The History Book Club discussion

Hi there - for those folks thinking about a brief break.

Tell us a little bit about the country, state, or island that you are from and what it makes it home for you. What makes your part of the world wonderful from your perspective?

Bentley here - originally from New England but call the Metro New York City home now.

Love the Big Apple - exciting, alive, full of energy and enthusiasm - from my perspective it has a uniqueness all of its own. Wonderful neighborhoods and a blending of every culture and nationality. A true melting pot.

Some of the iconic images of NYC:







Can you figure out the locations and names of the buildings, bridges, icons in the above images?

Add your own images from your country and state and let us get the party going. (smile)

The first one is of course the Brooklyn Bridge


Source: Wikipedia

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookly...

The second one is the Chrysler Building

http://www.tishmanspeyer.com/properti...



Source: Wikipedia and Tishman Speyer

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysle...

Let us know about the place you call home and your icons.

The iconic New River Gorge Bridge in WV



(Source: netstate.com)

Wow that is beautiful Jill - I love sharing icons. What is the elevation?

The train up the Tygart Valley



(Source: Mountain Highlands.com)

Wow gorgeous - did you see my question in 7? Curious that bridge is very high off the ground.

It is only 876 feet over the Gorge,

And here is the picture that stirs the blood of every football fan in the state. The Pride of West Virginia (the WVU marching band) at the stadium during the first home game last year.



(Source: PrideofWV.com)

Wow it seems even higher than that but still - oh and yes a very impressive marching band.

Greetings from Toccoa, GA. We are a small town at the base of the southern Smoky Mountains. I live out in the country in a county that is surrounded on three sides by national and state forests, the Chattahoochi State and National Forest. I love the wildlife in this area. I have seen all kinds of wildlife from my back porch; deer, turkeys, Hawks, bear, wild boar, coyote, wolves. Last year, I saw a black panther walking through an orchard out back. There are not supposed to be any black panthers in the US, but a trail camera got a picture of it and it was published in our local paper.

Rocket launch on the space coast of Florida:

(Source: www.tbo.com)

Kathy wrote: "Greetings from Toccoa, GA. We are a small town at the base of the southern Smoky Mountains. I live out in the country in a county that is surrounded on three sides by national and state forests, ..."

Wow that sounds like a wonderful spot that you are in - do you have photos of the panther from the newspaper - since I have a love of animals - I would love to see it.

What an excellent photo and image Glynn - you have a birds eye view right from your spot on the globe (smile)

My city of Warner Robins was actually constructed to accommodate Robins Air Force Base back in the '40s. Before that it was little more than a railroad stop. Many military families end up retiring here, so it's become known as the International City. The base has a wonderful military museum (aerial picture below), which also has a replica of the Great Wall of China.

That is very interesting Francie - I see it now - where is the great wall of China replica - that is a little odd (smile) - been to the actual Great Wall in China and I have to say wow.

It must be a lovely town for folks in the military who want to actually retire there - that speaks volumes about how lovely the town must be.

Croatia and your city of Zagreb look quite beautiful. A lovely country Samanta.

Everything got erased. I actually took 10 minutes or more to present Zagreb to you. I'm going to go and vent some frustration. Anybody have a boxing bag? :(

What happened it looked beautiful - don't cry it was beautiful but I cannot understand what happened. Goodreads must have hiccuped

It posted double (which is not unsual, I'm used to it by now). I erased one (as usual) but the second post got deleted too. I'll just have to do it from scratch again. :(

Oh dear. Do you think it got confused and erased them both? When you want another break - the thread is still here so no worries.

Oh no Samanta! I'm eager to see your post. My husband and I will be visiting your beautiful country for two weeks next summer. My family descends from Split and Dubrovnic - 3 sets of my great-grandparents. This will be my first visit and I'm sure it will be fabulous!

Iconic images from the Pacific Northwest coming soon.

We cannot wait and Samanta's photos were beautiful.

I'm from Oakland, California, home to the Oakland Museum of California:


But I'm living in Kuşadası, Turkey, with its eponymous Bird Island:


I'm not far from the ruins of Ephesus, with the famed Library of Celsus:

I come from SW Missouri but have landed in beautiful San Antonio, TX. I live just on the outskirts in Texas Hill Country, not far from some beautiful wineries and countrysides.


(Source: Love of Bikes)

Ok, here we go again (take three, and hopefully the last)

Zagreb - the capital of the Republic of Croatia and the administrative, cultural and political centre of the country. It has 800 000 inhabitants within the city limits and 1 million within the County of Zagreb.

