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  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden9.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.<br />
<br />
The Japanese rock garden (枯山水 karesansui) or "dry landscape" garden, often called a zen garden, creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and uses gravel or sand that is raked to represent ripples in water. A zen gar
    PortlandJapaneseGarden3.jpg
  • Arches National Park is a US National Park in eastern Utah. The park is located on the Colorado River 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Moab, Utah. It is known for containing over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations.<br />
<br />
The park is located just outside of Moab, Utah, and is 76,359 acres in area.<br />
<br />
Administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a National Monument on April 12, 1929. It was redesignated as a National Park on November 12, 1971.
    ArchesLandscapeArch1.jpg
  • Arches National Park is a US National Park in eastern Utah. The park is located on the Colorado River 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Moab, Utah. It is known for containing over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations.<br />
<br />
The park is located just outside of Moab, Utah, and is 76,359 acres in area.<br />
<br />
Administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a National Monument on April 12, 1929. It was redesignated as a National Park on November 12, 1971.
    ArchesLandscapeArch1.jpg
  • Waterfront Park is an eight-acre (5 ha) park along approximately one-half mile of the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. The park received the 2007 Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This award "recognizes a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located..<br />
<br />
Charleston is the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, known for its large role in the American slave trade. The city is the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. <br />
<br />
Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II of England. Its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. One of the key cities in the British colonization of the Americas, Charles Town played a major role in the slave trade, which laid the foundation for the city's size and wealth, and was dominated by a slavocracy of plantation owners and slave traders. Independent Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company, pioneering the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century. Historians estimate that "nearly half of all Africans brought to America arrived in Charleston", most at Gadsden's Wharf. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the colonial period; its government was handled dir
    CharlestonPineappleFountain11.jpg
  • Waterfront Park is an eight-acre (5 ha) park along approximately one-half mile of the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. The park received the 2007 Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This award "recognizes a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located..<br />
<br />
Charleston is the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, known for its large role in the American slave trade. The city is the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. <br />
<br />
Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II of England. Its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. One of the key cities in the British colonization of the Americas, Charles Town played a major role in the slave trade, which laid the foundation for the city's size and wealth, and was dominated by a slavocracy of plantation owners and slave traders. Independent Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company, pioneering the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century. Historians estimate that "nearly half of all Africans brought to America arrived in Charleston", most at Gadsden's Wharf. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the colonial period; its government was handled dir
    CharlestonPineappleFountain10.jpg
  • Waterfront Park is an eight-acre (5 ha) park along approximately one-half mile of the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. The park received the 2007 Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This award "recognizes a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located..<br />
<br />
Charleston is the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, known for its large role in the American slave trade. The city is the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. <br />
<br />
Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II of England. Its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. One of the key cities in the British colonization of the Americas, Charles Town played a major role in the slave trade, which laid the foundation for the city's size and wealth, and was dominated by a slavocracy of plantation owners and slave traders. Independent Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company, pioneering the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century. Historians estimate that "nearly half of all Africans brought to America arrived in Charleston", most at Gadsden's Wharf. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the colonial period; its government was handled dir
    CharlestonPineappleFountain9.jpg
  • Waterfront Park is an eight-acre (5 ha) park along approximately one-half mile of the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. The park received the 2007 Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This award "recognizes a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located..<br />
<br />
Charleston is the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, known for its large role in the American slave trade. The city is the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. <br />
<br />
Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II of England. Its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. One of the key cities in the British colonization of the Americas, Charles Town played a major role in the slave trade, which laid the foundation for the city's size and wealth, and was dominated by a slavocracy of plantation owners and slave traders. Independent Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company, pioneering the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century. Historians estimate that "nearly half of all Africans brought to America arrived in Charleston", most at Gadsden's Wharf. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the colonial period; its government was handled dir
    CharlestonPineappleFountain1.jpg
