Where To See Popular, Traditional, Modern, Serious, Humorous, and Minority Interest Statues And Monuments

Mr Bean at Leicester Square.
 

Popular Statues

Mr Bean is not a has-been. His videos are loved worldwide. In Singapore when I was teaching my pupils loved videos of him attempting to cheat in exams.

UK Royalty

In the UK statues of Royalty and peers are in London, Nelson's Column in Traflagar Square, Piccadilly, and inside and outside cathedrals and city squares. 

UK Royalty Worldwide

Queen Victoria's statue is in squares worldwide.

Kings, Queens and Bishops are in central squares. Royalty and Presidents are outside Parliament buildings.

Belgium

Famous mythological characters and animals, cherubs and children include Belgium's Mannekin Pis.

Outside parliament and municipal buildings you will find city founders.

Jewish, Spain & Arabic Maimonides

The seated statue of Maimonides commemorates the writer of The Guide For The Perplexed. Maimonides was Jewish, but wrote in Arabic. He left Christian Spain and became the revered physician for a Moslem ruler. He is revered by Arabs and Moslems in several countries as well as by Jews.

Moslem India & The Taj Mahal

Because of the taboo against worshipping statues in the bible, Islamic countries and those with Islamic rulers and communities do not have statues. Instead they have buildings and monuments named after those they wish to commemorate. For example, the Taj Mahal, built by the widower to commemorate his beloved wife in India.

The USA and Pocahontas

See The World's Oldest & Newest Pyramids: Great Pyramid In Germany, 1993-3183! Started But Will Finish Later! Plus Pyramids in the USA, UK, Ireland and Worldwide

 

Where is it and what is it?

It is in Germany. A series of concrete blocks. The first was placed in 1993. The second in 2003. The third in 2013. The next will be in 2023. One is added every ten years. To be finished in years to come, not in our lifetime. 

It will be completed in 3183. My grand-daughter was born this year, 2021. My grand-daughter's, grand-daughter might see it finished.

The cathedrals of old were started with a projected finishing date much later, often projected to finish a hundred years from the starting date.

Gothic Cathedrals

The Gothic cathedrals in the UK, France, Spain and Germany were arched and domed and elegant. They were under cover meeting places for ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. Their domes had contrasting colours of green or gold. 

The Taj Mahal, India

The Taj Mahal is beautiful, inlaid with precious stones. It was a monument in memory of a woman who was buried there, and later her husband.

The Egyptian Pyramids

On the other hand, the great pyramids of Egypt were solid. Squat. Nothing to see from outside. 

Pyramids of Giza

Photo by Ricardo Liberato, Wiki.

Stonehenge in the UK

Stonehenge had simple stones. But arranged in a circle.

Meaning

Stonehenge had a meaning. It caught the sun's rays.

The Egyptian pyramids had a purpose. They were mausoleums. 

You can visit the German pyramid any time for free. Follow the directions on the website.

Records

I would prefer if each column in the German pyramid in each year listed major events. Good and bad events. For example, landing on the moon. Covid-19.

See next post on Wemding

Germany also has other ideas for pyramids.

Pyramid in Karlsruhe, Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_Monument

England has a pyramid mausoleum in Blickling Park, Norfolk, UK.

Ireland

Howard Mausoleum, centre of Kilbride Cemetery, near Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland

Photo by Timothy J  Morgan

Over in the USA there's a pyramid, Hunt's tomb, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

I like this pyramid in the USA with a camel on top:

It's the Jolly Tomb. Very jolly. US Camel Corps.

Hi Jolly's life in the USA is described in the website below.

Useful Websites

GERMANY

https://www.wemding.de/poi/zeitpyramide-10278/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Pyramid

UK

https://www.wemding.de/tourismus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi_Jolly

Others are in Poland and elsewhere.

WORLDWIDE

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pyramidal_mausoleums

About the Author

About Angela The Author

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President.

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

The recent meeting of BHA included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . Also an educational on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, (subject to revision)

1 (Saturday, May 15th, was 2 pm Singapore time, postponed because of national speaking contest.) 

