This is the English city of Worcester and county town of Worcestershire.
By Mark on August 22, 2010
So where is Worcester and what do I know about this town, well the prounounciation of the town is said like this WOOS-tər, this is often said in locally and in most parts of England as it is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. You will find this city is quite close to the south-west of Birmingham, it is about some 30 miles (48 km) and 29 miles (47 km) north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people.
Some of the magical things about the U.K, is that you will often find rivers, streams, canals, estuaries etc etc. Here we have the wonderful River Severn, this rivers goes through the middle of the city, overlooked by the 12th-century Worcester Cathedral.
What I love about this country is that there is so much history, and Worcester is actually the site of where final battle of the Civil War, took place, this is when Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army defeated King Charles II’s Cavaliers, going on to result in a ten-year period where England and Wales became a republic. That was during the 17th century, from 1642–1651. You can find different types of Royal Worcester Porcelain, as this city is the home to it and Worcester is also the birthplace of the composer Sir Edward Elgar. It also houses the Lea and Perrins factory where Worcestershire Sauce is made. So there is plenty to see here, it is also a Tudor city and alot of the buildings are in black and white stripes it is wonderful to see.
- Learn about Worcester on Wikipedia:
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This is about Colorado Bend State Park, Texas, U.S.A.
By Mark on August 20, 2010
One of the amazing and exciting things for me about searching through Google Maps, is that you can find some outstanding places in this beautiful world that we live in and sometimes there are some really lovely places to visit, this time around I am writing about: Colorado Bend State Park is a 5,328.3-acre (2,156 ha) Texas state park in the Hill Country region of southern United States of America. It was purchased in 1984 and opened to public in 1987. It is representative of the karst features typically seen in the Hill Country, with many sinkholes, caves, and springs.
There are plenty of places for hiking and you can relax and chill out to the sound of nature at her best. You will find many different species of birds found in the park, there are around 155 different types of birds, and you will also get to see some special ones like the golden-cheeked warblers, black-capped vireos, and bald eagles, wow, they are amazinging looking birds. Insects galore, fishes and other aquatic species, aswell as plants and trees. We are very lucky today, because if you are unable to visit these places there usually is someone who has and will provide you with wonderful pictues to enjoy, as you can see below, it is great having places like the Colorado Bend State Park, for wildlife and for humans. Just think what it would be like climbing inside those caves or hiking up some very tall hills, what fun!
These parks really do well to help show people what they are missing out on, so it is always handy to know there are guided tours around to help you explore the the park. You can get different types of offers that are available at the park like you can go camping, hiking, mountain biking, or if you fancy something different what about going fishing, swimming, and if you are brave there are also guided tours of caves and waterfalls, an experience to take on.
- Learn about Colorado Bend State Park on Wikipedia:
- Learn about other Texas State Parks on Wikipedia:
- Learn about Colorado on Wikipedia:
- Learn about the Texas Hill Country on wikipedia:
- Learn about Texas State on Wikipedia:
- Find Colorado Bend State Park on Google Maps:
- Find Colorado State on Google Maps:
- Find Texas on Google Maps:
- Learn about the Normans on Wikipedia:
- Learn about the Duchy of Normandy on Wikipedia:
- Learn about Normandy on Wikipedia:
- Learn about the Anglo-Saxons on Wikipedia:
- Find Normandy on Google Maps:
- Learn about ESPN,UK on Wikipedia:
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- Learn about Derby on Wikipedia:
- Learn about Derbyshire on Wikipedia:
- Learn about the East Midlands on Wikipedia:
- Learn about Derby Football Club on Wikipedia:
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- Find Derby on Google Maps:
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A short history of the Normans on Virtualtripping.
By Mark on August 18, 2010
This is a Youtube video taken from the BBC Norman season programs, this is “The Normans”, it is brilliant.
So who were the Normans and when were they around on the dateline. Well the Normans were people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. The Normans actually came from Viking desendants who were the conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock. It was around the first half of the tenth century, when the Normans finally became evolved over succeeding centuries. The name “Normans” derives from Nortmanni (Northmen), after the Vikings who founded Normandy. These people played a major role in history when it came to political, military, and cultural role’s in medieval Europe and even the Near East. They became more famous for their martial spirit and Christian piety. These people were very quick at adopteing the Romance language of the land that they settled in, and making their dialect become known as Norman, this language became an important literary language.