  • Waterfront Park is an eight-acre (5 ha) park along approximately one-half mile of the Cooper River in Charleston, South Carolina. The park received the 2007 Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This award "recognizes a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located..<br />
<br />
Charleston is the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, known for its large role in the American slave trade. The city is the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. <br />
<br />
Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II of England. Its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. One of the key cities in the British colonization of the Americas, Charles Town played a major role in the slave trade, which laid the foundation for the city's size and wealth, and was dominated by a slavocracy of plantation owners and slave traders. Independent Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company, pioneering the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century. Historians estimate that "nearly half of all Africans brought to America arrived in Charleston", most at Gadsden's Wharf. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the colonial period; its government was handled dir
    CharlestonPineappleFountain8.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    TowerBuddhistIncence3-Edit.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    LongCorridor4.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    SummerPalacePier1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    SummerPalaceCeiling2.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Connecting the eastern shore of Kunming Lake and Nanhu Island in the west, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799). There are some thirty bridges in the Summer Palace and this is the largest one, with a length of 150 meters (164 yards) and a width of 8 meters (8.75 yards). It is not only the sole passageway to Nanhu Island, but also an important attraction in the lake area. <br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    SeventeenArchBridge2.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    LongCorridor1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    KunmingLake1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    HallOfBuddhistTenets1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Connecting the eastern shore of Kunming Lake and Nanhu Island in the west, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799). There are some thirty bridges in the Summer Palace and this is the largest one, with a length of 150 meters (164 yards) and a width of 8 meters (8.75 yards). It is not only the sole passageway to Nanhu Island, but also an important attraction in the lake area. <br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    SeventeenArchBridge3.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    TowerBuddhistIncence5.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    TowerBuddhistIncence1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    HallOfBenevolentLongevity1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A1093-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    CircularGates1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    SummerPalaceRoofs1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0666-HDR.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    TowerBuddhistIncence1.jpg
  • Female nude in the landscape, Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico
    _R6C6454.jpg
  • Farm buildings in the palouse area of eastern Washington
    PalouseBarn2Hor.jpg
  • Female nude in the landscape, Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico
    _R6C6367.jpg
  • Female nude in the landscape, Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico
    _R6C6218.jpg
  • Farm buildings in the palouse area of eastern Washington
    PalouseBarn2Hor.jpg
  • Farm buildings in the palouse area of eastern Washington
    PalouseBarn2Hor.jpg
  • Pienza, a town and comune in the province of Siena, in the Val d'Orcia in Tuscany (central Italy), between the towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino, is the "touchstone of Renaissance urbanism"
    PienzaLandscape1.jpg
  • Female nude in the landscape, Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico
    _R6C6122.jpg
  • Female nude in the landscape, Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico
    _R6C6060.jpg
  • Female nude in the landscape, Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico
    _R6C5867.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden8.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A1061.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden17.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden13.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden5.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden4.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0712-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0629.jpg
  • Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park in Natches Peak trail area near Tipsoo Lake<br />
.....<br />
Tipsoo Lake, at an elevation of 5299 ft (1615 m) above sea level, is an alpine lake within the Northern Cascade Range located near the summit of Chinook Pass in Pierce County, Washington. The area is popular with photographers as the shores and surrounding area abound with the vibrant yellow, orange and purple colors of huckleberry, lupine, Indian paintbrush, and Partridgefoot. There are several hiking trails near the lake that vary in degrees of difficulty and share spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
    MtRainierTipsooPeak3.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    _Y6A0520.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    MetateArch1.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    _Y6A0489.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    _Y6A0487.jpg
  • Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park in Natches Peak trail area near Tipsoo Lake<br />
.....<br />
Tipsoo Lake, at an elevation of 5299 ft (1615 m) above sea level, is an alpine lake within the Northern Cascade Range located near the summit of Chinook Pass in Pierce County, Washington. The area is popular with photographers as the shores and surrounding area abound with the vibrant yellow, orange and purple colors of huckleberry, lupine, Indian paintbrush, and Partridgefoot. There are several hiking trails near the lake that vary in degrees of difficulty and share spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
    MtRainierTipsooPeak3.jpg
  • The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.<br />
<br />
The 250 km2 (97 sq mi) ice formation, and 30 km (19 mi) in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This icefield is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.<br />
<br />
The Perito Moreno glacier, located 78 kilometres (48 mi) from El Calafate, was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.
