Author: Ms. R.

Along the cliffs of Ponta dos Rosais on the northwestern coast of São Jorge stands what remains of Farol da Ponta dos Rosais (Ponta dos Rosais Lighthouse). Shortly after the lighthouse’s formal inauguration, the entire island was struck by an earthquake that caused widespread damage. The lighthouse and its surrounding buildings were completed in 1958. The 27-meter (89-foot) tower was surrounded by a number of residential buildings to house lighthouse keepers and their families. By the time all of the lighthouse’s……

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For a volcanic eruption to occur, magma must make its way up to the surface, which implies there must be conduits through the rock below. Usually these conduits aren’t exposed. They’re either covered by the erupted lava, or, if erosion has removed the lava, are so small relative to the size of the erupted material that they’re likely to have been eroded away too. In any case, they are easily missed. But not far from Mono Lake, there is……

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On the afternoon of October 2, 1970, workers on the Eisenhower Tunnel construction project reported hearing an explosion on the mountainside just northeast of the tunnel’s eastern entrance. Looking north, the mountaintop appeared to be on fire. The project workers were the first on the scene, discovering the remains of the Wichita State football team’s plane, which had crashed into the mountain and melded into the dirt. Of the 40 passengers on board, only 11 remained alive after the……

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Beyond the Las Vegas Strip’s dazzling lights, something darker awaits Sin City visitors who venture into celebrity ghost hunter Zak Bagans’s Haunted Museum. There, the spooky memorabilia ranges from Ted Bundy’s glasses to fragments of Charles Manson’s bones, scraped from the incinerator after his body was cremated. There’s also a rather plain-looking mirror, about two feet tall and shaped like a tombstone. Bagans has said that, of his entire collection, it’s one of the things that unnerves him the……

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The outside of this building is a stunning example of how serious the Victorians were about drinking establishments, a purpose-built pub that is as lavish as a museum. A set of elaborate Art Nouveau-style gates lead into a pub filled with mahogany carvings, elaborate fireplaces, and an intricate tile mosaic bar. But for many, the real draw is the gentlemen’s toilets. In Notes From A Small Island, Bill Bryson wrote, “there is no place in the world finer for a pee than……

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Right outside Yokohama’s old Chinatown, there is a revolving door on one side of an apartment building, painted in vivid turquoise. While most tourists walk past it without a single glance, an oft-overlooked historical marker indicates that it is, in fact, a valuable piece from the past. The apartment building, named EXTE Yamashita Kōen, stands on the former site of the Rising Sun Petroleum Co. headquarters, built in 1929 in the wake of the calamitous Great Kantō earthquake. Designed……

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