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$Jordan - Amman : All kinds of pics from my stay in Amman during the fall of 2005. Amman, sometimes spelled Ammann (Arabic عمان ʿAmmān), is the capital city of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a city of 2,125,400 inhabitants (2005 estimate), and the administrative capital and commercial centre of Jordan. It is the capital city of Amman Governorate. On November 9, 2005, coordinated explosions rocked three hotels in Amman, shocking and angering the population of the peaceful city. The Islamist organization, Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility. Despite the fact that the birthplace of since-killed terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is the town of Zarqa, less than 30 km from Amman. The sheer brutality of the attacks — they targeted, among other things, a Muslim wedding procession — caused widespread revulsion across the widest range of Jordanians. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Jordan - Amman

$Jordan - Aqaba : Aqaba (Arabic: العقبة, Al-ʻAqabah) is a coastal town with a population of 70,000 (2000 est. pop.) and 2% of Jordan's population in the far south of Jordan. It is the capital of Aqaba Governorate. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. The town borders Eilat, Israel and there is a border post where it is possible to cross between the two countries. Both Aqaba and Eilat are at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. The town is best known today as a diving and beach resort. However, industrial activity remains important to the area, and the town is an exporter of phosphate and some shells. The town is also an important administrative center within the far south of Jordan. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Jordan - Aqaba

$Jordan - Jerash : Jerash is known for the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa, also referred to as Antioch on the Golden River. It is sometimes misleadingly referred to as the "Pompeii of the Middle East or Asia", referring to its size, extent of excavation and level of preservation (though Jerash was never buried by a volcano). Jerash is considered one of the most important and best preserved Roman cities in the Near East. It was a city of the Decapolis. Recent excavations show that Jerash was inhabited during the Bronze Age and Iron Age (3200 BC - 1200 BC. After the Roman conquest in 63 BC, Jerash and the land surrounding it were annexed by the Roman province of Syria, and later joined the Decapolis cities. In AD 90, Jerash was absorbed into the Roman province of Arabia, which included the city of Philadelphia (modern day Amman). The Romans ensured security and peace in this area which enabled its people to devote their efforts and time to economic development and building activity. In the second half of the first century AD, the city of Jerash achieved great prosperity. In AD 106, the Emperor Trajan constructed roads throughout the provinces and more trade came to Jerash. The Emperor Hadrian visited Jerash in AD 129-130. A remarkable Latin inscription records a religious dedication set up by members of the imperial mounted bodyguard "wintering" there. The Triumphal Arch (or Arch of Hadrian) was built to celebrate his visit. The city finally reached a size of about 800,000 square metres within its walls. The Persian invasion in AD 614 caused the rapid decline of Jerash. However, the city continued to flourish during the Umayyad Period, as shown by recent excavations. In AD 746, a major earthquake destroyed much of Jerash and its surroundings. During the period of the Crusades, some of the monuments were converted to fortresses including the Temple of Artemis. Small settlements continued in Jerash during the Ayyubid, Mameluk and Ottoman periods. Excavation and restoration of Jerash has been almost continuous since the 1920s. There are a large number of striking monuments located in Jerash: the Corinthium column, Hadrian's Arch, a circus/hippodrome, two immense temples (to Zeus and Artemis), the nearly unique oval Forum which is surrounded by a fine colonnade, a long colonnaded street or cardo, two theatres (the Large South Theatre and smaller North Theatre), two baths, a scatter of small temples and an almost complete circuit of city walls. Most of these monuments were built by donations of the city's wealthy citizens. From AD 350, a large Christian community lived in Jerash, and between AD 400-600, more than thirteen churches were built, many with superb mosaic floors. A cathedral was built in the fourth century A.D. An ancient synagogue with detailed mosaics, including the story of Noah, was found beneath a church. Today the ruins of Jerash are thoroughly excavated and excellently preserved. This has led to a nickname, the "Asian Pompeii." var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Jordan - Jerash

$Jordan - Natural Beauty (Lanscape and People alike) : var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Jordan - Natural Beauty (Lanscape and People alike)

$Jordan - Various : var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Jordan - Various