    PeritoMorenoPeak3.jpg
  • Tamaracks and Prussik Peak in Washington's Enchantment Lakes wilderness area<br />
.....<br />
The Enchantments is an area comprising an upper and a lower basin, the lakes and tarns contained within them, and the peaks of the Stuart Range bounding the basins. The area is located entirely within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about 15 miles southwest of Leavenworth, Washington in the United States. The Enchantments is regarded as one of the most spectacular locations in the Cascade Range. The first European American to discover the area and name it was A.H. Sylvester, topographer for the US Geological Survey and first supervisor of the Wenatchee National Forest. Sylvester visited the middle Enchantment basin and probably did not venture into the upper basin. Snow Creek Glacier covered more of the upper basin at the time than it does today, which may have discouraged him from exploring the higher areas. He is credited with naming some of the features in the region.<br />
<br />
By the 1940s climbers discovered the area and began naming the crags. Bill and Peg Stark of Leavenworth, became frequent visitors who drew upon various mythologies to name features of the landscape. When they made their first visit in the fall of 1959, they were captivated by the golden splendor of the larch trees in the fall, the numerous lakes and tarns, and jagged peaks towering above. They used fairy names such as Gnome Tarn, Troll Sink, Naiad Lake (officially Temple Lake), Sprite and King Arthur legends in the Lower Enchantment Basin because "the lower basin was not as austere as the upper basin," according to Peg. They used Norse names and mythology for features of the upper basin, for example Brynhild Lake (officially Inspiration Lake), Lake Freya (officially Tranquil Lake), and Valhalla Cirque because, Peg said, it felt "as if the Ice Age had just gone off."<br />
<br />
The official naming rulings of the US Board on Geographic Names in the 1960s resulted in a mixture of two name sets being adopted as official, particularly
    EnchantmentsRiver2.jpg
  • The hilly landscape surrounding the Tuscan town of San Gimignano
    VecchioManeggioSunrise3.jpg
  • The hilly landscape surrounding the Tuscan town of San Gimignano
    VecchioManeggioSunrise4.jpg
  • Hilltop villa in central Tuscany<br />
.....<br />
The Crete Senesi refers to an area of the Italian region of Tuscany to the south of Siena. It consists of a range of hills and woods among villages and includes the comuni of Asciano, Buonconvento, Monteroni d'Arbia, Rapolano Terme and San Giovanni d'Asso, all within the province of Siena.<br />
Crete senesi are literally "Senese clays", and the distinctive grey colouration of the soil gives the landscape an appearance often described as lunar. This characteristic clay, known as mattaione, represents the sediments of the Pliocene sea which covered the area between 2.5 and 4.5 million years ago. Nearby is also the semi-arid area known as the Accona Desert.<br />
Perhaps the most notable edifice of this area is the monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore.<br />
The region is known for its production of white truffles, and hosts a festival and a museum dedicated to the rare fungus (genus Tuber).
    ValDorciaHome-Edit.jpg
  • The Val d’Orcia, or Valdorcia, is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. It is characterised by gentle, carefully cultivated hills occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pienza (rebuilt as an “ideal town” in the 15th century under the patronage of Pope Pius II), Radicofani (home to the notorious brigand-hero Ghino di Tacco) and Montalcino (the Brunello di Montalcino is counted among the most prestigious of Italian wines). It is a landscape which has become familiar through its depiction in works of art from the Renaissance painting to the modern photograph.
    ValDorciaHome2.jpg
  • The Val d’Orcia, or Valdorcia, is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. It is characterised by gentle, carefully cultivated hills occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pienza (rebuilt as an “ideal town” in the 15th century under the patronage of Pope Pius II), Radicofani (home to the notorious brigand-hero Ghino di Tacco) and Montalcino (the Brunello di Montalcino is counted among the most prestigious of Italian wines). It is a landscape which has become familiar through its depiction in works of art from the Renaissance painting to the modern photograph.