After Vesak day and Hari Raya: 

Postponed to Saturday May 29th, 2021, at 2pm. Login to bha.learncool.sg earlier.

Workshop by Sam Chou.

2 Next June meetings 1st Wednesday evening June 2nd at 7 pm Singapore time. 

3 Third Saturday afternoon, June 19th, Singapore time.  Thanks to the old team and Inauguration of New Team. 

Special speech with slides about teamwork in sport and Toastmasters International and life, by the President of West Coast Toastmasters Club who often help BHA with workshops and invite us to give speeches at their club.

Inauguration of new committee by incoming Area Director of S

About Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs on speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

The information on Toastmasters is updated regularly.

How to get more readers - top ten tips

Look at the best selling, most readers blogs and copy their content and webpage style.

Yes, I know, this involves having a sexy girl and an exotic location. Or a cute kitten. The top bloggers spend all day preening themselves and before covid-19 they travelled in packs to top spots such as waterfalls and posed separately and together. Now you can add music and backdrops and cartoons.

What if sex, stripping and selling are not your thing?

The selling techniques are well known.

1 Famous Names. & Famous Photos
Add famous names.




For example: "Fake News. Faudster tries to sell painting of pregnant Marilyn Monroe to Trump." (Attracts more readers than, 'I just drank coffee'.)

Add Alliteration.
Tourists flock to Trump Taj Mahal In Atlantic City
Look At  Tump's star in LA



Best French Food

Romantic Restaurants

Zebra Escapes Zoo

2 Series.
(First free lesson of 12 to teach you to speak Chinese fluently.)
I sometimes go back to a earlier post and put a link to a later post. Then in the later post I put a link to the earlier post.

PART 1

Now read

PART 2
If you liked this you will love part 1.

A post on learning Chinese might pick up a few readers in Singapore, China and Asia.
Keep looking at which posts attract readers, and add more on the same subject.




Small print. You must marry the teacher and live with her for ten years. Only available this week to the first two who apply. Only available in Beijing.)

3 Numbers
ADD numbers. Top ten tips for travelling free. If you are writing a series of suggestions, as I am in this article, you can add bullet points o numbers and change the title to include a number.

The more the merrier.
5 people wh recovered from Coronavirus tell (Business Insider)

2 SUSPECTS ARE SISTERS

3 WAYS TO EARN MONEY

4 CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPES

TOP 10 TOURIST DESTINATIONS

100 USES FOR LEMONS

1000 PEOPLE WILL LIVE IF ...

4 Pretty pictures
Not just one at the top of your blog posts. Have one at the start, another at the end, and one every other paragraph.

Amusing Author Angela

5 Look your best.
Best - or worst. Unbelievable but mermerizing.
Giant bust and lips.
Cute kitten with different colour eyes on top of zebra.
Python eating your cat and regurgitating it, in church, on your wedding day.
Quintuplet pregnant nuns in pineapple pattern dresses. Get tattoed with your country's flag and visit every country of the world.
Too difficult? You have not washed or cut your hair? Add a cowgirl hat.
Find a fetching outfit and write an article to match it.

6 Move
 Animation, videos, cartoons.
Couple in hammock swinging over the edge on the top of the world's tallest building.

7 Be topical.
Will Covid-19 end in time for your holiday flights?

8 Ask a question.
(Why did the world not end last Saturday?)

9 Humour.
(See number 8.)
BEWARE OF THE SPIDER FRIGHTENS MORE THAN BEWARE OF THE DOG

10 Drama.
Twins fight each other in coffin -why?

WIFM
Remember WIFM - what's in it for me.
How I made a million pounds is interesting. But how you can make a million pounds is more interesting.

Readers From Where?
Decide which kind of readers you and your advertisers want. I began my blog on travel. I wrote about England.




When I could not find another suitable picture, I used a flag.
I wrote about British English and American English.
I was surprised to see that I had many more readers in the USA than in the UK.

My husband, who is a statistician, pointed out that the USA has a larger population and many more English speaking readers will be on the internet in the USA.



