Amazing things I've seen.

[Malc]

Did you know that those pointy mountains like the Rockies are that shape because they are young?

The more roundy ones such as in the Scottish Highlands are the older ranges.

Roundy. My geological terms aren't intimidating you I hope?

[The Peepmaster]

I was impressed that she'd seen The Petrified Forest. (I have visions of some trees, on a very unstable slope, near to a sheer drop).

[Vulture]

 

[Calypso]

When I was a child, I thought that if a person entered The Petrified Forest he would turn to stone.

For education/entertainment purposes only:

http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/PetForest/PetForest.html#introduction

There are pictures.

WARNING: The Proofreader did not do the best job. It's 225 million years and not 225 years. :

[Vulture]

Thanks for that, Calypso. It was absolutely fascinating. It would be great the see it all for real but, as the chances are nil, the pictures will do fine.

[Fyodor]

I've seen better days.

[Joan]

Hello again everyone.  How're you all going?  Great thread, Roger - got me thinking about all the things I've seen and realised I've been pretty fortunate too - led a very itinerate life at one stage.  A few that stick out are

• Flying in a "Red Baron" plane in an open cockpit over Sydney Harbour, Bondi and the Northern Beaches, then seeing those beaches and the Tasman Sea from an upside down position a few times, before diving straight down towards them.
• Margo Fonteyn dancing in Swan Lake - Rudolf Nuryev was supposed to dance with her, but he called off at the last minute with a cold.  We all knew he was just too snotty nosed to come to grotty old Glasgow.
• A ballet performed in the ruins of Baalbeck in Lebanon.  The last two were when I was a teenager, so didn't really appreciate them as much as I should.
• Elton John in concert in 1972 in Frankfurt - I can still see the green sparkly top hat, long boots, huge round glasses, etc.
• Lebanon before the conflicts started.
• The view from the top of Ayers Rock in central Australia.  Amazing seeing the curve of the earth while you're still on the ground.
• The Southern Alps of New Zealand from a small plane - twice.
• Fox Glacier and Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand, once from a helicopter - didn't like that much!
• The inside of the Eiger, the Eiger, views from the Jungfraujoch  The Swiss Alps full stop.
• Down the salt mine at Berchtesgaden in Austria
• Dubrovnik
• Florence in all her glory
• Venice in all her watery, mosquito ridden glory
• Paris in all her glory
• The Son et Lumiere at the Acropolis and Parthenon
• The crater of Haleakala volcano on Maui
• A whale popping up in front of the Manly Ferry on Sydney Harbour, appropriately when we had visitors from overseas with us.
• A huge cuttlefish suspended under a rock ledge - all we could really see were two huge eyes staring out at us - on a dive somewhere around Sydney.
• The possum, who is currently living in our cabana roof, sitting on a beam watching hubby barbecue at night.  Unfortunately, we'll have to get her out of there soon, because we need to get the ceiling back on.  She's not going to like that very much!

I would love to see all the sights mentioned in North America - only seen a little bit of the East Coast and a little bit of the West Coast, nothing in between. Fascinating about the petrified forest, Calypso - I'd never heard of that.  Have seen the tallest gum tree in the world in NZ - or was it the oldest?  Pretty big, anyway.

Malc - is this what you saw?  Except, I think the "birds" flying up near the flags in the light were fruit bats that time. Guess the date...



Edit:  Just thought of three more significant things - Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque in Istanbul and St Peter's Basilica in Rome - I was just awestruck when I walked into that building.  If I was at all religious, it would have been a spiritual experience.  Thanks, Michelangelo and Bernini - think that's right, haven't got time to check.  Seen old Pope John Paul too - once in Rome and once in Vancouver of all places - both times from a distance.

[Vulture]

Wow!

[The Peepmaster]

Hello again everyone.  How're you all going?  Great thread, Roger - got me thinking about all the things I've seen and realised I've been pretty fortunate too - led a very itinerate life at one stage.  A few that stick out are

• Flying in a "Red Baron" plane in an open cockpit over Sydney Harbour, Bondi and the Northern Beaches, then seeing those beaches and the Tasman Sea from an upside down position a few times, before diving straight down towards them.
• Margo Fonteyn dancing in Swan Lake - Rudolf Nuryev was supposed to dance with her, but he called off at the last minute with a cold.  We all knew he was just too snotty nosed to come to grotty old Glasgow.
• A ballet performed in the ruins of Baalbeck in Lebanon.  The last two were when I was a teenager, so didn't really appreciate them as much as I should.
• Elton John in concert in 1972 in Frankfurt - I can still see the green sparkly top hat, long boots, huge round glasses, etc.
• Lebanon before the conflicts started.
• The view from the top of Ayers Rock in central Australia.  Amazing seeing the curve of the earth while you're still on the ground.
• The Southern Alps of New Zealand from a small plane - twice.
• Fox Glacier and Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand, once from a helicopter - didn't like that much!
• The inside of the Eiger, the Eiger, views from the Jungfraujoch  The Swiss Alps full stop.
• Down the salt mine at Berchtesgaden in Austria
• Dubrovnik
• Florence in all her glory
• Venice in all her watery, mosquito ridden glory
• Paris in all her glory
• The Son et Lumiere at the Acropolis and Parthenon
• The crater of Haleakala volcano on Maui
• A whale popping up in front of the Manly Ferry on Sydney Harbour, appropriately when we had visitors from overseas with us.
• A huge cuttlefish suspended under a rock ledge - all we could really see were two huge eyes staring out at us - on a dive somewhere around Sydney.
• The possum, who is currently living in our cabana roof, sitting on a beam watching hubby barbecue at night.  Unfortunately, we'll have to get her out of there soon, because we need to get the ceiling back on.  She's not going to like that very much!

I would love to see all the sights mentioned in North America - only seen a little bit of the East Coast and a little bit of the West Coast, nothing in between. Fascinating about the petrified forest, Calypso - I'd never heard of that.  Have seen the tallest gum tree in the world in NZ - or was it the oldest?  Pretty big, anyway.

Malc - is this what you saw?  Except, I think the "birds" flying up near the flags in the light were fruit bats that time. Guess the date...



Edit:  Just thought of three more significant things - Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque in Istanbul and St Peter's Basilica in Rome - I was just awestruck when I walked into that building.  If I was at all religious, it would have been a spiritual experience.  Thanks, Michelangelo and Bernini - think that's right, haven't got time to check.  Seen old Pope John Paul too - once in Rome and once in Vancouver of all places - both times from a distance.

Makes my day-trip to Eastbourne sound pretty unimpressive...

[peter]

Persnickety saw his toes today when he leaned dangerously forward

[Joan]

Makes my day-trip to Eastbourne sound pretty unimpressive...

Ah well, you see, I cheated in a way - I was fortunate enough to work on camping tours in New Zealand and Europe, so I got to see all those things in Europe and NZ at least once - the times I wasn't asleep on the coach! That led to me coming out to Australia to visit all the people I'd met on the tours and have a look round, where I met my sadistic husband-to-be who was the one who, some years later, gave me a voucher for a 45 minute aerobatics flight, knowing I would be absolutely petrified.  Luckily, the pilot took one look at my face, which was probably as white as a sheet, and suggested we do a scenic flight over Sydney Harbour and then a little bit of aerobatics at the end.  Turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life, despite the fact I felt sick for two hours afterwards.

The ballet and Lebanon were while I was at boarding school - had to be some compensation for enduring those five years.