    TuscanCloud2.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden16.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden15.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden14.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden12.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden11.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden7.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden6.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden2.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Connecting the eastern shore of Kunming Lake and Nanhu Island in the west, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799). There are some thirty bridges in the Summer Palace and this is the largest one, with a length of 150 meters (164 yards) and a width of 8 meters (8.75 yards). It is not only the sole passageway to Nanhu Island, but also an important attraction in the lake area. <br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A1046-Edit.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0743-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0627.jpg
  • Tamaracks and Prussik Peak in Washington's Enchantment Lakes wilderness area<br />
.....<br />
The Enchantments is an area comprising an upper and a lower basin, the lakes and tarns contained within them, and the peaks of the Stuart Range bounding the basins. The area is located entirely within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about 15 miles southwest of Leavenworth, Washington in the United States. The Enchantments is regarded as one of the most spectacular locations in the Cascade Range. The first European American to discover the area and name it was A.H. Sylvester, topographer for the US Geological Survey and first supervisor of the Wenatchee National Forest. Sylvester visited the middle Enchantment basin and probably did not venture into the upper basin. Snow Creek Glacier covered more of the upper basin at the time than it does today, which may have discouraged him from exploring the higher areas. He is credited with naming some of the features in the region.<br />
<br />
By the 1940s climbers discovered the area and began naming the crags. Bill and Peg Stark of Leavenworth, became frequent visitors who drew upon various mythologies to name features of the landscape. When they made their first visit in the fall of 1959, they were captivated by the golden splendor of the larch trees in the fall, the numerous lakes and tarns, and jagged peaks towering above. They used fairy names such as Gnome Tarn, Troll Sink, Naiad Lake (officially Temple Lake), Sprite and King Arthur legends in the Lower Enchantment Basin because "the lower basin was not as austere as the upper basin," according to Peg. They used Norse names and mythology for features of the upper basin, for example Brynhild Lake (officially Inspiration Lake), Lake Freya (officially Tranquil Lake), and Valhalla Cirque because, Peg said, it felt "as if the Ice Age had just gone off."<br />
<br />
The official naming rulings of the US Board on Geographic Names in the 1960s resulted in a mixture of two name sets being adopted as official, particularly
    EnchantmentsRiver2-2.jpg
  • Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park in Natches Peak trail area near Tipsoo Lake<br />
.....<br />
Tipsoo Lake, at an elevation of 5299 ft (1615 m) above sea level, is an alpine lake within the Northern Cascade Range located near the summit of Chinook Pass in Pierce County, Washington. The area is popular with photographers as the shores and surrounding area abound with the vibrant yellow, orange and purple colors of huckleberry, lupine, Indian paintbrush, and Partridgefoot. There are several hiking trails near the lake that vary in degrees of difficulty and share spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
    MtRainierTipsooPeak1.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    _Y6A0497-HDR.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    _Y6A0494-HDR.jpg
  • Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park in Natches Peak trail area near Tipsoo Lake<br />
.....<br />
Tipsoo Lake, at an elevation of 5299 ft (1615 m) above sea level, is an alpine lake within the Northern Cascade Range located near the summit of Chinook Pass in Pierce County, Washington. The area is popular with photographers as the shores and surrounding area abound with the vibrant yellow, orange and purple colors of huckleberry, lupine, Indian paintbrush, and Partridgefoot. There are several hiking trails near the lake that vary in degrees of difficulty and share spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
    MtRainierTipsooPeak3.jpg
  • Strawberry Fields is a 2.5-acre landscaped section in New York City's Central Park that is dedicated to the memory of former Beatle John Lennon. It is named after the Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields Forever" written by Lennon. The Central Park memorial was designed by Bruce Kelly, the chief landscape architect for the Central Park Conservancy. Strawberry Fields was dedicated on what would have been Lennon's 45th birthday, October 9, 1985, by New York Mayor Ed Koch and Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, who had underwritten the project. The entrance to the memorial is located on Central Park West at West 72nd Street, directly across from the Dakota Apartments, where Lennon had lived for the latter part of his life, and where he was murdered in 1980. The memorial is a triangular piece of land falling away on the two sides of the park, and its focal point is a circular pathway mosaic of inlaid stones, with a single word, the title of Lennon's famous song: "Imagine". This was a gift from the city of Naples, Italy
    NYC_Imagine1.jpg
  • The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.<br />
<br />
The 250 km2 (97 sq mi) ice formation, and 30 km (19 mi) in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This icefield is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.<br />
<br />
The Perito Moreno glacier, located 78 kilometres (48 mi) from El Calafate, was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.