I add contstant references to the USA to interest my American readers. When I wrote an article about the Amy Winehouse trail in London, I included a photo of Amy in the USA.

However, if I wanted to promote Italian restaurants, I would look for Italian subjects, such as Italian foods, wines and film stars.

To attract a worldwide audience, you would want to feature a place or person from each continent.

I then got some surprising results. Russians. Why? I looked back and found I had included a reference to learning Russian, or rather Cyrillic in Bulgaria. And I had included a mention of a Russian keyboard conversion.

This is changing it as you go. The more focused bloggers would plan out their year, their audience. My son who is in marketing websites, (SEO - search engine optimization), told me to focus on the title and audience, then plan my year's blog posts and see if I could link them.

Scheduling Blog Posts
What if you are away on holiday, or want a day of rest? You can schedule a blog post to appear on the day you are away. One popular blogger wrote all his seven posts on Sunday and scheduled them so each one appeared at 7 am local time (he was in London, England, UK) each day of the week.

Finally, how about adding a quiz.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website
https://www.wix.com/
https://wordpress.com/read
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-recovered-spain-patients-advice-2020-5?IR=T

Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

Online Toastmasters International Meetings
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, Toastmasters Club, London.
Tiarel.toastmasters club, Singapore.

Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product

Cemeteries, Mausoleums and Memorials You Should Visit

Who goes to visit mausoleums? Actually a lot of people. The Taj Mahal is one of India's prime attractions.
Some of the best known and popular graves and cemeteries and memorials for tourists to visit include

Taj Mahal, India. Photo from Wikipedia.

places I have visited - these include:
Hampstead and Highgate cemeteries in London;
The Menin gate in Belgium;
Normandy battlefields and cemeteries and memorials (each time we drive through);
Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

Even without intending to, you pass the hilltop cemetery in Hong Kong.

On my wishlist:
El Alamein in Egypt where my mother's first husband is commemorated. (I am the daughter of her second husband. Yes, I checked the dates to be sure.)

My Favourite Fun Gravestone:
Spike Milligan's humorous reproachful, "I told you I was ill".

Here's a handy list of popular places:
UK
London, England:
Highgate Cemetery (Karl Marx and tours)
Kendal Green Cemetery
Hampstead Cemetery
Scotland
Glasgow hilltop cemetery
St Ives peaceful hilltop cemetery

Austria
Graves of Musicians in Vienna.

Belgium
Menin Gate.
Lists the missing with no known grave. Last post played at sunset.

France
Paris:
Pere Lachaise
Montmartre:
Heinrich Heine
Normandy:
Take tours of battlefields and memorials

India
Taj Mahal

USA
Washington DC
Arlington.
Al Jolson.
Elvis, Graceland.
Cowboy graves in the Wild West.

Germany
Belsen:
Anne Frank.
Mendelssohn

Hong Kong
Seen from the airport train, hilltop Chinese cemetery.

Poland
Auschwitz
Huge statue of Chopin in Warsaw park.

Photo by Arne List in Wikipedia.

Turkey
Gallipoli

Egypt
El Alamein memorial and cemetery

Useful Websites
Find a grave
https://www.findagrave.com/
El Alamein
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1966588
visitbritain.com

Tips
www.ancestry.com

https://www.ancestry.com/dna/

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records-in-census-land-and-surveys/and_census

https://blogs.ancestry.co.uk/cm/diary-of-a-dna-test/

Singer Freddie Mercury of Queen, a Zoroastrian:

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/02/freddy-mercury-brookwood-cemetery-and.html
German-Jewish Poet Heinrich Heine

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/02/where-to-see-statues-and-memorials-to.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Funerals: who should attend? what should you wear?What more can you do?

The Taj Mahal, India. © Yann Forget in Wikipedia

Do you visit graves and mausoleums of people you don't know? Millions visit the Taj Mahal, every year. Do you like attending funerals? Many people flew across the world to attend the funeral of Princess Diana, even though they had never met her, nor any of her family.

