Travel
weekly photo challenge: threshold
A threshold is a point of entering: that point just before a new beginning.
Krista Stevens at The Daily Post set the challenge this week: THRESHOLD.
We’ve chosen the Great Torii for this week’s theme – found at Miyajima Island, Japan.
This iconic Japanese gateway marks the boundary between the spirit and human world.
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the giant’s causeway: a natural unesco
Before we actually travelled, we would pseudo-travel: after work, as we channel surfed, we would always end up watching travel shows. And it was on one of those shows when we first saw and heard about the Giant’s Causeway. So when we were in Europe back in 2006, we added Northern Ireland to our list of countries to visit – and we didn’t regret it one bit.
There are 6 km of this unusual geological formation; polygon-shaped rocks piled on top of one another into columns. Formed following volcanic activity many million years ago, there are similar formations as well on the coast of Scotland – just across the body of water.
As the myths and legends go, Finn McCool, the giant had something to do with this hence the name. 😉
Admission gives you access to the visitor’s centre and pedestrian access to the Causeway. There are regular shuttles down to the Causeway but there is a small additional charge. There was the option to see the rocks from “bird’s eye” view by walking along the cliff track up above. Beware on windy days!!
The Giant’s Causeway is about an hour’s drive out of Belfast. And not far from it is Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. The day we went it was so crazy windy, that we were not allowed to cross the bridge.
Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast were UNESCO Heritage listed in 1986.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited, visit our unofficial bucket list
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our visit to the empire state building
Maybe its our generation or maybe its just our curiosity to see as much of the world as possible but New York City was high on our list and when the Australian dollar was tracking so strongly against the US dollar, it was our cue to go!
Those gone before us were giving us advice about this, that and the other, especially about visiting the Empire State Building. There were suggestions of going early, going late, pre-booking entry tickets and even others telling us not to bother and instead go to Rockefeller to see the same view for free.
On our first day waking up in NYC, the sky was blue with some clouds. We knew what we had to do – we raced over to the Empire State Building. It was early and we were staying only about a block away. We arrived and the elevators weren’t sending people up just yet as it was about 7.55am , so we joined the queue of about 15 people.
Within 10 minutes of waiting in line, after about 2 lots of security checks and of course having our token tourist photograph taken in front of the green screen, we were up on the 86th floor!
Other than the pollution morning haze, this was the view of New York City that we saw!
And upon leaving we saw that our “token tourist photograph” had us super-imposed in front of…. what else??! … But the Empire State Building.
Our tip based on our great experience: Go early on any clear day that you get so you can get uninterrupted views without having to wait too long. By the time we left, the queues were weaving worse than any theme park ride! (Opening times are 8:00 am to 2:00 am)
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weekly photo challenge: abandoned
We really couldn’t go past the ghost town of Kayakoy in Turkey for the Weekly Photo Challenge . This was an Anatolian village inhabited by approximately 2000 Greeks, who abandoned the village in 1923 to return to Greece. Kayakoy is about 8 km out of Fethiye.
wise monkeys abroad 