Site of The Day: 13.Org - Treasures of NYC

The New York City television station, THIRTEEN currently has 24 great programs ranging in length from around 28-minutes to 58-minutes.

As the series name suggests, each program examines an organisation or institution based in New York City, and of those I have watched to date about the Flatiron Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, The Cooper Hewitt Museum and several more, I can attest they each offer great insight and information about the topic under examination.

I am sure that even resident New Yorkers will be rewarded with a new appreciation for many of the featured organisations when they watch the videos.

Unfortunately, not all of the films in the Treasures of New York collection seem to be viewable from Australia, which is where I live. When clicking links to some of the films I keep getting stopped by the message: We're sorry, but this video is not available in your region due to rights restrictions.

Visitors to Thirteen.Org from other parts of the world may have different results. Of course, if you live in the United States you should have no trouble viewing all the films on the site.

Here is a 57-minute video which serves as a great introduction to the Treasures of New York series. This examines the Landmarks Preservation Movement which is responsible for helping to save thousands of potentially endangered buildings across the five city boroughs. Without the Landmarks Commission, New York would not be the same wonderfully diverse and fascinating city it undoubtedly is today.

Note: For a time I was having trouble watching some online videos using Google Chrome. Happily it didn't take me long to fix the issue after I eventually asked 'Dr. Google' for the answer. This page, Fix Videos That Won’t Play in Chrome, provided the cure I was looking for. The problem is due to the fact that my Chrome browser settings had been set to HTTPS Everywhere. When I remove the 'S' (security) designation, videos played without a problem. Videos also played in a Google Chrome INCOGNITO window without issue. Given that the Safari browser on my system is not plagued with the same problem, I tend to use that as my default browser for watching online videos.

Note also that the HTTPS Everywhere setting even stops the embedded video on this page appearing on my iMac! Again, opening this page in a separate Incognito window solves the issue. To confuse matters even more, when I open this page on my PC laptop, my second generation iPad, and my Galaxy S7 smartphone it appears exactly as it should. Go figure!

UPDATE: Several hours after adding this blog post it occurred to me to check YouTube to see if the videos were available there, and lo and behold, most, though not all of them were. Sadly, the above video is not on the Thirteen.Org YouTube page. Still, if videos don't load on the organisation website, you can always try their YouTube page.

Sigh... After more than 25 years of using computers, I am amazed by how easy it is to still be confounded and frustrated by them.

Oh, and here is the link to the Thirteen.Org Treasures of New York section on YouTube. Enjoy...

San Antonio's Spanish Missions World Heritage Site

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio’s five Spanish colonial missions – four of them already protected as a national park – are being celebrated as one of the newest United Nations’ World Heritage Sites in a ceremony attended by world dignitaries and local community members. Representatives from the United States, Spain, and Mexico gathered with thousands of San Antonio citizens in a celebration ceremony at Mission San José to formally welcome the San Antonio Missions into the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List. A World Heritage designation brings awareness to the “outstanding universal value” and “cultural significance” of these missions as they join the ranks of other important global sites, including the Great Wall of China, Stonehenge, and the Giza Pyramid of Egypt. Designation as a World Heritage Site reflects the global interest in and historical impact of a certain location, which generates an increase in tourism to the site. Below is a statement from Suzanne Dixon, Senior Director, Regional Operations of the National Parks Conservation Association: “This celebration ceremony is the culmination of nine years of work by this community and its allies to make this designation a reality. The World Heritage List recognizes the most significant natural and cultural sites on the planet, and our missions have secured this prestigious and well-deserved distinction. The San Antonio missions are the country’s largest collection of Spanish colonial resources. They now stand among Earth’s greatest natural and cultural landmarks.” ### About National Parks Conservation Association Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than one million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s natural, historical, and cultural heritage for future generations.

Luxembourg Palace & Garden, Paris, France

View of the Luxembourg Palace and main fountain and boat pond.

The Luxembourg Palace is located at 15 rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built between 1615 and 1645 to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de Médicis, mother of Louis XIII of France. After the Revolution it was refashioned into a legislative building between 1835-1836 it was enlarged and remodeled. Since 1958 it has been the seat of the French Senate of the Fifth Republic. On the south side of the palace, the formal Luxembourg Garden presents a 25-hectare green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and large basins of water where children sail model boats, some of which can be seen in the video below. Source: Wikipedia.

View overlooking the main fountain and central garden

Like many of the other magnificent buildings and palaces around Paris, and indeed elsewhere in France, one can only marvel at the amount of planning, money, labor, and resources that must have gone into erecting this massive palace, and into landscaping and maintaining the stunning gardens on which the palace and other buildings stand.

Today, the palace building is the home of the French senate. During my brief three of four hour visit to the palace grounds, I did not enter the main building itself. In fact, I'm not even sure if the building is open to the general public. However, the beautifully maintained gardens are open, and during my outing they were well patronized by locals and international visitors alike. There is much to see around the grounds including a series of statues of former French queens, saints and reproductions of classical Antiques.

L'acteur Grec (The Greek Actor), by Arthur Bourgeois (1838-1886)

You can wander through an orchard of apple and pear trees, enjoy a performance of the théâtre des marionnettes (puppet theatre), ride on a vintage carousel, enjoy one of the many free musical performances scheduled throughout the summer months, and visit the Orangerie with its displays of art, photography, and numerous sculptures. The grounds of the garden also contain more than one hundred statues, monuments, and fountains scattered throughout the 25-hectares (61 acres), including Frédéric Bartholdi’s first 1870 model for the Statue of Liberty.

Here's a short video compilation of photographs and video footage I put together of my visit:

More Information

Official Luxembourg Palace…

Luxembourg Palace...

Luxembourg Garden...