$NYC : New York City is comprised of five boroughs, an unusual form of government used to administer the five constituent counties that make up the city. Throughout the boroughs there are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods, many with a definable history and character to call their own. If the boroughs were each independent cities, four of the boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx) would be among the ten most populous cities in the United States. The five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island; Brooklyn (pop. 2,511,408) is the city's most populous borough and was an independent city until 1898. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods and a unique architectural heritage. It is also the only borough outside of Manhattan with a distinct downtown area. The borough features a long beachfront and Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country. Manhattan (pop. 1,593,200) is the most densely populated borough and home to most of the city's skyscrapers, as well as Central Park. The borough is the financial center of the city and contains the headquarters of many major corporations, the United Nations, as well as a number of important universities, and many cultural attractions, including numerous museums, the Broadway theatre district, Greenwich Village, and Madison Square Garden. Manhattan is loosely divided into Lower, Midtown, and Uptown regions. Uptown Manhattan is divided by Central Park into the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, and above the park is Harlem. The building form most closely associated with New York City is the skyscraper that saw New York buildings shift from the low-scale European tradition to the vertical rise of business districts. New York City has about 4493 skyscrapers, more than any other city in the world. Surrounded mostly by water, the city's residential density and high real estate values in commercial districts saw the city amass the largest collection of individual, free-standing office and residential towers in the world. New York has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles. These include the Woolworth Building (1913), an early gothic revival skyscraper built with massively scaled gothic detailing able to be read from street level several hundred feet below. The 1916 Zoning Resolution required setback in new buildings, and restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size, to allow sunlight to reach the streets below. The Art Deco design of the Chrysler Building (1930), with its tapered top and steel spire, reflected the zoning requirements. The building is considered by many historians and architects to be New York's finest building, with its distinctive ornamentation such as replicas at the corners of the 61st floor of the 1928 Chrysler eagle hood ornaments and V-shaped lighting inserts capped by a steel spire at the tower's crown. A highly influential example of the international style in the United States is the Seagram Building (1957), distinctive for its facade using visible bronze-toned I-beams to evoke the building's structure. The Condé Nast Building (2000) is an important example of green design in American skyscrapers. The character of New York's large residential districts is often defined by the elegant brownstone rowhouses, townhouses, and shabby tenements that were built during a period of rapid expansion from 1870 to 1930. Stone and brick became the city's building materials of choice after the construction of wood-frame houses was limited in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1835. Unlike Paris, which for centuries was built from its own limestone bedrock, New York has always drawn its building stone from a far-flung network of quarries and its stone buildings have a variety of textures and hues. A distinctive feature of many of the city's buildings is the presence of wooden roof-mounted water towers. In the 1800s, the city required their installation on buildings higher than six stories to prevent the need for excessively high water pressures at lower elevations, which could burst municipal water pipes. Garden apartments became popular during the 1920s in outlying areas, including Jackson Heights in Queens, which became more accessible with expansion of the subway. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

NYC

$Syria - Damascus : More pics from Syria will come as I have time!!! Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world Controversial explanations have been made to guess etymological origin of the name of the Syrian capital city. Some hold that “damashaq” means the fast-moving camel and the name was given because the building of the city was completed swiftly. Others believe it was named after Damashaq the great grandson of Sam son of Noah, who built the city. Still others presume that the Romans called it “Dumuskus” which means the double musk. Or perhaps the name was taken from Hermes son in Greek mythology who came over to Syria. In Aramean the name might have been derived from Dermask or dersauk as (E deim) means land and (mask) means (red) in Syriac. Whatever the etymological origion of the word, Damascus remains, as ever (the eye of the whole east) as the Roman Julianus described the greatness of the city. Under the Roman it was a chief town, and later the fortress of Bilad-Al-Sham, and the passage to Mecca, the pavilion of all Muslims and God’s paradise on earth have never seen anything so extensive as its orchard, so good as its fruits and so plentiful as its water. It is said the water is so abundant that a fountain can be found in every house. Some historical sources say that the name of Damashaq (Damascus) is derived from the Aramaic word (dam shaq) which means a town built on the rock where the blood of Mash, the fourth son of Aram Bin Sam Bin Noah, flowed soon after a heavy blow by his brother Aws deeply cut Mash’s head. The fight between the two brothers broke out when they could not come into agreement on the name of the new town, some historians had different illustrations with regard to the name of (Dimashaq). The old city of Damascus still preserve its graphical and historical aspects, the high wall which protects the old city of Damascus is crystal clear until today. The citadel was built during the Seljuk rule, and rebuilt during Saladdin rule. It occupies an area of land estimated by 220x190 square meters. It has 13 towers. Nureddin tower in the south west part of the wall, was built in 1168 A.D. Al-saleh Ayoub tower was built in 1248 A.D. There are several gates to the city, some of them date back to the Roman era. Bab Touma and Bab Sharqi are perhaps the most oldest and famous gates of the old city of Damascus. Damascus museum, souk Al-Hamidieh and several other souks, palaces, Khans, and old schools and Bimarestans are additional attraction in the old city of Damascus. www.syriatourism.org/ www.damascus-online.com/ www.oldamascus.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/damascene/page13/ (personal fave! Beautiful pics!!) var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Syria - Damascus