    PeritoMorenoPeak5.jpg
  • The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.<br />
<br />
The 250 km2 (97 sq mi) ice formation, and 30 km (19 mi) in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This icefield is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.<br />
<br />
The Perito Moreno glacier, located 78 kilometres (48 mi) from El Calafate, was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.
    PeritoMorenoPeak4.jpg
  • Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park in Natches Peak trail area near Tipsoo Lake<br />
.....<br />
Tipsoo Lake, at an elevation of 5299 ft (1615 m) above sea level, is an alpine lake within the Northern Cascade Range located near the summit of Chinook Pass in Pierce County, Washington. The area is popular with photographers as the shores and surrounding area abound with the vibrant yellow, orange and purple colors of huckleberry, lupine, Indian paintbrush, and Partridgefoot. There are several hiking trails near the lake that vary in degrees of difficulty and share spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
    MtRainierTipsooPeak3.jpg
  • Tamaracks and Prussik Peak in Washington's Enchantment Lakes wilderness area<br />
.....<br />
The Enchantments is an area comprising an upper and a lower basin, the lakes and tarns contained within them, and the peaks of the Stuart Range bounding the basins. The area is located entirely within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about 15 miles southwest of Leavenworth, Washington in the United States. The Enchantments is regarded as one of the most spectacular locations in the Cascade Range. The first European American to discover the area and name it was A.H. Sylvester, topographer for the US Geological Survey and first supervisor of the Wenatchee National Forest. Sylvester visited the middle Enchantment basin and probably did not venture into the upper basin. Snow Creek Glacier covered more of the upper basin at the time than it does today, which may have discouraged him from exploring the higher areas. He is credited with naming some of the features in the region.<br />
<br />
By the 1940s climbers discovered the area and began naming the crags. Bill and Peg Stark of Leavenworth, became frequent visitors who drew upon various mythologies to name features of the landscape. When they made their first visit in the fall of 1959, they were captivated by the golden splendor of the larch trees in the fall, the numerous lakes and tarns, and jagged peaks towering above. They used fairy names such as Gnome Tarn, Troll Sink, Naiad Lake (officially Temple Lake), Sprite and King Arthur legends in the Lower Enchantment Basin because "the lower basin was not as austere as the upper basin," according to Peg. They used Norse names and mythology for features of the upper basin, for example Brynhild Lake (officially Inspiration Lake), Lake Freya (officially Tranquil Lake), and Valhalla Cirque because, Peg said, it felt "as if the Ice Age had just gone off."<br />
<br />
The official naming rulings of the US Board on Geographic Names in the 1960s resulted in a mixture of two name sets being adopted as official, particularly
    EnchantmentsRiver2.jpg
  • Tuscan landscape surrounding San Gimignano, Italy at sunrise
    VecchioManeggioSunrise1.jpg
  • The Val d’Orcia, or Valdorcia, is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. It is characterised by gentle, carefully cultivated hills occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pienza (rebuilt as an “ideal town” in the 15th century under the patronage of Pope Pius II), Radicofani (home to the notorious brigand-hero Ghino di Tacco) and Montalcino (the Brunello di Montalcino is counted among the most prestigious of Italian wines). It is a landscape which has become familiar through its depiction in works of art from the Renaissance painting to the modern photograph.
    TuscanCloud1.jpg
  • The Portland Japanese Garden is a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres, located within Washington Park in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is operated as a private non-profit organization, which leased the site from the city in the early 1960s. Stephen D. Bloom has been the chief executive officer of the Portland Japanese Garden since 2005. <br />
<br />
The Garden Pavilion was built in 1980 in Japanese style by local builders: it has a tiled roof, wooden verandas, and Shōji sliding doors. It is the center of several Japanese cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and other events. The west veranda faces the Flat Garden, and the east veranda overlooks downtown Portland and Mount Hood, which resembles Mount Fuji. Dozens of stone lanterns are present throughout the garden. The lower entrance features a 100-year-old temple gate, a 1976 gift of the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland Oregon.<br />
<br />
As a Japanese garden, the desired effect is to realize a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquility and to experience the feeling of being a part of nature. Three of the essential elements used to create the garden are stone, the "bones" of the landscape; water, the life-giving force; and plants, the tapestry of the four seasons. Japanese garden designers feel that good stone composition is one of the most important elements in creating a well-designed garden. Secondary elements include pagodas, stone lanterns, water basins, arbors, and bridges. Japanese gardens are asymmetrical in design and reflect nature in idealized form. Traditionally, human scale is maintained throughout so that one always feels part of the environment and not overpowered by it.
