Time For Some Fun

🎡Let's Blow off Some Steam With Some Fun🎢

April 24, 2020

If it seems like all I have to do is post to my blog here, it's only because my husband is itching to get his computer back after having let me use it pretty much since the beginning of the lockdown after mine bit the dust - 2 days after Legault made all the unnecessary stores in Quebec close. So all the computer & electronics stores were closed when mine died. In the meantime, he cobbled together some parts he had here - an old motherboard here, some drives there, with some ram and other parts needed to build me one (this goes back to the waste not want not motto and what I was saying about learning to fix and repair your stuff yourself). Apparently that's all done and functional, now all that's needed is to boot me off of here and make me go on the computer he set up for me. Except that all the various sites and stories I bookmarked for my blog are on his computer in his bookmark file. As I don't want his bookmark file (not too much into places Tom's Hardware, MicroBytes, Home Depot and the like), on my computer messing up my bookmark files that I had saved aside, I'm rushing to get as many of entries and links to the various articles and sites done as I can before he takes his machine back.  So if it seems the posts are coming fast & furious that's why.  But it doesn't mean we have to explore every link as quickly as a possible. These pages will probably remain here indefinitely. I don't know about the linked articles and sites though, but my pages will. Because some of those sites I bookmarked for the blog look really interesting and like a lot of fun in some cases, I really want to make sure they aren't lost when he takes his computer back, so without further delay, let's get started on what could pass for some as a virtual bucket list, or at least a really fun virtual time. 

Virtual Tour of NASA's Langley Research Center You can see where and how they test aircraft & spacecraft among other things of interest to aviation and space buffs.

NASA Glen Virtual Tours Covering various topics from Humans in Space to Solar System & Beyond along with others topics of interest.

National Museum of the United States Airforce Provides a virtual online tour for military aviation fans.

Experience Machu Picchu in Virtual Reality a Really impressive virtual reality tour of Machu Pichu that lets you view 360 degrees at various vantage points.

Machu Picchu - The Ancient City of Machu Picchu - By Air - Another impressive site that allows you to virtually explore Machu Picchu, but this time from the perspective of a helicopter (though you don't see anything to do with the helicopter itself, it's just that it's aerial in nature and very slow moving - like hovering and moving in slowly).

Google Street View Treks of Egypt I don't know maybe it's because I don't know how to use Google Street View properly, but I wasn't impressed with this site. Perhaps other more Street View savvy users will appreciate it more than me.

Street View Treks Eiffel Tower This one seems to be easier to use and functions better than the one done for Egypt. This one I actually liked because it made you feel as if you were actually standing on the lookout of the Eiffel Tour allowing you to see the city and rotate 360 degrees. Very nicely done.  Just saved a few thousand dollars on a trip to Paris, right there, which would be the only reason I'd want to go to Paris in the first place, is to see the Eiffel Tower & go up in it. Now I did, so now I can cross that off my bucket list.

Eiffel Tower, Paris France - By Helicopter - This is another virtual reality trip by helicopter done by the same people that did the Machu Picchu helicopter trip. Just beautiful, is all I have to say.

Paris, France - Helicopter Tour - Get ready to see Paris via helicopter. Another awesome virtual reality tour.

Street View Treks Angkor Wat Cambodia - another beautifully done virtual tour that allows you to walk through and explore Angkor Wat as if you were there in person.

Virtual Angkor Another fascinating virtual tour of the famous site.

Street View Treks Taj Mahal Wow! An amazing stroll through the Taj Mahal. Beautiful. Can now mark something else off my bucket list.

Taj Mahal India Another breathtaking helicopter ride around the grounds of the Taj Mahal.

Stonehenge Virtual Tour  Ever wanted to go to Stonehenge like me? If so, then you'll enjoy this virtual tour of it.

Street View Treks Petra Another historic site you can visit virtually that's just as well done as all the other Street View Treks sites are.

Colosseum a street view of the Colosseum.

Roman Colosseum Italy - Helicopter Tour Another awesome helicopter tour of the Colosseum - you can get it to  hover over the top of it, so you can see down inside if you wish. Very nicely done.

Rome, Italy Another beautiful helicopter tour of the city of Rome, Italy.

Maya Pyramids Chichen Itza  A very beautiful aerial tour of the site.

Niagra Falls Canada-USA - Helicopter Tour  A beautiful aerial tour of this famous location as well.

Hidden Worlds of the National US Parks Beautiful virtual tours of many if not all of the US National Parks. 

Christ the Redeemer Statue An aerial exploration of this famous statue in Brazil. Very nicely done.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a helicopter tour of this famous South American City. 

Nazca Lines South America Peru an aerial tour of something that can only really be seen from the air. 

