New York Times Square

Our first visit to New York City, Ryan and I did the classic tourist route. You know, the Statue of Liberty, the Central Park, NY Times Square, Saint Patrick Cathedral, and we even visited the extremely tacky Madame Tussauds Wax Museum! Since then, we have been back to the New York City several times, because it’s a convenient hubs between Canada and the world. As for our last time in NY, we only had one full day. We thought that it would be fun to spend the day  visiting many famous places and perhaps meeting the stars from our favorite movies and TV-shows around Manhattan!

LUGGAGE DROP OFF

We arrived in the Big Apple early in the morning, after our overnight Megabus ride from Toronto. After fueling up our body and soul with a cup of coffee and breakfast, the first thing to do was drop off our backpacks. It’s not impossible to walk around with them, but certainly we could do more without. It’s a bit tough to find a place to leave your bag in Manhattan, so I was happy to find Cubby Luggage Storage which is pretty close to where the Megabus drops off.

PLANNING OUR ENCOUNTER WITH HARRY POTTER

Broadway musical: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - with Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette

Now that our luggage was gone, we “rushed” to get the Rush Tickets for a Broadway Musical Show. According to the cheap ticket information on playbill.com, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” was available for $30 rush tickets, perfect! Harry Potter, I mean Daniel Radcliffe, was the star of the show, and I was dying to see him in person! We joined the line early and snagged a couple of seats. With tickets to see Harry Potter live in our hands, we set off to see the city!

HIT 40 FILMING LOCATIONS IN A FEW HOURS

On Location TV & Movie Tours

Left: The Friends apartment, where Monica, Joey, Chandler, and Rachel lives. Right: The Ghostbusters' fire station.

Because our time was limited into 1 day only, we wanted to use our time as efficiently as possible. We decided to join the On Location TV&Movie Sites Tour, a guided 3.5 hours bus tour to visit over 40 TV and Movie locations in the Manhattan area. Not only famous and easy to find locations like the Central Park, Times Square, and the Empire State building, but this tour will also bring you to the more difficult to find favorites like the apartment building from Friends, the fire station in the Ghostbusters, the diner from Men in Black, and the townhouse from the Cosby Show!

On Location tours from left to right: The Cosby Show, 30 Rock, Soup Nazi (Seinfeld)

As the finale, the bus dropped us off in the front of the Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi stall! Soup, anybody? Make sure you know what you are going to order!

CENTRAL PARK

Central Park. Right: Pip from Enchanted (What, Pip is a chipmunk? Not a squirrel? Oops!)

We still had many hours before our Broadway show started, so we decided to chill out a little bit in Central Park. On the way there, we stopped at the famous Papaya King (that Kramer craved in Seinfeld) to enjoy some hot dogs and papaya juice. There’s no seating inside, just some spots where you can enjoy your lunch standing up, while staring at big jugs of ketchup and mustard.

Lunch at Papaya King (near Central Park) as in Seinfeld

Many happy movies were filmed here in Central Park, like When Harry Met Sally and Enchanted. But this mega park also has a reputation as a scary place, where they always seem to be finding dead bodies in Law and Order. But really, with so much activity, and there’s not really many places for criminals to hide.

THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

The sun went down, and we wanted to enjoy the shimmering New York lights under the night sky. We climbed up the Empire State building like  King Kong, and the view from the top was gorgeous indeed!

New York under the night sky from Empire State Building

BROADWAY TIME: MEET HARRY POTTER!

As a big Harry Potter fan, meeting with Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter come to life, has been my dream. Seeing him singing and dancing as well? I couldn’t believe such an opportunity exists. But here it is, the show “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” starring Daniel Radcliffe himself! Our rush tickets put us in the fourth row from the stage, so close to the living Potter! Enchanted by him, still, I have to admit that the performance from his partner, 5-time Emmy winner John Larroquette from Night Court, was the more brilliant one.

I can't believe I met Harry Potter!!!

After the show ended, we were waiting around the backstage door to meet up with the stars. So many people were there, and after a half an hour standing under a mild rain, Daniel Radcliffe showed up… for a very brief 1-2 minutes! There were a lot of people waiting for him, only 10% in the front line actually got any moment with him. We were among the lucky one. I was talking to him, he was talking to me, I got his signature, and we took a photo together.

It’s Harry Potter, people, I was on cloud nine!

Left to right: John Larroquette, books signed by John and Daniel Radcliffe

END OF THE DAY: GRAB THE BACKPACKS, AND DONE!

We had a Cinderella moment here!