$Syria - Krak des Chavalier : A Crusader fortress in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval military castles in the world. In Arabic, the fortress is called Qal'at al-Ḥiṣn (Arabic: قلعة الحصن‎), the word Krak coming from the Syriac karak, meaning fortress. It is located 65 km west of the city of Homs, close to the border of Lebanon, and is administratively part of the Homs Governorate. Krak des Chevaliers was the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades. It was expanded between 1150 and 1250 and eventually housed a garrison of 2,000. The inner curtain wall is up to 100 feet thick at the base on the south side, with seven guard towers 30 feet in diameter. King Edward I of England, while on the Ninth Crusade in 1272, saw the fortress and used it as an example for his own castles in England and Wales. The fortress was described as “perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world” by T.E. Lawrence. This fortress was made a World Heritage Site, along with Qal’at Salah El-Din, in 2006 and is owned by the Syrian government. The fortress is one of the few sites where Crusader art (in the form of frescoes) has been preserved. Resources: A History of the Crusades: The Art And Architecture of the Crusader, page 152, Kenneth M. Setton, Harry W. Hazard, Published 1977, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 448 pages, ISBN 0299068242 Knights Templar: Lost Worlds, July 10, 2006 video documentary on The History Channel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak_des_Chevaliers www.syriatourism.org/ http://www.sacred-destinations.com/syria/krak-des-chevaliers.htm var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Syria - Krak des Chavalier

$Syria - Aleppo : Aleppo (Arabic: حلب‎ ['ħalab], 36°13′N, 37°10′E) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate; the Governorate extends around the city for over 16,000 km² and has a population of 4,393,000, making it the largest Governorate in Syria (followed by Damascus). Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world; it knew human settlement since the eleventh millennium B.C. through the residential houses that were discovered in Tell Qaramel.[2] It was known to antiquity as Khalpe, Khalibon, to the Greeks as Beroea, and to the Turks as Halep. During the Crusades, and again during the French Mandate, the name Alep was used: "Aleppo" is an Italianised version of this. It occupies a strategic trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates. Initially, Aleppo was built on a small group of hills surrounding the prominent hill where the castle is erected.[3] The small river Quweiq (قويق) runs through the city. The main role of the city was as a trading place, as it sat at the crossroads of two trade routes and mediated the trade from India, the Tigris and Euphrates regions and the route coming from Damascus in the South, which traced the base of the mountains rather than the rugged seacoast. Although trade was often directed away from the city for political reasons, it continued to thrive until the Europeans began to use the Cape route to India and later to utilize the route through Egypt to the Red Sea. Since then the city has declined and its chief exports now are the agricultural products of the surrounding region, mainly wheat, cotton, pistachios, olives, and sheep. Resources (1856) in Alexander Russell: The Natural History of Aleppo, 1st ed. (in English), London: Unknown, 266. ^ Jackson, Peter (July 1980). "The Crisis in the Holy Land in 1260". The English Historical Review 95: 481–513. ^ "Histoire des Croisades", René Grousset, p581, ISBN 226202569X http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleppo http://www.zeledi.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=-66 http://www.aleppocitadelfriends.org/ http://almashriq.hiof.no/syria/900/the_lure_of_aleppo/ (great article with a lot of information on the city) www.syriatourism.org/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/damascene/page13/ (personal fave! Beautiful pics!!) var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Syria - Aleppo

$Syria - Maaloula, & Seidnaya : Seidnaya This village, where houses are built around a rock with a very old monastery at the top, is considered a place for religious pilgrimage. A steep climb is the only way up to the monastery, which is said to date back to the Emperor Justinian. Legend has it that the Virgin Mary appeared to Justinian and asked him to found the monastery. After entering through a maze of passages you finally reach the Chapel of the Virgin. The walls are covered with beautiful icons including one said to have been painted by St. Luke. This chapel was very famous to Christians and at one point was the second Christian place of pilgrimage after Jerusalem, the crusaders called it "Notre Dame de Sardeneye". Another chapel is the one dedicated to St. Peter (Mar Boutros), which is converted from an ancient tomb. Maaloula By far, the most important Christian site in Syria, is the magnificent village of Maaloula. In Syria it means "the entrance", probably referring to the gorge in between the mountains. MALLOULA IS THE ONLY VILLAGE IN THE WORLD THAT STILL SPEAKS ARAMAIC, the language of Jesus Christ. This village, with its houses piled on top of one another on the side of the mountain, makes it one of the prettiest villages in Syria. Although Maaloula dates back very far in history, there are only two chapels and few remains that date very far back. The first chapel is the St. Sergius convent (Mar Sarkis), a Greek Catholic chapel, has a beautiful display of icons on the entrance to the altar. This chapel is considered one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in Christendom. Downward into the village is the other chapel, a Greek Orthodox institution dedicated to St Thecla (Mar Taqla), is located in the lower monastery. The Saint, said to be a pupil of St Paul's, is supposed to be buried in the mountain just above the monastery. http://www.syriagate.com/Syria/about/cities/Damascus/outskirt.htm var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Syria - Maaloula, & Seidnaya

Seidnaya This village, where houses are built around a rock with a ve ...

