Yatzer.com: Great Escapes On Planet Earth

My future travel destination list just got a lot longer!

Another amazing video by Matt Harding- Where the Hell is Matt 2012?

I'm saddened to hear about all the death and destruction from yesterday's earthquake in Christchurch, NZ. 

I only spent a short afternoon there during our Flying Kiwi tour of New Zealand in 2006, but it was such a perfect day that I'll always remember this beautiful city.  My heart goes out to the people of Christchurch. 
 
Here's Christchurch Cathedral from 2006
Here are a few more photos from Christchurch in 2006


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Here are some photos from Ayutthaya, an ancient capital of Thailand. Ayutthaya is about 50 miles north of Bangkok. The capital was moved from Ayutthaya after falling to the Burmese during a war in the 1750's.

Wat Mahathat
We joined a day tour to see Ayutthaya and only had about an hour here. Spectacular ruins of temples of Cambodian, Thai, and Burmese styles are everywhere and we were not able to see everything. One thing you notice is that nearly every Buddha statue is destroyed with the heads and arms chopped off. Most were looted and sold to collectors of ancient artifacts.















Here is a Buddha head that was picked up by the roots/branches of a tree and lifted up from below the ground after it had been buried. The Thai people consider this spot a very spiritual place

Reclining Buddha
Here is a rare outdoor reclining Buddha- one of the largest in Thailand. Most reclining Buddha statues are enclosed inside a temple.






Here is a picture to show the scale.

We were in Lexington, KY on Sunday and decided to visit the Parkette Drive In that is going to be featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Unfortunately this is all we got to see, as the Parkette is closed on Sunday.  Bummer.
Looking at empty spaces you can almost imagine what it was like in the 50's on a crowded Friday night.  There must have been places like this in Cincinnati in the past, but they're all gone.

I took a day trip up to Indianapolis over the weekend and encountered the Indianapolis City Market.  It's been open since 1821 and about to go through a major makeover.  Which is good, because it's nearly empty right now.  It was still open when we got there, but there was not a single person inside that we could see.  Kind of eerie.  The market is very large and has the potential to be like the Milwaukee Public Market. or the Columbus North Market.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

NYTimes.com: Taiwan's Steaming Pools of Paradise

An article on Taiwan's hot springs.  I've been to Taiwan quite a few times, but have never been there.  Sounds like something I need to do the next time I go back.,

I'm in Montreal for the weekend and I noticed that they have a shared bike rental system, Bixi.  I've seen quite a few people riding these bikes.  The streets are a typical downtown busy, but some of the major streets have very large dedicated bike lanes separated by a median.
More info:
From CBCNews.ca: Montreal unveils ambitious bike-rental program

Here's a short video of the Eiffel Tower flashing on the hour.  I was taking the photo below when the Eiffel Tower started flashing.  It actually surprised me even though I had been in the tower while it was flashing in the previous hour.  I was inside on the second level getting a snack and studying a map trying to figure out where we'd go next when I noticed some flashing lights.  It never dawned on me that the entire Eiffel Tower was flashing until I saw it again from below.

Here's a picture of the Eiffel Tower lit but not flashing.
Here's the tower flashing.
Video and photos all capture with the iPhone 3GS.

This is one of my unintentionally amusing photos that I took.
What's so amusing about a giant statue of a nude woman towering over the Palace at Versailles?