For the sake of meeting with Daniel Radcliffe, we left the theater later than we should have and now we had to run to arrive in the Cubby Luggage Storage before it closed at midnight. We ran and ran, took a metro ride, and ran again. We barely made it! Ryan reached the place five minutes before midnight, and I was a few minutes after that. We were in, thank goodness!

What a day, chasing the stars in New York City!

A metro ride to our airport hotel, and we fell asleep as soon as our heads touched the pillows. 10 hours later  we were up in the air, on our way to Hong Kong.

Thank you to On Location Tours for sponsoring our On Location TV&Movie Sites Tour!

Related Posts:

1. Two days in historical Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
2. The Old City of Marrakech: Life Behind the Walls
3. How to Snag a Discount by Buying Two Tickets at Once

This is the second round we are hosting the Travel Photo Roulette (the previous one being the round 20 “Clothes”), and it’s not any easier to pick the winner. Thirty travelers/travel groups joining us in this Photo Roulette 1^st anniversary round “Silhouette”, and their silhouette photos are ranging from great to marvellous!

See all the silhouette photos!

Ryan and I can’t settle on a winner in the beginning, so we decided for each of us to pick several favourites, then we would pick the winner from the overlap. And here are our favourites:

Ryan’s pick:

Left to right: Christy from Ordinary Traveler (#1) and Michael Hodson from Go See Write (#13)

Left to right: Heather from 2Summers (#15) and Pete and Dalene from Hecktic Travels (#18)

Dina’s pick:

Left to right: Amy and Kieron from Don’t Ever Look Back (#14), Nico from Ten Times One (#5), and Jaime from Breakaway Backpacker (#8).

Left to right: Manyu from ShutterFeet (#24), Pete and Dalene from Hecktic Travels (#18), and Michael Hodson from Go See Write (#13).

As you see, Mike’s Angkor Wat and Hecktic’s llama are neck to neck now, since both me and Ryan loves them. Tough choice! Mike’s Angkor Wat is drop dead gorgeous, and we love the body shape and the hair fuss of the llama. If we could choose 2 winners, we would. Unfortunately, there’s one 1 can conduct the next round. So we can only choose 1. This breaks my heart :’(

Over several days of changing our mind, we finally made the decision:

Congratulations to Pete and Dalene from Hecktic Travels, the winner of this round’s Travel Photo Roulette, “Silhouette”!

It was a long day of travel to Ingapirca, Ecuador, but worth it as we saw beautiful ruins and this llama which which just happened to be in the perfect position while eating his lunch. © Hecktic Travels

We ended up choosing this one above other gorgeous and clever photos for its uniqueness. Llama captured eating, the body shape is so clear, the hair fuzz, the tail, the legs (and I don’t know what’s that between the legs). It’s high up above the clouds, you can see mountain in the background, and the higher cloud is blindingly white, decorating the blue sky. This photo makes us wish we were there with Pete and Dalene enjoying the moment.

So Dalene and Pete, now it’s your turn to conduct the Photo Roulette round 31! We are excited to find out your chosen theme!

See all the silhouette photos!

Related Posts:

1. Travel Photo Roulette Round 30: Silhouettes
2. Travel Photo Roulette Round 20 “Clothes”: And the Winner is…
3. Travel Photo Roulette Round 20: Clothes

Welcome to Travel Photo Roulette 30: Silhouettes

The last round of Travel Photo Roulette was hosted by Hart at Scene With A Hart with the theme of “Framing”. An excellent theme, and we are honoured to win that round. Thank you so much, Hart! This round 30 coincides with the first anniversary of this travel photo roulette series. Jeremy at Living the Dream started this game back in November 4th, 2010. Thanks for this fun game, Jeremy!

Alcazar of Seville, Spain

This Week’s Theme: Silhouettes

Click here to see the winner!

This week’s theme is silhouettes. If you’ve been at the beach around sunset or sunrise with your camera, good chance you have some silhouette shots. But of course it’s not limited to that. Silhouettes of city skylines, people, animals, tree branches against the blue sky, sunsets in the desert, silhouettes of activities or sports, anything! Silhouettes that are beautiful, or funny, or tell stories, or evoke emotions, or that are unusual to be seen in silhouette, we would love to see the variation! Here’s an example. A silhouette of an old dog that was resting after swimming in the beach. He was sitting on the top of the rock pile, looking at a distance. His hair was still wet by the salty water, and you can see the funny hair shape hanging from its chin. What was he looking at? The sunset? The water? The kids he was just playing with? Or he was in a dreamy state?