Northern Lights Cam in Churchill Manitoba When there are northern lights visible from that region I assume this cam picks them up in real time.

Google Earth US National Parks This is a street view kind of virtual tour of the parks.

Explore Imagery From Around the Fortescue Falls Australia 

Explore Imagery From Around the Colorado River USA  This lets you pan 360 degrees around your dingy in the white water rapids among other locations along the river.

Explore Imagery From Around Kilimanjaro   Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa and this site allows you to explore it along with other mountain sites in other regions of the world.

Virtual Tours Windsor Castle  No need to buy an expensive plane fare to London to see the castle, when you can visit it online virtually. 

Virtual Tour Umoona Opal Mine Australia Have you ever hankered to tour an opal mine? If you have, now's your chance. So enjoy.

Explore Imagery From Around the World Palacio de Moneda Explore the Palacio de Moneda of Chile.

12 Canadian Ways To Get Out Of Your House Without Actually Doing It 

Among other things take a tour of the Kingston Pen, Parliament, a walk along the waterfront of Vancouver, enjoy a Cirque de Soleil performance free online, ride some roller coasters from Canada's Wonderland Park.  

30 Virtual Disneyland Rides online can be had here. They look like fun too.

360 Photo Virtual Tours with AirPano See the world with the company that allowed all those magnificent helicopter views of the other sites listed above. They have so many more destinations to choose from. So enjoy.

NASA Spend time wandering around NASA and get acquainted with their programs etc...

English Heritage Home Page Where you can explore historical British sites and more.

I hope to be able to post all the various animal and zoo cam links I have before my husband takes his computer back too. So stay tuned for those if you enjoy watching animals.

 

Let's Explore the World

Via These Virtual Field Trips

April 21, 2020

I remember when we first signed up to the internet in 1993 or 94 and not having any internet site addresses or no way of finding any either and being stymied on what to do with the net. We knew we could see and do a lot of things, if we only had a way of finding those addresses in order to get to those places. Back then there was this awesome magazine called ".net" I believe and it was filled with all kinds of addresses, a lot of which I visited and some of them just stuck in my mind forever as they were so extraordinary. Even having been on the net since then (almost 30 years now), those sites still stand out in my mind as being extraordinary. Back then though a lot of the add-ons for sound and animation weren't included in browsers and had to be downloaded and installed separately. Today most browsers accommodate those things, so all you really need now are the addresses, in order to get there and see these awesome sites. The sites that were online and that I visited back then were the Sistine Chapel tour and the Chicago Field Museum, that at the time had a wonderful animated dinosaur exhibition that my kids loved. I am not sure what exhibits these places have now, as I only just rediscovered their addresses and thought I'd share them with visitors to the blog.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did (the last time we were there) or will, for the ones I haven't visited yet. Be prepared to spend many hours wandering around each tour. Some even have interactive activities for visitors to try. So enjoy the break from the doom, gloom & loneliness:

Virtual Tour "Sistine Chapel"  This is the tour for the Sistine Chapel itself but if you click on the "Virtual Tours" button in the sidebar, you'll be treated to other tours of various sections of the Vatican. 

Field Museum  This is the link to the Chicago Field Museum, a museum about natural history - the one that had the dinosaur exhibition that my kids loved, back when the internet first became available to us. I don't know if they still have a dinosaur exhibition there or not, but you can check it out to see, if you'd like. 

How to Virtually Explore the Smithsonian From Your Living Room  This is an article in the Smithsonian Magazine, explaining how to tour the various exhibitions and tours set up by the various factions of the Smithsonian museums, with links to everything from Human Origins to Men of Change and National Air & Space museum exhibits. There's a lot there to choose from so there ought to be something to pique everyone's interest. 

14 World-Class Museums Offering Virtual Tours Right From Your Laptop  If art museums are more your taste, then this list of the 14 top art museums might be your preferred virtual field trip itinerary.

Walt Disney World Resort Virtual Tour  I have never been there and didn't even know they had any virtual exhibits or tours until just a few minutes ago, when on the off chance I decided I'd like to see if they did and googled for it. Sure enough they do. So I will be visiting this one for sure as I'd like to see what's there, for the little kid in me.

Explore the Entire World–from the Comfort of Quarantine–with 4K Walking Tours  Once you get into this site you aren't ever apt to leave, it has so much to see, do and learn there, I doubt us seniors will live long enough to get through it all. It has the virtual walking tours of various parts of the world, so you can visit places like Venice, or London or Times Square among other places. Once you've roamed the world with them, you can take any number of free courses online in virtually anything, read free books, avail yourself of free movies/videos and music. Find free art - if you have a need for such. I'm sure once I get in there I'll never get out again. 

More field trip days planned in the future so stay tuned.