According to historical sources it was founded in the 11th century when a diocese of Catholic Church was established in the settlement of Kaptol (English: Capitol). On the other side of Kaptol there was another settlement, a free royal city, from the 13th century Gradec (literal translation "Small town"). Kaptol belonged belonged to the Catholic Church, while Gradec was a secular city with an abundance of manufacture. Due to economic reasons there was no love lost between the two towns and the border was a place of many bloody battles. Finally, in 1850, they decided to lay down their arms and unite into one city of Zagreb.


The main square in the night-time


aereal view of Kaptol with the cathedral


St. Mark's church in the Upper town of Gradec famous for the colorful roof


Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb, my personal favorite neo-baroque building from 1895, situated in the Lower town


"Novi Zagreb" - south part of Zagreb across the river Sava, built after the WWII (during Yugoslavia and comunism) with utilitarian architecture customary for the period and the regime


Zagreb Funicular, the oldest public transport in Zagreb (end of 19th century) and the shortest ride in Europe (only 66 m long) connects the Upper and the Lower town

Source: Google images

Kristen wrote: "Oh no Samanta! I'm eager to see your post. My husband and I will be visiting your beautiful country for two weeks next summer. My family descends from Split and Dubrovnic - 3 sets of my great-gr..."

I've redone it so you can see it now. Be sure to come to Zagreb and let me know. I'd love to show the city to you.

Doris what beautiful photos and you are so close to such an ancient location. What a beautiful library even in its antiquity.

Samanta - I love funicular railroads and transports (although this one is a short ride - smile). And your photos are beautiful.

Teri wrote: "I come from SW Missouri but have landed in beautiful San Antonio, TX. I live just on the outskirts in Texas Hill Country, not far from some beautiful wineries and countrysides.

"

How beautiful San Antonio is. Missouri is nice too.

Bentley wrote: "Samanta - I love funicular railroads and transports (although this one is a short ride - smile). And your photos are beautiful."

Thank you! :)

Great pictures from all......we have such beauty in this old world of ours!!!

Samanta wrote: "Kristen wrote: "Oh no Samanta! I'm eager to see your post. My husband and I will be visiting your beautiful country for two weeks next summer. My family descends from Split and Dubrovnic - 3 set..."

We plan to begin our trip in Zagreb, so we would LOVE to do that! Your pictures are fantastic; can't wait to see these sites in person.

Sounds like a great meet up and all done through the readathon. Great way to bring the global community together

Indeed! Now for a peek at Camano Island, Washington, north of Seattle by about an hour or 1/3 of the way on up to Vancouver, BC.










We are in Puget Sound, so protected by the Olympic mountain range west and the Cascades close by to the east. Many active volcanoes around!










Here is an example of our beaches and coves:










Lots of local wildlife around - eagles nesting all over the island and seeking their prey, deer, and killer whales (orcas) are common sightings.










I'm truly blessed and proud to call this home.

The photos are sort of narrow. And one has an image error. It sounds like a beautiful place.

Here's a picture of the University of California at Berkeley, where I studied math and met my husband. I've lived in Berkeley for over 50 years, it's a great place.

My cousin and her husband went to Berkeley - they met there too.

She and her family just came to visit a couple of weeks ago. Both are engineers

Vicki wrote: "Here's a picture of the University of California at Berkeley, where I studied math and met my husband. I've lived in Berkeley for over 50 years, it's a great place.

"
I was a Math student at UC Berkeley, too. Nice to "meet" a fellow alumna.

Bentley wrote: "The photos are sort of narrow. And one has an image error. It sounds like a beautiful place."

Ugh! have to redo the images but must wait for tech-savvy stepson to get home. :)

There you go - another discussion which brings folks together.

That is OK Kristen - I look forward to seeing the photos

stepson to rescue: msg 36

Oh my goodness look at the Orca Whales so close to shore. What a display.

Really beautiful - no wonder you like living there. How much rain do you get?

Or being North of Seattle and protected by the mountains do you get less than Seattle for example receives

Also a special thank you to your step son.

Quite a bit less than Seattle, yes. We are in what's called the Olympic Rain Shadow. Seattle averages 38 inches of rain annually...Camano averages roughly 22 inches.

That is quite a bit less. In fact we average a lot more than that on the East Coast. Have you always been from Camano or did you move there from another part of the country?