The Duchy of Normandy, which they formed by treaty with the French crown, was one of the great large fiefs of medieval France. But the Norman people were very clever and this was due to the creation of their culture, and becoming famous for their unique Romanesque architecture, and their musical traditions, as well as for their military accomplishments and innovations. They were not frightened of anything it appears and they went to war and took over many areas some including a Norman kingdom in Sicily and southern Italy by conquest, and also a Norman expedition on behalf of their duke, that went on to the Norman Conquest of England. Norman influence spread from these new centres to the Crusader States in the Near East, to Scotland and Wales in Great Britain, and to Ireland.
In Russian historiography, the term “Norman” is often used for the Varangians, as for example in the term “Normanist theory”. In French historiography too, the term is often applied to the various Viking groups that raided France in the ninth century before settling down to found Normandy.
I have been watching the Normans season on the BBC television network and have been fascinated by what I have seen, they are not just dealing with the historic side of the Normans, but there are programs on the Norman Walks through Britian, as well as seeing Norman life through their own peoples eyes in dramas and getting to learn about the Doomsday book and of cause William the Conquer, the first Norman to defeat the English in 1066.
They did so much to help the English people, but at the time they really were very bad to the English Saxons, defeating and humiliating them. They would burn Saxon buildings and kill many Anglo-Saxon rebels, aswell as killing and chopping up King Harold the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. But the Normans created a much better and securer England and went on to create the Great Britian, that we know of today. Bringing by force or friendship, the nations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales together, even though there are still problems today, especially in Ireland, between the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland people. So whatever we think of the Normans they really did help us over here back in the 10th century.
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ESPN(Entertainment Sports Programming Network), Sports Channel in U.K.
By Mark on August 15, 2010
This is a youtube video, promotional video done in 2009, of ESPN,UK. It now only shows 23 live English Premiership games and does show other sports, that are not shown in this video.
Over here in Great Britain, we have a massive sporting television company known as Sky Sports, officially the BBC Sports Company, is the mainstream sports channel the U.K, but as it is run on a licence fee basis, you will find that only main sporting events are shown like the horse racing, Grand National, the Olympics, the F.A Cup(football), etc etc, where as the pay per view channels are able to show pretty much whatever they can to a point. Sky have always been the dominent sporting channel over here like ESPN are in America and Setanta Sports are in Ireland, but a couple of years ago Setnta Sports tried to take on Sky Sports, but after just one year, it failed and Sky Sports carried on as usual, but Setantas failure became ESPN, UK’s, advantage as they decide to work with Sky Sports and have now got their own channels on Sky’s format. Working with Sky has made ESPN,UK, work very well as they are able to show English and Scottish football aswell as English rugby and other sports. My feelings towards Sky Sports is sadly still that Sky Sports will always dominate in this country, meaning that the only way to show live sports will be through the BBC, ITV and Sky. Which then goes on to mean that the other sports channels can not always show what they would like to show, for example, ESPN.UK, are working with Sky Sports, they show Scottish football, but none of the derby’s are on ESPN, they are all on Sky Sports, it is also the same with the English Premier football league, where Sky have taken most of the live games so there are only a few on ESPN.UK. Some people will say that is business, but I feel it is so wrong not to have real competition, as nothing apart from the BBC and even they are tighly budgeted, can they on Sky Sports. Sadly though that is life.
ESPN is a sports television channel in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland which is owned by American sports broadcaster ESPN Inc. The channel launched on 3 August 2009. Programming is available in standard definition and high definition formats. The channel was actually launched on 3 August 2009 as a result of ESPN’s acquisition of partial UK broadcast rights to the Premier League six weeks prior, caused in turn by the financial difficulties of Setanta Sports, which ceased broadcasting in Great Britain at about the same time. It marked ESPN’s first foray into live coverage of domestic sports events in the UK, which had previously been dominated by terrestrial networks such as the BBC and ITV, as well as pay services Sky Sports and Setanta. Prior to August 2009, ESPN’s only operations in the UK were archive sports channel ESPN Classic, as well as the pan-European ESPN America channel, which focuses on North American sport.
