Ziggurats, Towers and Spires

Then let´s go together.
I have been invited for years and somehow it never worked out.

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Let´s go together
I have had an invitation for years, but neer got around to go there.

Padua (Padova in Italy) is a lively town in a region called Veneto in the Northeastern Italy. It is surrounded by Colli Euganei the volcanic hills which produce an excellent type of wine. There are plenty of reasons for visiting Padua. Firstly it is a location where everyone can feel as if being in an arts centre. The city is rich in monuments, castels and frescoes. Secondly it is surrounded by lots of villas and gardens which make it a looking like the Garden of Eden. Moreover its geographical position is strategic since it is near Verona, Treviso and the Adriatic shores.

Some personalities who lived, worked or are bound to this town are: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Francesco Petrarca, Galileo Galilei, Giotto, Donatello, Andrea Mantegna and William Shakespeare who used Padua as setting of one of his masterpieces "The Taming of the Shrew".



The main attraction for visitors is the Cathedral. It is dedicated to Saint Anthony. Often the church is called the Church of the Saint where the term "Saint" refers to Saint Anthony (Sant'Antonio in Italian). Relics of the Saint are housed in the Cathedral. It has been one of the most popular destinations for Christian pilgrims for ages and is one of the four churches which are under the jurisdiction of Vatican even though it does not belong to the territory of Vatican. The Church consists of various styles: the façade is Romanesque, the archs and the rose windows are Gothic and the two towers have got Arabic elements. Many artists contributed to the completion of this building: Andrea Mantegna worked at the lunette in the central door where he depicted Saint Anthony and Saint Bernardino from Siena; the three bronze portals were sculptured by Camillo Boito; Donatello designed and sculptured the altar and its statues; and Michele Sanmicheli created the monument dedicated to the Cardinal Pietro Bembo.

This was all from this website:
http://www.map-of-italy.info/guides/padua.asp

I've not been to Padova and sorry I haven't. For example, the university there was established in 1222. You know I'd like to walk around there.
My italian teacher was born there and had fond memories.

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If you are anything like me you will have a list as long as your arm of places you'd like to visit one day! Thank goodness for the internet - it's one way of travelling the world - amazing just how much it's possible to see as an armchair traveller.

Prague

Kalyazin Bell Tower, Russia The Kalyazin bell tower is all that's left of the monastery of St. Nicholas, built between 1796 and 1800. The town was flooded to make a reservoir in the Volga River. The abbey itself was dismantled. However, when tourists became interested in seeing this unlikely sight, the government shored up the bell tower and made a little islet for it.

I do not have a list of places I would like to see. I am tired ot places you have to see as you cannot see them for all the other tourists. You are standing around for hours to get in and still can´t see a thing. There is also the very impolite tourists who all the time take pictures of everything they see and push the rest of aside, stand so we cannot see anything.
Thanks goodness for internet where I can see a lot, the same goes for the libraries so I can read the litterature from other countries and the foreign newspapers on internet.
An armchair traveller can learn a lot and they do not pullute the inviroment.

Armchair travel is certainly fun - and informative. Often when I read a book about a particular person or place, I find myself 'visiting' the relevant area and seeing for myself just what's being talked about- a wonderful thing to be able to do.

Reading old travelguides is very informativ. Especially old Baedeckers.
What to do three weeks in London compared with a modern 3 days in London.
Many things have changed but the sights are still the same.
I have a bill from a relative who stayed in London 1913.
Private Residential Hotel White Court
79 Belsize Park Gardens
Hampstead NW
Double room per week 3 pounds
Single room per week 1.10 pound
Private sitting room 1.10 per week and 0.50 per day
Fires per day 1/- evenings only 6 d

I lived in Hampstead until I got married - lovely place, but an expensive part of London - especially nowadays!

St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral – Cork, Ireland

Poppies! "Surrender Dorothy"!

Romania

Christ Anglican Church, Stellarton, Nova Scotia

I amuse myself by looking at hotels in europe from time to time, in case I win the lottery one day or sell my duplex and throw caution to the wind. Here's one in an old etruscan town, later a town of towers, San Gimignano, in Tuscany. I've been there on a drive from a village we stayed at for a week (now there was a great small place), and my main memory of San G., besides the towers, was the gelato. I've an 8 x 12 photo of that gelato place.. but wait, I was talking about the hotel. We didn't see it back on our visit, but look, look, it has a tower..
It's La Collegiata:



A photo of the town, not by me but someone named Gregory on Paradoxplace.com (nice batch of photos) -

An extreem oppostite to your lovely hotel is this designer hotel in Copenhagen

Bella Sky Comwell Hotel The hotel is designed by 3XN and consists of two towers which reach 76.5 metres up with an inclination of 15° in opposite directions. More than the leaning Tower of Pisa. just to stay in Italy a bit more. The height was determined by restrictions due to the proximity of Copenhagen Airport and the tilting design chosen to optimize views.

Oh, dear me. Ugh.

Reminds me of a series of photos in the Guardian recently featuring famous skyscrapers. I so loathed the first one and was so iffy on some of the others that I didn't post the link here.

I will if I can find the article again.

Can't find it, probably was on some other news website.

Not sure, but perhaps you were referring to The world's best tall buildings of 2014 – in pictures