tourist destination in Utah.

Monument Valley in USA

A Picture from The Monument Valley at Arizona, United States

Monument Valley is a sweeping but desolate landscape within the precincts of the Navajo Indian Reservation on the Utah-Arizona border. The Monument Valley represents the quintessentially American West with the towering mesas and buttes breaking the monotony with bright reds and flaming oranges. Monument Valley has been extensively filmed and is the favorite backdrop of most Hollywood Westerns.

The sandstone buttes that interrupt the terrain reach up hundreds of feet, the largest rising over 1,000 feet from the ground. The region is itself part of the Colorado Plateau and the general elevation is between 5,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level. A drive or a horse-ride through the 17-mile will take you through some of the most spectacular parts of Monument Valley such as the Hunts Mesa and the Mystery Valley.

Overnight camping trips, hot air balloon flights, and small airplane flights are often available over the peak tourist season from May through September. The eroded sandstone cliffs, the ancient cave dwellings, and monuments take visitors into a long forgotten time

Mount Rushmore National Memorial in USA

Mount Rushmore National Memorial at South Dakota,USA

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Mount Rushmore is located near Keystone in South Dakota, USA. It is one of the most iconic monuments representing the United States internationally. Set against the impressive granite background of the Black Hills the huge sculptures of America’s four iconic United States presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln – stand out in a rare display of historic grandeur.
These 60-foot high carvings, 500-feet feet up the hills, were sculpted by the well-known Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and later by his son, Lincoln Borglum. The Mount Rushmore Memorial covers 1,278 acres and is about 5,725 feet above sea level.

The idea of creating the sculpture was the brainchild of Doane Robinson, a well-known South Dakota historian. Robinson believed that a mammoth carving on the Black Hills in South Dakota would attract much tourist interest in the state. He worked with John Boland, President Calvin Coolidge, Congressman William Williamson, and other leaders to secure funding. Needles was the site initially suggested to house these mammoth monuments. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor, however believed that Mount Rushmore was a better choice due to its excellent quality granite. Robinson had initially envisaged it to feature local western heroes such as Lewis and Clark, and Buffalo Bill Cody but once again Borglum stepped in and suggested that the sculpture be given a Pan-American focus.

Construction work started in 1927, and the sculpture was completed in 1941. Gutzon Borglum’s death in March 1941 left the sculpture to an uncertain fate but his son Lincoln Borglum took over till the end of work in October 1941. Nearly three million visitors are known to visit Mount Rushmore annually.

The construction of the sculpture at Mt. Rushmore cost $989,992.32 in all. The cave behind the sculpture is called the “Hall of Records” and was initially intended to house the historic relics associated with the monument but could not be completed due to lack of funding. Mount Rushmore has been over seen by the National Park Service since 1933, even as the sculpture was being constructed

The Snowy Mountains in Australia

The Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, Australia

The Snowy Mountains, informally known as the ”Snowies”, form part of the larger Australian Alps and the Great Dividing Range. They are the highest mountain range of Australia and boast of Australia’s tallest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko. Historians believe that the mountains were inhabited by indigenous tribes for twenty thousand years. The mountains were explored only during the nineteenth century, by the Europeans, in the year 1835.

The region is well known for grazing and skiing. It is also the largest producer of fine wools, lamb and stud cattle and sheep. The major tourist attraction of the place is the high country that is replete with Australia’s premier ski fields. These ski fields attract a lot of tourists and facilities. The amenities available in the centers of Thredbo, Perisher, Smiggins and Guthega are world class.

Golden Mountains of Altai in Russia

Golden Mountains of Altai at Siberia, Russia

The Altai mountains, located in Russia, contain natural reserves, lakes mountains, and a plateau. The Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO site includes three general areas: Altaisky Zapovednik, Katunsky Zapovednik, and the Ukok Quiet Zone (Ukok plateau). The site also includes Lake Teletskoye and Belukha Mountain. The regions are located along the borders to China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan.

The Golden Mountains of Altai are noted for their high level of biodiversity and a variety of vegetation zones, from steppe and forest-steppe, to mixed forest, subalpine vegetation, and alpine vegetation. The region is a habitat for endangered species including the snow leopard.

Humans have inhabited the region for almost a million years, with Paleolithic settlements found in the Gorno-Altaisk region. The mountains have been the site of tribal unions, khanates, and empires ranging from the Scythians, to the Turks, Uigurs, Yenissey Kirgiz, Kidans, Mongols, and Oitrats. The local people are Russians and the Altaisky, who are Turkish-speaking hunter-gatherer people who continue to live in the natural environment.

Within the site, Katun Nature Reserve which was established in 1991 and joined the Golden Mountains designation in 1998, is home to 700 plant varieties, 51 mammal species, 140 bird species and various reptiles and fish. Ecosystems contained in this portion include glaciers, alpine tundra, meadows, and forests.