Silhouette of a wet dog. Roatan Island, Honduras.

Contest Rules

The rules are simple. The hosting blogger is the chosen winner of the previous week’s (7 days) game. The new host chooses a generic keyword or phrase that other travelers submit photos to during the course of the week. Phrases can be as generic as ‘signs’ all the way to abstract thoughts like ‘religion’ and everything in between. At the end of the week, the hosting blogger chooses their favorite photo that fits the chosen phrase and moves it to the top of the post as the winning entry with direction to the new host’s site for the next round. Readers can attempt to sway the author into picking a certain photo via comments, but the author can ignore comments as they see fit. The game is repeated with the winner hosting the following week’s game and choosing a phrase for new photo submissions.

The more the merrier: Let’s get more people joining the contest by sharing this article on Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon (share buttons above and below).

Extra Criteria to Keep in Mind When Submitting a Photo:

• One submission per Blog (so sites that have 2+ authors only get one entry).
• In this round, light photoshopping is permitted. I want all submissions to look natural.
• Abstract submissions welcomed as long as it fits within the interpretation of the chosen phrase. Remember, the hosting blogger chooses the winner, so if they cannot understand the submission, you might not win!
• If you win, keep these in mind when choosing  a new theme:
• Keep phrases general so that all bloggers can participate. Specific items like “Eiffel Tower” should be avoided but rather made open-ended like “monuments.” For variety, it is ok to say focused things such as “monuments at night” in which most of us have pictures of.
• Abstract thoughts are appreciated, but keep it within the realm that all readers will understand. No “Kafka-esque”, but “Overlooking Creation” is able to be interpreted by all.
• *NEW* After 1 year, phrases can be reused, however new photos must be submitted.
• No obscene pictures or phrases allowed. Suggestive phrases and photography can be accepted, but please keep it within reason.
• Keep the ideas and photos fresh!
• Pictures from your entire portfolio are fair to submit. You do not have to take the photo within the week of the contest period to submit it.
• Most importantly, ALL PHOTOS MUST BE YOUR OWN.
• One last rule, since this is a competition for bloggers, we need you to be a blogger to be declared a winner. Sorry!

To Submit An Image

To enter in the Photo Roulette competition simply leave a comment below with a link to the image (whether Flickr, Picasa or your own site) and I’ll upload it to this post. Don’t forget to provide a brief description or caption for the photo so the viewers can get a little background as to what’s happening. Check back here through the week to see all the entries as they come in – feel free to comment on them. The contest runs for 7 days from now, with the submission date being November 9-16, 2011 (Wednesday to Wednesday). I’ll announce the winner within the next few days after the deadline, and he or she will host round 31. A little note: Medium size pictures is preferred (around 600 px). Large pictures might slow down downloading time for everybody.

Past Photo Roulette Winners and Hosts

The following is a list of the previously played rounds of the game and the hosting blogger for each. This list also doubles as a winner’s table as each topic host won the preceding round! Click the host’s link to go directly to that entry to see some stunning photographs from the chosen term/phrase!

The more the merrier: Let’s get more people joining the contest by sharing this article on Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon (share buttons above and below).

And…. Here are the submissions! Send us yours before Nov the 17^th!

#1 Christy from Ordinary Traveler

My friend says the silhouettes of the pillars look like elephant feet. Oceanside, CA pier. © Ordinary Traveler

#2 Veronica from Gypsy Nester

I found myself wandering alone within the ancient walls of the old city in Genoa, and a story developed right before my eyes. This shot is one of a series I posted contrasting the old (the city itself) with the new (ideas conveyed through the graffiti) and the old again (the elderly of the city). I spent the rest of the day in a trance, lost in an ancient city, capturing the people of Genoa. © Gypsy Nester

#3 Dustin Main the Skinny Backpacker

I chased this band Underworld through on their Europe tour in 2011 when I was on my first RTW. Shot in a dark club, I converted the original image to black & white. © Skinny Backpacker

#4 Amy and Kieron from Don’t Ever Look Back

A sunset over Hawaii with a silhouetted airplane and palm trees. © Don't Ever Look Back

 #5 Nico from Ten Times One

This was taken from a bluff below the Mehrangarth Fort in Jodhpur, India. There was a small group of leisurely hangers to the west of where I stood and the sun was setting behind them. Birds circled above making it all so poetic. Yes, the colors were manipulated after the fact, but not as much as you might think. © Ten Times One

