The 130-foot tall Christ the Redeemer statue was struck by lightning in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during a Sunday thunderstorm. As you can see above, the strike made for a pretty amazing photograph. Thankfully, the monument suffered only minimal damage as a result of the jolt.
Back in July, Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and it inspires millions of visits from tourists and religious pilgrims per year.
For the Gadling series “World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love” we are covering the 14 sites that have been submitted for possible inclusion as an official World Heritage Site in the United States. The sites will not be posted in order of importance or in the order they appear on the list.
Number: 5
Name of site: Mt. Vernon
Location: Virginia
Reason for importance (in a nutshell): More than just the estate of the first US president, Mt. Vernon “form[s] a remarkably well-preserved and extensively documented example of a plantation landscape of the 18th-century American South, based on English models but modified and adapted to the American context.” Sprawling along the Potomac River are 16 surviving structures — including the depressing slave quarters — and meticulously maintained gardens.
Catherine’s take: What draws me to this piece of history is the plantation lifestyle preservation — namely, that it makes the practice of slavery more tangible. Sure, you can read what slavery was about, but actually visiting and seeing the geography of a plantation with slave quarters, kitchens and stables makes it all that more real to us in the 21st century.
Ever since the first time I earned $10 for a second-place finish in a beauty contest, I’ve been a big fan of Monopoly. Sure, people tell me that my second-place prize was nothing more than “luck of the draw.” But that’s just more proof that jealousy can make people say some pretty stupid things.
Ahh, Monopoly. Where else can you benefit from a $200 bank error, visit a loved one in jail, and have other people pay for your opera tickets, all in one place? And with free parking to boot!
Because Monopoly and traveling are my two greatest loves, followed closely by my wife and daughter*, I was thrilled to see that a new Monopoly “World Edition” will soon be released, and that its creators are allowing Monopoly fans to vote on which 22 world cities will make it onto the board. So far, Montreal is, rather surprisingly, in the lead, followed by Paris, Cape Town, London, and Sydney.
Besides being able to choose from a pre-selected list of cities, you’re also able to write in your picks. These write-in cities will make up two of the spots on the board. Personally I’d like to nominate Akron, Ohio, to replace the low-rent Baltic Avenue, but I’m afraid that suggestion might fall on deaf ears.
Voting ends on Leap Day, February 29, so hurry on over there and make your little voice heard.
[Via Jaunted]
*I don’t have a wife and daughter. If I did, I’d almost certainly love one of them more than I love Monopoly.
If you’ve ever been to Zurich, Switzerland you may have made a visit to the Emile Bürhle Foundation, whose collection is considered to be the biggest privately owned collection of French impressionists worldwide. On Sunday three thieves made that same visit and took off with four important paintings by van Gogh, Degas, Monet and Cézanne. Their total value is estimated at $163 million, making it one of the biggest art robberies in Europe.
Entering just before the museum was about to close, one robber held the staff and visitors at gunpoint while the two other men removed the four paintings. The authorities are speculating that the thieves stopped after four paintings because they were covered in glass casings and therefore incredibly heavy. Trying to make your way out of a museum with four very large and heavy paintings seems like an awkward task to me.
Gone are apparently the days of mysterious art heists which entailed detailed planning and spy-like maneuvers; the fact that the robbers held people at gunpoint worries the authorities as it may indicate a new precedent in art robberies. Hopefully the four pieces will be returned, like Edvard Munch’s The Scream in 2006.
Read more about the stolen pieces and other recent art robberies in the New York Times article here.
One of the fine things about living overseas is the hired help. Hiring someone to clean house once a week was one of the perks in Singapore and Taiwan. In India we had three people work for us-not around the clock, but enough that I pine once in awhile for the days of our once well-oiled life. We also paid a travel agent to do our leg work when searching out the best deals and tickets were delivered to our door.
Now that we’ve moved back to real life, we’ve once more become pals with dust bunnies, various scattered belongings that never find a storage place, laundry in heaps, and figuring out cheap travel deals ourselves. Recently, a friend of mine said that she wished she had hired an assistant for a project of hers that involved hours of organizing and phone calls. As it turns out, it is possible to get affordable help even if you live a frugal existence. In India, people are at the ready to be a long distance personal assistant to anyone who hires their services through the company Get Friday.
Get Friday virtual assistants do a variety of tasks that range from calling a plumber to ordering flowers. Think of the possibilities for people who travel. Tasks could be having someone research the cheapest ways to get from an airport into a city, find out the range of ticket prices to various destinations to help you plan an economical vacation, find the closest hotel if you’re on a road trip and haven’t planned ahead, as well as, locate attractions and parking.
If you are on vacation and it dawns on you that you forgot to get someone a present, the Get Friday assistant can order something for you. You can also get him or her to do those small getting ready for a trip details like stopping and starting mail and newspaper delivery. Any work related tasks that are getting in your way of relaxing while you’re away, hire someone to do them. If it can be done without the assistant physically being present, Get Friday will find a way to meet your needs. Plans are flexible. You can either hire someone by the hour or pay a fee per month. It seems that hiring a virtual assistant is one way to increase vacation time. The business doesn’t make any distinction whether tasks are work or personal related. For more travel related Get Friday tasks, click here.