Tagged With "empire"

Reminds me somewhat of the interior of St. Mark's basilica in Venice. Beautiful photos, PHeymont. Love the detailed art on these old churches.

Spectacular!

I remember that restaurant fondly. A woman on her own was seated with us and we became instant friends, still in touch after 12 years.

I haven't been on this one, but I have gone to a few, including Empire State and the old World Trade Center in NY. I always enjoy the view, but if there's an open observation area, I find myself with small chills and odd feelings in my legs as if I were going to fall...no matter how secure it is! So for me, it's the view plus a thrill ride!

I've been to the Hancock tower in Chicago, but not the Sears tower (I like that name better to). The views sure are spectacular. As for me, I'll admire the view without going into the skybox, thank you very much!

Prince Henry certainly knew how to overnight sailors in style. I have visited this museum and found it just terrific. It is worthwhile for seaman and landlubber alike. The original church on the site was built about 1450 by Prince Henry the Navigator, and became the place where sailors spent the night before leaving on the expeditions that built Portugal’s colonial empire.

I enjoy these British phone booths! I'm not sure the last time I saw a phone booth in North America. Maybe at an airport somewhere, but they've all but completely disappeared (thanks to near universal ownership of cell phones).

Interesting to look at the beautiful pictures of the beautiful and luxurious house...and then to be reminded by traveling down (pictorially for me, literally for you!) to the source of the wealth. Did the Empire Mine and others like it also have "company towns" for miners similar to those in the Pennsylvania coal regions?

Pheymont, that question was also asked on the tour. The answer is no, because the town of Grass Valley was already a thriving community very nearby, housing and services were available to the miners already, making it unnecessary for the mine to provide them. In general, mining in the vicinity was started by individuals, lots of them, and the communities grew organically, with some making fortunes, not from the gold by mining it, but by taking it in payment from miners in exchange for...

The company towns in the coal territories had another function as well...they made the miners dependent on the company for housing, paid in scrip redeemable at the company store (remember "Sixteen Tons"?). That not only gave the company a second profit from the miners' labor through high prices; it also gave the company a great deal of control over miners' lives—because striking or being fired meant a total uprooting and expulsion. I guess the model didn't take root in the gold camps!

What a wonderful tour of the empire mine and property! It is a marvelous story to tell and you told it well!

Thanks, Dgems. High praise indeed, from a local!

Fascinating tour! I know a lot more about the Klondike gold rush than this one, but gold rushes do make for entertaining reading and sightseeing!

Sunlight and shade highlight the complex carving of this stonework at the Monastery of Jeronimos at Belem, in Lisbon. This late-Gothic style is called Manueline, after King Manuel I. It’s marked by ornate stonework, often including maritime...

A 100-suite luxury hotel, the same height as the Empire State Building, is planned for a tiny Swiss town of only 1000 residents. Room rates would run from just under $1000 a night to nearly $25,000 a night. It's aimed at (VERY) wealthy guests from the...

Samantha shares her Empire State Building experience with us, including some great views of the building as well as from it!

  The owner’s house, Empire Cottage, looks English for a reason.  William Bourn, Jr. was a student at Cambridge University when his father, San Francisco businessman William Bourne, Sr. died in 1879 and 22 year old William, Jr. was...

            The island nation of Malta became part of the British Empire in 1800 after the French were driven out in 1799. They gained their independence in 1964 and the last of the British forces and other personnel left...

A visit to Chicago's tallest building, with its spectacular new glass features, with Samantha.

Ravenna is not at the top of most people's lists of places to visit in Italy--it certainly wasn't on mine--and I only added it to my trip at the strong urging of online friends. I'm glad I did. The city is not only a pleasant place to eat and walk--it...

Samantha's fall visit to New York City hit the well-known attractions, but she also took the time (and pictures) to notice the fall foliage at Rockefeller Center.

Jonathan L takes us on a tour of Albany's Empire State Plaza, home to New York's government center

Jonathan L explored an old gold mine and found some large equipment and its history

The Andaz on 5th Avenue in Manhattan was Samantha's first experience with Hyatt's rewards program. She shares her experience in today's post.

A visit to fabled Topkapi, imperial and administrative center of the Ottoman Empire for 400 years

Our visit to Topkapi continued after our lunch on a terrace overlooking the Sea of Marmara and more of the palace grounds. We had, in fact, reached the point of beginning to return to the beginning...partly because we had reached the innermost part, and partly because the weather was becoming increasingly grim.

t  The Schatzkammer, or Imperial Treasury, is part of the Hapsburg Palace complex (adjoining the Swiss Court) in central Vienna.  Here you'll find the Crown jewels and other fascinating treasures of Austria (including an...