 #6 Stephen from Bohemian Traveler

A shot from the top of Mt Sinai as we were waiting for sunrise. © Bohemian Traveler

 #7 Sebastian from Off The Path

Shot in the bush in Western Australia! © Off The Path

#8 Jaime from Breakaway Backpacker

This is a photo I took while I was in Morocco and watched the sunrise in the SAHARA DESERT!!! Oh my time there was amazing... © Breakaway Backpacker

#9 Jeremy from Living the Dream

I cannot think of a more fitting silhouette shot than myself standing on top of Mount Sinai in Egypt while watching the Sunset. Just call me Indy. © Living the Dream

#10 Juno from Runaway Juno

A boy monk at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia. © Runaway Juno

#11 Lilliane from Wanderlass

This was taken inside Belem Tower in Belem, Lisbon, Portugal. It was a Sunday (free museums) and the place was packed. But this woman was quite oblivious to her surrounding as she gazes out the window to the sea. © Wanderlass

#12 Lisa from Chickybus

Solitude and Reflection (San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua). As the sun set and the sky turned a multitude of colors, everyone sitting at the beach bar stopped what they were doing to watch. This man happened to be on the beach when it happened, which meant he was in the middle of both the beauty–and the moment. © Chickybus

#13 Michael Hodson from Go See Write

One that I shot recently, while making a time lapse video of the sunrise over Angor Wat. © Michael Hodson

#14 Claire from Two 4 Travel

In Shell Beach, California… This was one of our many stops on a road trip through part of California. Ironically, Shell Beach had no shells, but there were many giant rocks like this and I loved taking shots of them. © Two 4 Travel

#15 Heather from 2Summers

Taken on a beach in KwaZulu Natal, along the eastern coast of South Africa. The moon was full and we were lit from behind by a street lamp. © 2 Summers

#16 Rebecca from Travels at 88mph

Unfortunately, I am pretty awful at silhouette-like pictures, but I have this self-portrait up in my apartment that I like enough, taken in Sydney, Australia. © Travels at 88 mph

 #17 Dani and Jess from Globetrotter Girls

We had a hard time to find a picture to submit, but I like the silhouette of the fishing boat in this photo from Brighton, England. © Globetrotter Girls

 #18 Pete and Dalene from Hecktic Travels

It was a long day of travel to Ingapirca, Ecuador, but worth it as we saw beautiful ruins and this llama which which just happened to be in the perfect position while eating his lunch. © Hecktic Travels

#19 Ashley from No Onions Extra Pickles

Of course I have to submit a jumping photo…haha…it’s one of my favorites. This picture was taken last summer while exploring the fantastic Mayan ruins of Uxmal with our lovable, but lazy, tour guide Nemo (and no, he wasn’t little). © No Onions Extra Pickles

#20 Andrew from Grounded Traveler

This is a really old photo, one that was scanned in from a print copy made by a film camera, but it is one of my favorites that I have ever taken. © Grounded Travelers

#21 Rachel from Miss Travel Girl

Watching two bikers ride into the sunset at a park in Denver was truly a beautiful moment because the image was depicted as a symbolism of a typical life in Colorado. © Miss Travel Girl

#22 Gerard from GQ Trippin

This was taken in Copacabana beach as the sun set the before the New Year’s Eve festivities were about to take place. © GQ Trippin

#23 Natasha from Wandering Kiwi

This pic is taken on the way back from the Marisco Tavern after sunset on Lundy Island, one of the best places I have ever been … and where I realised an ambition to stay in a lighthouse! © Wandering Kiwi

#24 Manyu from ShutterFeet

I was taking sunset photos on Cape Cod when I saw this father and son walking down in the distance right in front of the sun. One of my fav shots. © ShutterFeet

#25 Christina from My View from the Middle Seat

This was taken in Barbados from my Dad’s balcony on a warm, breezy afternoon. © My View from the Middle Seat

#26 Tintin of the Adventures of Tin

I took this photo during my beach break in Boracay, Philippines. ~Let me take you to paradise…~ © Adventures of Tin

#27 Deidra from Dream a Little Dream

The chicken and the tree chalk rock formation found in the White Desert of Egypt. © Dream a Little Dream

#28 Nisha from Le Monde

Hot air baloons at dawn at Pushkar international camel fair. No, there is no camel in it. © Lemonicks.com

#29 Claire from Beached Eskimo

Fishing shack at sunset in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. © Beached Eskimo

#30 Cole from Four Jandals

Here is our photo – also from Peggys Cove actually! But taken of the most photographed lighthouse in the world during our 18,000 km road trip:

Thank you all, for the awesome silhouette photos!

