Walking Down Delain

Lawrence the Indian; statue located in the Stockade Historical Distrct, Schenectady, NY That's right. My hometown has a bunch of interesting history associated with it. Lawrence, pictured here, for example, is the member of the Mohawk tribe. In general, the Iroquois Nation, of which the Mohawks are a part, were not exactly friendly to the new settlers from across the water, but Lawrence took it upon himself to help the settlers on the Mohawk River. He taught them the local ecology, the local farming skills (our rocky soil was very different from the well-tilled Dutch and British soil that the settlers here were used to, and the climate is far more that of the Nordic countries ... Sweden, Norway, Finland ... than it is of the countries from which the settlers of the Mohawk Valley came). Arthur's Market, Schenectady Stockade The Schenectady Stockade is New York State's first historic district. It was in that section of the Mohawk River that the Dutch settlers fi...

Yellowstone's Notable Geysers I've always wanted to go to the western National Parks ... and I now have the means to do so. Have car, will camp!! Have National Park Senior Pass , will visit!! One of my stops will definitely be Yellowstone National Park. The wildlife,  carnivorous... Black Bear, Yellowstone National Park, USA and non-carnivorous... Bison bulls, Yellowstone National Park, USA alone are worth the trip to see. Add to that the beauty of the surroundings and you have a trip that I, for one, do not want to miss. And, of course, there IS Old Faithful ... no trip to Yellowstone would be complete without visiting the  famous geyser and watching it blow!

Tower Bridge, London, England. If you've never been to London, GO. This, too, is a bucket-list place to be. I went right after Thanksgiving, 2019. This was far from my first trip to London, but when last I went it was 1989; things have changed a bit since then. This 2019 trip is the first time I've done the London touristy stuff. I'd never seen the Tower before, for example. Tower of London, London, England. Tower of London. That's me mugging for the camera in front of the Clock Tower that houses the Crown Jewels. And I'd never seen Westminster Abbey (where they don't allow you to take pictures; I got this one before I knew that). Westminster Abbey, London, England. I'd never seen St. Paul's Cathedral with its gorgeous oculus. St. Paul's Oculus, St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England I'd never been to the Tate Modern... Fons Americanus, Tate Modern, London, England Or the British Museum... British Museu...

Pylons of Karnak Temple, Thebes (now Luxor), Egypt Karnak is among the largest religious square footage anywhere in the world. In olden times, it was the site for the Temple of Amun-Ra, the sun god of Egypt and his wife, Mut, and their son, Khonsu. Approaching the temple, I was wowed by the goat-headed sphinxes lining the approach. Goat/Lion Sphinxes at Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt Egyptian temples are wonderful places, and Karnak is probably the most visited of the bunch. Notice the different heights of the pylons. They are different heights because one was never finished. In fact, you can see the building material piled behind it still. Building material for the unfinished pylon at Karnak Temple, Egypt In fact, this humble pile of mud explains exactly how the temple pylons were built and carved. Evidently, the ancient Egyptians started at the base of the pylon and began stacking the cut rock (limestone, I believe) that the pylon is constructed from. As they built the...

Map of the Valley of the Kings, Egypt The Valley of the Kings is the burial place of many of the later pharaohs of Egypt. The earlier pharaohs were buried in the Pyramids of Giza. The burial place of the ancient pharaohs had to meet a few criteria: First, it had to be on the west bank of the Nile. That is the bank the ancient Egyptians associated with death. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Easy association to make. Second, it had to be associated with a pyramid. The mountain above the Valley of the Kings is indeed shaped like a pyramid. The mountain crowning the Valley of the Kings. Note the pyramid shape Third, it had to be secret. The pharaohs knew that the graves of the non-secret burial sites had already been robbed; a glance at the treasures found in Tut's tomb tells us why the tombs were ripe for thievery. The later pharaohs didn't want their own burial vaults looted. Funeral Mask of Tutankhamun, just one of the many treasures found in hi...

That's me, kissing the Great Sphinx of Giza Giza. Ancient burial place for three of Egypt's Pharaohs. It's ancient. It's iconic. It's famous. I've been there. If you have not, you need to GO THERE. Giza is home to the Great Pyramid, which is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that still remains (the others are all lost in time ... the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia). Great Pyramid with Tourist Line Climbing to the Entrance The Ministry of Tourism lets you climb and enter the Great Pyramid. That blew my mind. I climbed up (clinging to the wall the whole time ... I am not fond of heights). This structure is 455 feet tall; we went up maybe 50 of those 455 feet. I did not go inside; my guide explained that it is narrow, hot and steep in there, sort of like going up the arm of the Statue of Liberty ...

I never knew this before visiting Egypt last year, but there are TWO Aswan Dams. And I've visited them both. The first dam, the Low Dam, built in 1902, sort of controls the floods on the Nile. It's an unremarkable embankment structure that you can drive across without really noticing. The second dam, the High Dam, completely controls the floods on the Nile; it also creates Lake Nasser, one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, pictured here. This one produces a lot of power ... but it has also affected Egypt's fertile Nile valley because it completely controls the river's flooding. Without the dam, the Nile would overflow its banks once per year and deposit nutrient-rich silt and soil for growing crops. With the introduction of the Aswan High Dam, that flooding has pretty much stopped ... which means that the river banks no longer get their annual deposit. Soil has been depleted and food production has thus dropped. Aswan hosts much more than just its ...

Oh, if you have the chance, GO TO EGYPT. You have GOT to GO TO EGYPT. I visited Egypt in February-March 2019. We flew out of JFK — economy class — and landed at Cairo Airport. The first thing you must do upon landing (after stretching your legs, of course ... it's an overnight flight and economy class is not comfortable) is visit the Egyptian Bank with US$25 in cash to pay for your visa to enter the country. No $25 cash, no visa and you turn around and go home on the next flight. You can give them US$30 or US$50 if you want, but they will not give you change. Just take US$25 with you. Only after you visit the bank and get your visa do you collect your luggage and go through customs. I was with a tour group and I've had a KTN (Known Traveler Number) for awhile now, so customs was probably easier for me than it might have been. You're going to be exhausted after that flight, so don't do what I did and spend $69 to hear the Great Sphinx of Giza talk. I saw t...