However, others won't or can't attend the funerals of family and friends. Some people just don't like funerals. Why?

Distress
The upset at losing somebody.
The reminder that we are all mortal.
Seeing the family looking tearful.

Confusion
The confusion of not knowing relatives from friends.
Not knowing what to say.
Not knowing what to wear.

Black Catholic Dress Code
A year or two ago, never forgotten, I turned up in a black and white patterned jacket at an all-black Catholic funeral in the UK. I had to drop to my knees behind the pew in front and reverse my jacket. Luckily it had a black lining.

Timing of Funerals and Flights
This year, 2019, some of my family just changed their flights specially to attend a funeral in London. We had weeks of pre-funeral uncertainty over this. My flights were redemption flights which cannot be changed without paying a premium. So we kept postponing the booking of my flights. Finally, after a couple of months of waiting, we booked my flight. Then we were told the date of the funeral.

Jewish And Muslim Fast Funerals
By contrast, Jewish and Muslim funerals happen fast, so fast you sometimes risk missing them. Traditionally funerals would happen fast because bodies go off in the heat.

I recall a Muslim friend of mine who was angry with her religious authorities who wanted the funeral of her grandparent to take place so quickly that she would not be able to get there. She needed to take a round the world flight from Singapore, allowing a few hours to spare in case of any flight delays.

She had lots of things to arrange. Not just the flight for three people when planes were full in high season. Packing for the children. She was pregnant and needed a doctor's letter for the airline saying she was safe to fly and would not give birth in mid-air.

Jewish Orthodox Tradition
I attended one Jewish funeral, years ago, when somebody I knew pointed out that I was wearing black leather trousers. Both leather and trousers were considered unsuitable. However, the mourners made no comment on my clothes and said they were very glad I attended.

More recently I attended an Orthodox funeral. To me any synagogue which is not Liberal or Reform sounds Orthodox. Best to ask the dress code. I was surprised that peole were wearing mixed black and colours and colours. Only the immediate family wore all black. That way you could identify the immediate family.

My wearing all black caused confusion. Three people assumed I was one of the daughters. They told me, "So sorry to hear about your father". Since my own father had died recently, that caused even more confusion.

Christian Delayed Funeral
Contrasting with Jewish and Muslim funeral which take place fast, Christian funerals can be delayed endlessly. Recently we kept waiting weeks for news. 'Will it be a quick family service only, with a public memorial service six months or a year later?'

After weeks of uncertainty, my family not booking return fights, the date was been announced. it turned out that the widow, who also lost their son earlier the same year, had taken events badly, and had been yo-yoing in and out of hospital and nursing homes.

Time Off Work
I heard that my family were disappointed that only about thirty people turned up. None were noticeable from the deceased man's workplace, which was a bank.

I can see that an important institution cannot have double figures of people taking the day off, whether as paid leave or as holiday allowance. However, I think one person as representative of the company should go.

Back To Work
I have been to events where people who are working attended the service, then disappeared.

I asked, "Why did they leave so early? Why didn't they stay for the reception? Everybody was invited!"

"They could not take the whole day off work." So they attended only the late morning service, not the family get together over lunch food afterwards.

Others might miss the religious service, but come to the house after work to console the family by ensuring they are not alone and lonely.

There is the last minute hunt for the black clothes, the shoes, the socks, cuff links, change jewellery. When my mother in law was in her nineties, I had a black dress and matching hat hanging on the far right of the wardrobe, ready for her funeral or anybody of her generation. I was prepared.

Sometimes the deceased person themselves asks for no fuss. Freddie Mercury was one. You cannot see a grave for him. Only a plaque.

Plaque to Freddie Mercury in Feltham, London, England.

And statues of Freddie.

Statue of Freddie Mercury in Montreux, Switzerland.

To allow the ground to settle over a grave, only several weeks after the funeral, a heavy headstone is set up.

In Singapore I learned that there the Indians have no idea what a gravestone means. I gave a talk, ending with a picture of Spike Milligan's humorous headstone message, in Gaelic to thwart restrictions. The English translation is: I told you I was ill.