    PortlandJapaneseGarden10.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    MetateArch1.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0732-Edit.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0704.jpg
  • The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.<br />
<br />
Longevity Hill is about 60 m high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.<br />
<br />
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
    _Y6A0702.jpg
  • The Devil's Garden of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in south central Utah, the United States, is a protected area featuring hoodoos, natural arches and other sandstone formations. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) designated the name Devils Garden. The area is also known as the Devils Garden Outstanding Natural Area within the National Landscape Conservation System.<br />
<br />
The formations in the Devils Garden were created, and continue to be shaped, by various weathering and erosional processes. These natural processes have been shaping sandstone layers formed more than 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period's Middle epoch.
    _Y6A0525.jpg
  • Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park in Natches Peak trail area near Tipsoo Lake<br />
.....<br />
Tipsoo Lake, at an elevation of 5299 ft (1615 m) above sea level, is an alpine lake within the Northern Cascade Range located near the summit of Chinook Pass in Pierce County, Washington. The area is popular with photographers as the shores and surrounding area abound with the vibrant yellow, orange and purple colors of huckleberry, lupine, Indian paintbrush, and Partridgefoot. There are several hiking trails near the lake that vary in degrees of difficulty and share spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
    MtRainierTipsooPeak1.jpg
  • Canyonlands National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. It preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries. Legislation creating the park was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on September 12, 1964. The park is divided into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the rivers themselves. While these areas share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character. Two large river canyons are carved into the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River and Green River. Author Edward Abbey, a frequent visitor, described the Canyonlands as "the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere.
    CanyonlandsGrandview1.jpg
  • The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.<br />
<br />
The 250 km2 (97 sq mi) ice formation, and 30 km (19 mi) in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This icefield is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.<br />
<br />
The Perito Moreno glacier, located 78 kilometres (48 mi) from El Calafate, was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.
    PeritoMorenoPeak2.jpg
  • The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.<br />
<br />
The 250 km2 (97 sq mi) ice formation, and 30 km (19 mi) in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This icefield is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.<br />
<br />
The Perito Moreno glacier, located 78 kilometres (48 mi) from El Calafate, was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.
    PeritoMorenoPeak1.jpg
  • Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park in Natches Peak trail area near Tipsoo Lake<br />
.....<br />
Tipsoo Lake, at an elevation of 5299 ft (1615 m) above sea level, is an alpine lake within the Northern Cascade Range located near the summit of Chinook Pass in Pierce County, Washington. The area is popular with photographers as the shores and surrounding area abound with the vibrant yellow, orange and purple colors of huckleberry, lupine, Indian paintbrush, and Partridgefoot. There are several hiking trails near the lake that vary in degrees of difficulty and share spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the surrounding landscape.
    MtRainierTipsooPeak1.jpg
  • The hilly landscape surrounding the Tuscan town of San Gimignano
    VecchioManeggioSunrise2.jpg
  • Yucca plants in White Sands National Monument. White Sands National Monument is in the northern Chihuahuan Desert in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It's known for its dramatic landscape of rare white gypsum sand dunes. Trails through the dunes include the raised Interdune Boardwalk and the Dune Life Nature Trail, dotted with interpretive exhibits on wildlife and other features. Dunes Drive is a looped road from the White Sands Visitor Center to the dune field.
