Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada with its iconic Parliament Hill Clock Tower that is visible in each of these four images. (Click on an image to see full size.)
Hill of Crosses (Kryžių Kalnas) in northern Lithuania
Hill of Crosses, a pilgrimage site located near the city of Å iauliai, in Lithuania, consisting of a small hill on which as many as 4,000 crosses stand.
Happy Easter to everyone.
The House of Lords in the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament, is a much more ornate and elaborate chamber than the House of Commons. At its front end there is, after all, the Sovereign's Throne with its gilded Canopy, from where the monarch opens each new parliamentary session, in a formal ceremony called the State Opening of Parliament. The British Parliament is composed of the Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and a State Opening is the only routine occasion when the three are gathered together in one place. No business of either House of Parliament (the House of Lords or the House of Commons) can proceed until the Sovereign’s speech has been delivered. The first order of business of a State Opening of Parliament is to check the cellars to ensure that it doesn't have any bombs in it — this is a tradition that has carried on after the original failed gun powder plot of 1605.
For the State Opening of Parliament, the brass rails delimiting the throne room are removed, and the Sovereign occupies the throne in the central of the three compartments. A second slightly smaller throne is installed alongside the principal throne in the central compartment when the sovereign's consort is present. The consort’s throne, which was first installed in 1901 for Queen Alexandra, is in the care of the Lord Great Chamberlain the Marquess of Cholmondeley for safekeeping. The throne usually remains at the Marquess’ Houghton Hall home in Norfolk unless needed at the state opening.
(See also related post in this group: zafoid.com/post/view/11822)
From our vantage point high over the Indian Ocean, we can see the "underwater waterfall" that exists just off the Le Morne Brabant peninsula on the Mauritius coast . This is really an optical illusion created by the trails of silt and sand deposits on the seafloor as they are carried by sea currents over the edge of an ocean shelf — it's not really a genuine waterfall. Though at first sight it does appear like the ocean is falling into a huge, mysterious, marine sinkhole.
Blood moons, one from Colorado (USA), and the other from Switzerland. (Click on the images to see them full-size.)
The term "blood moon" relates to the reddish color of a totally eclipsed Moon. During a total lunar eclipse (when the moon moves completely behind the Earth vis-a-vis the sun), the gray full moon begins to slowly turns red, displaying ever-changing reddish, pinkish and orange hues for a short while, and then slowly returning back to normal grey as it comes out of the Earth's shadow.
The reddish colour of the eclipsed moon comes about because the rays from the sun are able to wrap around the Earth from one side to the other, reaching the moon in this roundabout way and reflecting off it. However as the green to violet wavelengths of the sun's rays scatter more strongly than the red, the eclipsed moon obtains a reddish cast.
Catatumbo lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs over and around Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, typically over a bog area formed where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake. In the language of the Bari (an indigenous people who live in the Catatumbo River basin), Catatumbo means "House of Thunder".
The phenomenon is characterized by almost continuous lightning, mostly within the clouds, and occurs for 140 to 160 nights a year, nine hours per day, and with lightning flashes from 16 to 40 times per minute. The phenomenon sees the highest density of lightning in the world. In summers, the phenomenon may even occur as dry lightning without rainfall.
Italian geographer Agustin Codazzi described it in 1841 as "like a continuous lightning, and its position such that, located almost on the meridian of the mouth of the lake, it directs the navigators as a lighthouse."
This lightning phenomenon is even represented on the flag and coat of arms of the state of Zulia, (which contains Lake Maracaibo), and is mentioned in the state's anthem.
Meteor Crater in Arizona, and Wolfe Creek Crater in Western Australia, both of which are well-preserved meteorite impact craters formed tens of thousands years ago.
Red lanterns are a particularly appealing cultural characteristic of festivities in Asian countries.