So was this the right thing to do, well yes it was in my eyes as I said above it then gives more opportunities to people around the U.K, to decide wether they can afford Sky Sports or a different sports channel. Of course it is probably still cheaper and better to have Sky Sports, but in time I feel that ESPN,UK, will get more and more live sport, for example on September 4th 2010, ESPN,UK, will be showing live coverage of the English Premier Rugby season, which will be good. But in today’s world there are so many channels you do not know what to watch, on top of that you have blue-ray and dvds, aswell as internet channels tv and radio, and recording on programs on large hardrives gives you plenty to watch to, oh my gosh, wow.
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Welcome to the English, midlands city of Derby in the county of Derbyshire, England, U.K.
By Mark on August 12, 2010
Now and again I will write a post about a place of interest, that I would like to visit and find out about these places, well this time I have decide to head the English, midlands, city of Derby, this is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. This city lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban area was 229,407. According to the 2001 census, Derby was at that time the 18th largest settlement in England, measured by urban area.
This is a picture taken from flickr of Derby Catherdral.
Here are a few places to visit and enjoy they are: Derby Cathedralen you are at Derby, there are: Cathedral Quarter, Darley Abbey, Derby Arboretum, Derby Canal, Derby Industrial Museum (Silk Mill), Derby Friargate Station (of which all that remains is Handyside’s bridge across Friargate), Markeaton Park Light Railway, a heritage railway, Pride Park Stadium (Derby County F.C.) and its predecessor the Baseball Ground (now demolished), River Derwent and finally St Helen’s House, Derby.
This is a picture taken from flickr of the River Derwent.
Now Derby is a large city with so much to do and see, here are just some of the Landmarks, which you will find within Derby or just on the outskirts of the city, they are: Derby Cathedral tower is 212 feet (68.6 meters) tall to the tip of the pinnacles. This has been home to a pair of breeding peregrine falcons since 2006. Three webcams monitor the falcons here, Derby Gaol is a visitor attraction based in the dungeons of the Derbyshire County Gaol which dates back to 1756, Derby Industrial Museum is situated in Derby Silk Mill and shows the industrial heritage and technological achievement of Derby, including Rolls-Royce aero engines, railways, mining, quarrying and foundries, Pickford’s House Museum. Pickford’s House Museum was built by architect Joseph Pickford in 1770. It was his home and business headquarters. Derby Museum and Art Gallery shows paintings by Joseph Wright, as well as fine Royal Crown Derby porcelain, natural history, local regiments and archaeology. Pickford also designed St Helen’s House in King Street.
This is a picture taken from flickr of the Derby Canal between Willington and Stenso, DERBY.
The skyline of the inner city changed in 1968 when the inner ring road with its two new crossings of the River Derwent was built. The route of the ring road went through the St. Alkmund’s Church and its Georgian churchyard, the only Georgian square in Derby. Both were demolished to make way for the road, a move still criticised today. Thus the editor (Elizabeth Williamson) of the 2nd edition of Pevsner for Derbyshire wrote:- ‘…the character and cohesion of the centre has been completely altered by the replacement of a large number of C18 houses in the centre by a multi-lane road. As a traffic scheme this road is said to be a triumph; as townscape it is a disaster.’
This is a picture taken fromflickr of Pride Park Stadium, the home to Derby County Football Club.
The newer buildings along Ford Street and St Alkmund’s Way include the Friargate Studios, The Joseph Wright Centre (a campus of Derby College) and the Jurys Inn. The hotel dominates the skyline, demoting nearby St Mary’s and, indeed, the Cathedral (silhouettes which formerly described the character of the city). The building of the Jurys Inn has altered well liked approach views of the city such as those from the top of Green Lane, Nottingham Road and from Darley Park.
This has got to be one of the most interseting and entertaining cities to visit, with pubs, clubs, bars, shops, parks, country walks, historic walks, hotels, bed and breakfast, theatres, cinemas, restaurants, museums and historical places to visit, you have got to be in your element, and if you like football, you can go and see the Championship (second division), football side Derby County.
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Nick Ramsay, exploring the world from a zabuton in Japan.