And the winner is…

Related Posts:

1. Travel Photo Roulette Round 30 “Silhouettes”: And the Winner is…
2. Travel Photo Roulette Round 20 “Clothes”: And the Winner is…
3. Travel Photo Roulette Round 20: Clothes

Halloween is coming, we almost got eaten alive by zombies…

It was a bright sunny day in London Ontario, but something really creepy was going on…. Zombie assembly!!

Zombie to your left. Zombie to your front. Zombie behind you. Good thing that it’s just a photographer in your left. No!! Wait!! She is a zombie too, a photographer zombie!

Those bloody juices and bones do look delicious though. I’m tempted to ask them for a gulp. They will certainly bite me and turn me into a zombie too! Help!!

Now if you think I’m joking, well, I’m not! Prove to yourself through this video that I managed to take before I turned into a zombie too!

(Needless to say, I was a zombie when I uploaded the vid to YouTube!)

Interested in downloading the large size photos/screenshot from the video? Go here.

Related Posts:

1. Video: Baby Possum Attack
2. Kopi Joss – The Famous Charcoal Coffee from Java [Interview Video]
3. Fly Like Superman and Swing Like Tarzan in Costa Rica!

Try to imagine this: A coffee and charcoal float! Huh, what?!

Then, touch the charcoal…. Ouch, it’s burning hot!

Yes! That is the KOPI JOSS!! The famous charcoal coffee from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Hot, strong, and sweet coffee with a burning hot coal right from the furnace, floating in the coffee!

This charcoal coffee was invented by a local man, “Man”. No pun intended! Mr. Man, or “Lek Man” in Javanese language, first made kopi joss around the 60s or 70s, and now it’s a famous drink from the famous Indonesian city of palaces. When we were in Yogyakarta a few months ago, I chose to have my birthday dinner in the famous food stall that sells this coffee “Angkringan Kopi Joss Lek Man” and got the chance to chat with Alex. He is the successor of Man, now retired from serving coffee because of his age.

Alex told me a lot of things about this special charcoal coffee. How Lek Man invented this coffee for the first time, how it got famous. He explained that the coffee is not just coffee, but it’s a remedy for gastrointestinal problems. During our chat, he showed me how to prepare this unusual but also delicious coffee. My favourite part was when he grabbed the red hot charcoal directly from the furnace, and dropped it to the cup of coffee. The red hot charcoal squeals angrily and protests with its hissing noise, jossssss….!!!

Curious? Go ahead and watch the interview above!

Watch the video with Indonesian subtitle

Related Posts:

1. Friday Photo: Amazing Mud Volcano Eruption in Java, Indonesia
2. Video: Baby Possum Attack
3. Zombie Attack! Help! [video]

Looking for a crazy bus ride?

It’s a common problem when traveling as a couple: you’re looking for a plane, train, or bus ticket and you think you’ve found the perfect one. Then you go to buy it and find the price shoots up. What the?!

What happened is there’s only one cheap ticket left, and when you try to buy it for two people you’re getting one cheap ticket and one expensive.

It happened to us today when we tried to book a ticket from Toronto to New York City on Megabus. Megabus is known for having some super-cheap fares, if you can find them. And in this case, I’d found a great one: $12 per person for the 11 hour overnight bus trip.

Trouble was, when I entered two passengers, I got a price of $35 for both of us. We were getting the last $12 ticket, and then a more expensive $23 ticket.

Happily, there’s a way around this problem: two computers, simultaneously purchasing the low-priced ticket.

Two laptops in the same time

I got both our laptops ready, and did the ticket search again, for 1 passenger only. Both showed the $12 fare available. Then I added both tickets to the shopping carts, and went through the payment process on both computers, making sure to hit the ‘next’ button from each screen at the same time.

We made it all the way to the end, put in our payment details, and success! Two tickets purchased for a total of $24.

We’ve used this trick before, and it works with all kinds of tickets: air, train, bus, anything where there’s different classes of tickets with limited numbers available.

Here’s our method to make sure we’re getting the best price buying tickets for two:

• Always search for the best fare for only 1 passenger
• Once you’ve found the best fare, add a second passenger.
• If the fare per person stays the same, great!
• If not, use a second computer and purchase the same ticket twice, making sure to go through each step of the process at exactly the same time on both computers

Has this tip been helpful to you? Any ideas to share? Post a comment!

New York, here we come!