    WhiteSands6.jpg
  • The fishermen that live near by The Li River is a group with a long and painful history of migration, spanning over 35 generations and 1,000 years. They share a common ancestor within the ethnic group; this tribe wandered along the Li River for thousands of years and essentially lived on the water, making their boats their homes. In the past, the living conditions of these house boats was very poor. They were without electric power and water, and sustained themselves and their families catching fish in the river and selling most of it at the local markets. When walking or boating along the river, you may see fishing done in the traditional manner with their cormorant birds or with their fishing nets. Based on official statistics, there were around a thousand fishermen along the Li River in 1989, until 1998 when China established the “Open to the World” policy and many foreign companies settled in the Yangtze River Delta. Consequently a large number of employment opportunities emerged in this area and many Li River fishermen were employed.<br />
<br />
For thousands of years the Li River fishermen lived by the water, their fishing rafts, and river boat songs that are so familiar to the Guilin people. Together with the Li River scenery it almost makes up a landscape painting. Most Li River fishermen go by the surname Wong, and it is said that the Wong people's ancestors came from the Zhuji port through the South China Sea, via Luoding to Guangxi Lingchuan, and the harbor at Mao Village in Guilin.<br />
<br />
Cormorant fishing has been a traditional lifestyle for the fishermen of the Li River in the past. If you walking around Yangshuo by the riverside after sunset, you can see the fishermen gather here for fishing on cormorant-perched, gas-lit bamboo rafts. Nowadays most parts of the Li River do not allow fishing due to the renewal of Lijiang's sustainable development. Thus, fewer fishermen today live on fishing, and the cormorant fishing is mostly a show for tourists. The cormorants ar
    LiRiverFisherman8.jpg
  • The fishermen that live near by The Li River is a group with a long and painful history of migration, spanning over 35 generations and 1,000 years. They share a common ancestor within the ethnic group; this tribe wandered along the Li River for thousands of years and essentially lived on the water, making their boats their homes. In the past, the living conditions of these house boats was very poor. They were without electric power and water, and sustained themselves and their families catching fish in the river and selling most of it at the local markets. When walking or boating along the river, you may see fishing done in the traditional manner with their cormorant birds or with their fishing nets. Based on official statistics, there were around a thousand fishermen along the Li River in 1989, until 1998 when China established the “Open to the World” policy and many foreign companies settled in the Yangtze River Delta. Consequently a large number of employment opportunities emerged in this area and many Li River fishermen were employed.<br />
<br />
For thousands of years the Li River fishermen lived by the water, their fishing rafts, and river boat songs that are so familiar to the Guilin people. Together with the Li River scenery it almost makes up a landscape painting. Most Li River fishermen go by the surname Wong, and it is said that the Wong people's ancestors came from the Zhuji port through the South China Sea, via Luoding to Guangxi Lingchuan, and the harbor at Mao Village in Guilin.<br />
<br />
Cormorant fishing has been a traditional lifestyle for the fishermen of the Li River in the past. If you walking around Yangshuo by the riverside after sunset, you can see the fishermen gather here for fishing on cormorant-perched, gas-lit bamboo rafts. Nowadays most parts of the Li River do not allow fishing due to the renewal of Lijiang's sustainable development. Thus, fewer fishermen today live on fishing, and the cormorant fishing is mostly a show for tourists. The cormorants ar
    GuilinFishermen12.jpg
  • The fishermen that live near by The Li River is a group with a long and painful history of migration, spanning over 35 generations and 1,000 years. They share a common ancestor within the ethnic group; this tribe wandered along the Li River for thousands of years and essentially lived on the water, making their boats their homes. In the past, the living conditions of these house boats was very poor. They were without electric power and water, and sustained themselves and their families catching fish in the river and selling most of it at the local markets. When walking or boating along the river, you may see fishing done in the traditional manner with their cormorant birds or with their fishing nets. Based on official statistics, there were around a thousand fishermen along the Li River in 1989, until 1998 when China established the “Open to the World” policy and many foreign companies settled in the Yangtze River Delta. Consequently a large number of employment opportunities emerged in this area and many Li River fishermen were employed.<br />
<br />
For thousands of years the Li River fishermen lived by the water, their fishing rafts, and river boat songs that are so familiar to the Guilin people. Together with the Li River scenery it almost makes up a landscape painting. Most Li River fishermen go by the surname Wong, and it is said that the Wong people's ancestors came from the Zhuji port through the South China Sea, via Luoding to Guangxi Lingchuan, and the harbor at Mao Village in Guilin.<br />