Updated: Jul 06, 2008 1:02pm PST

$Washington DC 2005 : Washington, D.C. (formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C.) is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington used to be a separate municipality within the District of Columbia. An Act of Congress in 1871 created a single government for the entire federal territory, effectively merging the City and the District into a single entity. The District of Columbia is located on the north bank of the Potomac River and is bordered by the states of Maryland to the northwest, northeast, and southeast and Virginia to the southwest. The District has a resident population of 588,292; however, its population rises to over one million people during the workweek, due to commuters from the surrounding suburbs. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District of Columbia is a part, has a population of 5.3 million, the eighth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Cityscape Washington, D.C. is a planned city. In 1791, Pierre L'Enfant drew up a basic plan modeled in the Baroque style, which incorporated broad avenues radiating out from traffic circles, providing for maximum open space and landscaping. However, at the start of the 20th century, L'Enfant's vision of a capital with open parks and grand national monuments had become marred by slums and randomly-placed buildings, including a railroad station on the National Mall. In 1900, Congress formed a joint committee, headed by Senator James McMillan, charged with beautifying Washington's ceremonial core. What became known as the McMillan Plan was finalized in 1901, and included the re-landscaping of the Capitol grounds and Mall, constructing new Federal buildings and monuments, clearing slums, and establishing a new citywide park system. Architects recruited by the committee kept the city's original layout, and their work is thought to be the grand completion of L'Enfant's intended design. After the construction of the twelve-story Cairo Apartment Building in 1899, Congress passed the Heights of Buildings Act, which declared that no building could be taller than the Capitol. The Act was amended in 1910 to restrict building height to the width of the adjacent street plus 20 feet (6.1 m). Today the skyline remains low and sprawling, in keeping with Thomas Jefferson's wishes to make Washington an "American Paris" with "low and convenient" buildings on "light and airy" streets. As a result, the Washington Monument remains the District's tallest structure. However, Washington's height restriction has been assailed as a primary reason why the city has limited affordable housing and traffic problems as a result of urban sprawl. To escape the District's height restriction, taller buildings close to downtown are often constructed across the Potomac River in Rosslyn, Virginia. The District is divided into four quadrants of unequal area: Northwest (NW); Northeast (NE); Southeast (SE); and Southwest (SW). The axes bounding the quadrants radiate from the U.S. Capitol building. All road names include the quadrant abbreviation to indicate their location. In most of the city, the streets are set out in a grid pattern with east-west streets named with letters (e.g. C Street SW) and north-south streets with numbers (e.g. 4th Street NW). The avenues radiating from the traffic circles are primarily named after the states; all 50 states are included in the street nomenclature. As the city grew, the streets were simply extended, where possible. Some Washington streets are particularly noteworthy such as Pennsylvania Avenue, which connects the White House with the Capitol, and K Street, which houses the offices of many lobbying groups. Washington hosts 172 foreign embassies, 57 of which are located on a section of Massachusetts Avenue informally known as Embassy Row. Architecture The architecture of Washington, D.C. varies greatly. Six of the top ten buildings in the American Institute of Architects' 2007 ranking of "America's Favorite Architecture" are located in the District of Columbia, including: the White House; the Washington National Cathedral; the Thomas Jefferson Memorial; the United States Capitol; the Lincoln Memorial; and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The neoclassical, Georgian, gothic, and modern architectural styles are all reflected among those six buildings and many other prominent government buildings in Washington. Notable exceptions include buildings constructed in the French Second Empire style such as the Old Executive Office Building and Library of Congress. Outside downtown Washington, architectural styles are even more varied. In parts of the "Old City" (the area planned by L'Enfant), historic buildings are designed primarily in the Queen Anne, Châteauesque, Richardsonian Romanesque, Georgian revival, and Beaux-Arts styles, as well as other varieties of Victorian architecture. Rowhouses from the 19th century are especially prominent in areas of the Old City and typically follow "Federalist" and late Victorian designs. Georgetown has the most cohesive architecture in the city; most homes reflect the late Victorian style from the 1870s. Georgetown University, however, is more distinct, with a mix of Romanesque and Gothic Revival architecture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_D.C. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6353559-3"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}$

Washington DC 2005

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