archer10 (Dennis) SLOW's photostream  

PLEASE, no multi invitations, glitters or self promotion in your comments. My photos are FREE for anyone to use, just give me credit and it would be nice if you let me know, thanks - NONE OF MY PICTURES ARE HDR.

Mulagandha Kuti Vihar is a modern temple that looks truly magnificent with detailed designed patterns in its interiors has been erected by the Maha Bodhi society in the year 1931. Varanasi, India

Bodh Gaya is the birthplace of Buddhism. About 2,500 years ago, Prince Siddhartha Gautama (born in 566 BC) sat down under a pipal tree at this site and received the enlightenment that would inspire one of the world's great religions. Bodh Gaya remains the most important Buddhist pilgrimage destination on Earth.

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Visited a butterfly and orchid farm. Chaing Mai, Thailand
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My next trip(s) have been booked and deposits paid - I will be leaving in May for just over 3 weeks. I am going to Tunisia (9 days) and then onto the Balkins - Hungry, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia (14 days). The main parts for me are the Roman ruins in Tunisia and the desert. I just picked the other countries as Tunisia was to short a time and the Balkins tour started 2 days after the Tunisia tour ended.

PLEASE, no multi invitations, glitters or self promotion in your comments, THEY WILL BE DELETED. My photos are FREE for anyone to use, just give me credit and it would be nice if you let me know, thanks - NONE OF MY PICTURES ARE HDR.

Along the wall there are sentry buildings every 120 meters, in total there are 98 of them.

When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should "built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor," so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built during the old Tang dynasty (618 - 907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

The wall now stands 12 (39ft) meters tall, 12-14 meters (39-46ft) wide at the top and 15-18 meters (49-59ft) thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometres (8.5mi) in length with a deep moat surrounding it. Every 120 meters (394ft) , there is a rampart which extends out from the main wall. All together, there are 98 ramparts on the wall, which were built to defend against the enemy climbing up the wall. Each rampart has a sentry building, in which the soldiers could protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy. Besides, the distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of an arrow shot from either side, so that they could shoot the enemy, who wanted to attack the city, from the side. On the outer side of the city wall, there are 5948 crenellations, namely battlements. The soldiers can outlook and shoot at the enemy. On the inner side, parapets were built to protect the soldiers from falling off.

PLEASE, no multi invitations, glitters or self promotion in your comments, THEY WILL BE DELETED. My photos are FREE for anyone to use, just give me credit and it would be nice if you let me know, thanks - NONE OF MY PICTURES ARE HDR.

The Sibelius Monument is dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). The monument is located at the Sibelius Park in Helsinki. It was designed by Eila Hiltunen and unveiled on September 7, 1967.

It consists of series of more than 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. The purpose of the artist was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius. The monument weighs 24 tons and measures 8.5 × 10.5 × 6.5 meters.

I laved on my back to get this shot, I wanted something different.

PLEASE, no multi invitations, glitters or self promotion in your comments, they will be deleted. My photos are FREE for anyone to use, just give me credit and it would be nice if you let me know, thanks - NONE OF MY PICTURES ARE HDR.

City Palace of Udaipur is a palace complex, in the Indian state Rajasthan. It was built by the Maharana Udai Mirza Singh as the capital of the Sisodia Rajput clan in 1559, after he moved from Chittor. It is located on the east bank of the Lake Pichola and has several palaces built within its complex. Udaipur was the historic capital of the former kingdom of Mewar in the Rajputana Agency and its last capital.