<br />
Cormorant fishing has been a traditional lifestyle for the fishermen of the Li River in the past. If you walking around Yangshuo by the riverside after sunset, you can see the fishermen gather here for fishing on cormorant-perched, gas-lit bamboo rafts. Nowadays most parts of the Li River do not allow fishing due to the renewal of Lijiang's sustainable development. Thus, fewer fishermen today live on fishing, and the cormorant fishing is mostly a show for tourists. The cormorants ar
    GuilinFishermen4.jpg
  • The fishermen that live near by The Li River is a group with a long and painful history of migration, spanning over 35 generations and 1,000 years. They share a common ancestor within the ethnic group; this tribe wandered along the Li River for thousands of years and essentially lived on the water, making their boats their homes. In the past, the living conditions of these house boats was very poor. They were without electric power and water, and sustained themselves and their families catching fish in the river and selling most of it at the local markets. When walking or boating along the river, you may see fishing done in the traditional manner with their cormorant birds or with their fishing nets. Based on official statistics, there were around a thousand fishermen along the Li River in 1989, until 1998 when China established the “Open to the World” policy and many foreign companies settled in the Yangtze River Delta. Consequently a large number of employment opportunities emerged in this area and many Li River fishermen were employed.<br />
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For thousands of years the Li River fishermen lived by the water, their fishing rafts, and river boat songs that are so familiar to the Guilin people. Together with the Li River scenery it almost makes up a landscape painting. Most Li River fishermen go by the surname Wong, and it is said that the Wong people's ancestors came from the Zhuji port through the South China Sea, via Luoding to Guangxi Lingchuan, and the harbor at Mao Village in Guilin.<br />
<br />
Cormorant fishing has been a traditional lifestyle for the fishermen of the Li River in the past. If you walking around Yangshuo by the riverside after sunset, you can see the fishermen gather here for fishing on cormorant-perched, gas-lit bamboo rafts. Nowadays most parts of the Li River do not allow fishing due to the renewal of Lijiang's sustainable development. Thus, fewer fishermen today live on fishing, and the cormorant fishing is mostly a show for tourists. The cormorants ar
    LijangRiverFisherman7.jpg
  • The fishermen that live near by The Li River is a group with a long and painful history of migration, spanning over 35 generations and 1,000 years. They share a common ancestor within the ethnic group; this tribe wandered along the Li River for thousands of years and essentially lived on the water, making their boats their homes. In the past, the living conditions of these house boats was very poor. They were without electric power and water, and sustained themselves and their families catching fish in the river and selling most of it at the local markets. When walking or boating along the river, you may see fishing done in the traditional manner with their cormorant birds or with their fishing nets. Based on official statistics, there were around a thousand fishermen along the Li River in 1989, until 1998 when China established the “Open to the World” policy and many foreign companies settled in the Yangtze River Delta. Consequently a large number of employment opportunities emerged in this area and many Li River fishermen were employed.<br />
<br />
For thousands of years the Li River fishermen lived by the water, their fishing rafts, and river boat songs that are so familiar to the Guilin people. Together with the Li River scenery it almost makes up a landscape painting. Most Li River fishermen go by the surname Wong, and it is said that the Wong people's ancestors came from the Zhuji port through the South China Sea, via Luoding to Guangxi Lingchuan, and the harbor at Mao Village in Guilin.<br />
<br />
Cormorant fishing has been a traditional lifestyle for the fishermen of the Li River in the past. If you walking around Yangshuo by the riverside after sunset, you can see the fishermen gather here for fishing on cormorant-perched, gas-lit bamboo rafts. Nowadays most parts of the Li River do not allow fishing due to the renewal of Lijiang's sustainable development. Thus, fewer fishermen today live on fishing, and the cormorant fishing is mostly a show for tourists. The cormorants ar
    GuilinFishermen1.jpg
  • Mesa Arch at sunrise, Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Mesa Arch is a pothole arch in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Canyonlands National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. It preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries. Legislation creating the park was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on September 12, 1964. The park is divided into four districts: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the rivers themselves. While these areas share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character. Two large river canyons are carved into the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River and Green River. Author Edward Abbey, a frequent visitor, described the Canyonlands as "the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere."
    MesaArch2.jpg
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