Tips by Ryan

Related Posts:

1. A Day’s Visit to New York City: Chasing the Stars, Meeting Harry Potter
2. Transatlantic cruises for backpackers: a way to see more and pay less
3. Welcome to Dina and Ryan’s Traveling Blog!

Palma Cathedral, or Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma, or as people call it “La Seu”, is a Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral in the island of Majorca, Spain. Sitting in one of the Balearic Island in the western Mediterranean Sea, the cathedral’s construction was started on the 1229, but not finished until 4 centuries after.  Just like other typical gothic cathedrals in Europe, the size of La Seu is massive! With a length of 121 m and height of the nave 44 m, this cathedral made me feel supersmall being inside it. In the day time, you can visit the cathedral to see the greatness of the interior designs and the luxuriously creepy holy relics, including some saint’s bones inside decorated glass cases. At night, enjoy relaxing across the reflecting pool to see the perfect mirror image of this gorgeously illuminated cathedral on the water surface. It’s romantic.

Related Posts:

1. Friday Photo: Flooded Road in Otago, South Island, New Zealand
2. Friday Photo: Wacky New Zealand Mailboxes
3. Friday Photo: The Sunken Palace of Istanbul

Ramadan is close to its end, and for our Muslim friends, we would like to wish you,

Happy Eid ul-Fitr!

We compiled 24 of our photographs of great Islamic architecture and design from Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, and the UAE.

We hope you enjoy them!

Jumeirah Mosque (Dubai, UAE)

Jemaa el-Fna Square and Koutoubia Mosque (Marrakech, Morocco)

Koutoubia Mosque (Marrakech, Morocco)

Wall decoration inside the Bahia Palace (Marrakech, Morocco)

Wall decoration inside the Bahia Palace (Marrakech, Morocco)

Ceiling decoration inside the Bahia Palace (Marrakech, Morocco)

Column decoration inside the Bahia Palace (Marrakech, Morocco)

An arch inside the Bahia Palace (Marrakech, Morocco)

Wall decoration inside the Bahia Palace (Marrakech, Morocco)

A fortune teller in Jemaa el-Fna (Marrakech, Morocco)

Av. Muhammed V street sign (Marrakech, Morocco)

A man leaving a small mosque after praying (Marrakech, Morocco)

God, Country, and King, written on a hill (Agadir, Morocco)

Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)

Inside Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)

The Blue Mosque aka. Sultan Ahmed Mosque in a Ramadan night (Istanbul, Turkey)

The main hall of the Blue Mosque

The ceiling decoration of the Blue Mosque

Wall decoration from Topkapii Palace (Istanbul, Turkey)

Izmir Clock Tower (Turkey)

Al Qaed Ibrahim Mosque (Alexandria, Egypt)

Citadel of Qaitbay, which was errected on the ruin of the Lighthouse of Alexandria (that world famous one from the ancient world), with a little mosque on the top. (Alexandria, Egypt)

A mosque in Alexandria, Egypt

A mosque in Cairo, Egypt

Related Posts:

1. Friday Photo: Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
2. The Old City of Marrakech: Life Behind the Walls
3. Friday Photo: The Sunken Palace of Istanbul

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul: church, mosque, and museum.

The Hagia Sophia was first erected in the 4th century during the Byzantine Empire as an Orthodox church. For a few decades in the 13th century, it served as a Roman Catholic church.

In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, and turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Inspired by the beauty and grandeur of this building, several mosques around the city were built, including the famous Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque).

In 1935, the Republic of Turkey opened the Hagia Sophia to visitor as a museum, where its architectural genius and beautiful Christian and Islamic art are displayed side by side. Amazing!

The Hagia Sophia is definitely one of our favourite buildings on earth.

Related Posts:

1. Friday Photo: The Sunken Palace of Istanbul
2. Friday Photo: Kemal Ataturk’s Bathroom
3. Happy Eid ul-Fitr ~ 24 Photographs of Islamic Architecture and Design from Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, and UAE

Freycinet National Park, Tasmania
7 December 2010

We were doing the Wineglass Bay/Hazards Beach circuit when we saw this baby possum from a distance. We stopped to observe this little stinker, but it didn’t like us being there. It walked toward us, hissed, and walked again. When it got quite close to us, it started to run, and took charge on me. The little cute thing was about to climb my leg, but it failed because I was flailing around.

Related Posts:

1. Zombie Attack! Help! [video]
2. Friday Photo: The Truth About Baby Joeys
3. Kopi Joss – The Famous Charcoal Coffee from Java [Interview Video]