I've been reading a book entitled Salt: A World History. I know, it sounds a little odd, but I'm a unit study girl from way back so the idea of pivoting a study of history around this one element common to all cultures seems logical to me.

Anyway, there's one brief section I want to share that speaks to a theme we've talked about here from time to time - the human longing for beauty. From a chapter on mines controlled by the Polish Crown it says that at first, working the mines was basically a death sentence in slave conditions. Men would climb down 50 ladders and use hand tools to dig out the precious mineral. It was so hot that men worked naked. Horses that worked the mines spent their entire lives underground. In spite of all that, miners worked to improve conditions in small ways.

In 1689, the mines began offering miners daily Catholic services at their underground place-of-work. the miners of Wieliczka began carving religious figures out of rock salt. Three hundred feet below the surface, miners carved a chapel out of rock salt with statues and bas-relief scenes along the floor, walls, and ceiling. They even fashioned elaborate chandeliers from salt crystals.

Apparently you can still visit there today. It's really pretty amazing!

Travel plans to Belgium?

I was just over at NLM reading about the Praying with Needle and Thread vestment exhibit at Tongerlo Abbey in Belgium. The title of this exhibit alone is enough to make me want to go! Spend a few minutes there today marveling at the incredible details of these beautiful works. You'll be glad you did!

World's Most Dangerous Bridges

Hussaini - Borit Lake, Pakistan


















Inca Rope Bridge - Inca rope bridges were simple suspension bridges over canyons and gorges (pongos) to provide access for the Inca Empire. Bridges of this type were suitable for use since the Inca people did not use wheeled transport - traffic was limited to pedestrians and livestock.









The Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang Bridge



A Footbridge over the Kotmale Oya - The Kotmale Oya (or Kothmale Oya) is a river in Sri Lanka. It is a tributary of the Mahaweli Ganga. The Kotmale begins as the Agra Oya, in the Horton Plains.



The Bridge over the River Arun



Canyon Creek, Oregon



Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge - Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is a rope suspension bridge near, Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island.







Glen Nevis Wire Rope Bridge - Glen Nevis is a beautiful and popular glen in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, with Fort William at its foot. It is bordered to the south by the Mamore range, and to the north by the highest mountains in the British Isles: Ben Nevis, Càrn Mor Dearg, Aonach Mòr, and Aonach Beag. It is home to one of the three highest waterfalls in Scotland, Steall Falls, where the Allt Coire a'Mhail joins the Water of Nevis in the glen.

The Devil’s Swimming Pool: Swim On The Edge Of The Victoria Falls

In Zimbabwe, Africa, you will find the magnificent Victoria Falls at a height of 128m. The location is known as "The Devil's Swimming Pool". During the months of September and December, people can swim as close as possible to the edge of the falls without falling over! These falls are becoming well known amongst the "radical tourist" industry as more and more people search for the ultimate experience.










Looks like she’s about to take the 360-foot plunge, doesn’t it? Afraid it’s not true, as long as it’s not the wet season when the water is high enough for the current to actually sweep you off the edge. People can safely cavort in the “Devil’s Swimming Pool” without any problems. It’s so safe in fact, that these people took their kids:











YouTube video of people swimming in the Devil's Pool.

The House of Bones - Casa Batllo

One of the most photographed buildings you could possibly find in Barcelona is that of Casa Batllo, also known as the ‘House of Yawns’.

A more recent, more macabre name for this stunning Gaudi masterpiece is that of the ‘House of Bones’. Situated near to its cousin, Casa Mila (or La Pedrera), upon the Passeig de Gracia, Casa Batllo stands out from the other buildings in that its walls are in an elaborately decorated order with Gaudi’s characteristic absence of straight lines. The Casa Batllo’s disconcerting nickname (House of Bones) is owed to the ‘skeletal’ look of the columns of the building’s gallery and not because there are any skeletons to be found in the closet.

Restored and remodeled by the Spanish modernist architect Antoni Gaudi in the years 1905–1907, Casa Batllo is now one the most overlooked buildings by the tourists who visit Barcelona. Although Casa Batllo is a museum now, Gaudi designed it for for a wealthy Barcelona Aristocrat.


Casa Batllo’s roof has been compared to a reptilian creature, the backbone of a gigantic dinosaur, the dragon killed by St. George (Sant Jordi being the patron saint of Catalan).


It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the facade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues.






From the balconies resembling the bones of animals to the scale like surface of the front facade, the building is a tour de force of an artist reaching the peak of his powers. At night the floodlit facade has an iridescence like the scales of a fish. This polychromic finish is known as trencadís.


The enlarged windows on the first floor gave it another nickname, ‘House of Yawns’.