Travels in the 2nd half

The Mall One of my favorite things to do on a day where I have nothing else to do is to go to Central Park. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted , Central Park is one of New York City's jewels. I have always loved the park. It has an energy that is unmatched anywhere else in the city. When you approach the park from the Upper West Side of Manhattan you pass through an area that was built in the era between the world wars. This was a time when architects paid attention to small details on their buildings: Brownstone decoration Looking east along 84th street NY Brownstones Decorations on a Central Park West building There are so many things that I love about Central Park. First, there are areas of highly landscaped gardens. One of those is the Shakespeare Garden. This garden sits just south of the Delacorte Theater - home to the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park performances. It has paths that are lined with wooden fences and wonderful earl...

Chinese acrobats Beijing is a huge city, even by New York standards. There are around 23 million people living in Beijing. It has been the capital of China for around 700 years. So there is a lot to see and do there. The thing is, if you are on one of those tours that goes to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai and a three day cruise down the Yangtze River all in 10 days.....there are a lot of tourist things that you will miss. So here are some things to do if you have a longer tour or more time in Beijing. The Lama Temple Bell Tower at the Lama Temple Originally built in 1694 as a palace for one of the princes, the building was converted to lamasery in 1722. Its size and place in Beijing attracted many Tibetan Buddhist monks.The Temple is actually a group of 4 main buildings with several out buildings and courtyards. As you move through the buildings the representations of Buddha get larger and larger ending with a statue that is  26 m tall carved from a single piece of sandalw...