Indian Cremations
The Indians had cremation, but no headstone. So don't assume that all family, friends and colleagues will understand what is required.

Distant Relatives
At one funeral in London, an ipad was set up so that family in Australia could watch the event and join and and speak to those attending.

Records
For anybody who misses the event, you can keep a copy of the funeral oration, or the obituary in the local newspaper, to post on to wellwishers.

Traditionally, funeral directors and tombstone suppliers have cars which they sell, announcing a funeral, or thanking those who attended.

Another record is to list your deceased family member's gravestone or obituary on find-a-grave, ancestry, or one of the memorial websites.

Useful Websites
find a grave
visitbritain.com

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See other posts and next post on cemetery visits. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Gravestone, Monuments, Mausoleums, Memorials and Cemetery tours

Typically hillside location of Chinese cemetery, giving the souls of the dead a good view. Hong, Kong. Photo from train to airport by Angela Lansbury.

An increasing number of people are researching their own ancestors as well as looking for famous graves.

Problem
How do you visit graveyards, find a grave and explore the background stories?

Answers
Take a cemetery walking tour. Find graves of famous people on Find-a-grave website.

Stories
America - see USA at end

Gravestones, Graveyards and memorials by Country

Australia
WWII see Museum at Canberra. I was struck by the story of the donkey/horse in WWI.
Memorial behind museum. Paintings of graveyards and processions haunted by ghostly skeletons of the write dead.
Main processions on Anzac day.

Austria
Mozart and musicians in Vienna.

Belgium
Battlefield tours. Menin gate with names of the dead and annual ceremony and last post played.

Cambodia's Buddhas
Lots of Buddhas. I agreed to meet the driver of our tuk-tuk (motorcycle-drawn taxi) beside a Buddha. Unfortunately the temple had two or more exits and each had a Buddha. I did a frantic 20 minute run anti-clockwise around the temple enclosure wall perimeter before finding our buddha and our tuk-tuk driver.

I'm lost. That's not my Buddha! Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Another Buddha. Not my Buddha, and not my tok-tuk driver, either! Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Cambodia's Killing Fields Museum
Memorials with photos in museum, contains bones, skulls and photos, in the Capital city, Pnonh Penn, and the second city and main tourist area, Siem Reap, which is near Ankor Wat (w a t means temple).

Canada
I was looking for the gravestones of famous writers, L M Montgomery of the House of Green Gables in Newfoundland, WWI poet McCrae, and Titanic memorials. Not a lot to see. Look online.

China
Burials take place on hillsides. Monuments and museums to famous leaders such as Sun Yat Sen.
The terracotta warriors in Xian.
Sun nat sen mausoleum, Nanjing.

Czech Republic
Prague: Wall of names of Holocaust victims which you see on the Jewish tour circuit covering synagogues, organised tours or multiple tickets. Ancient graveyard with gravestone piled up or tilted including creator of the Golem. Guide will tell you about symbols, Cohens (priests), Levis, praying hands,lamps, animals such as deer/harts for the twelve tribes. (Also see Kafka Museum and learn about his life and death.)

Egypt
El Alamein.
I researched this, looking for the monument with for the name of my late mother's first husband who died in WWII. (I found the death notice in the deed box after she died. She needed to keep it to prove she was w widow in order to get remarried.) She remarried and I am the child of her second husband.

You can see pictures of the large cemetery and memorials on line.

France
Tomb of unknown soldier.
Paris Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Pere is French for father, in this case not a blood relative but a priest.
See graves of: Edith Piaf; Jim Morrison; Oscar Wilde; Proust, legendary lovers Heloise and Abelard; and others.
Normandy WWI and WWII graveyards to different nations such as the Australians.
Proust's grave.

Germany
Bergen-Belsen, memorial to Anne Frank and her sister.
Mendelssohn.

Greece
T h e s s a l o n i k a.
A short trip from the second city, Thessaloniki, brings you to the grave of Alexander the Great's son Philip, who killed (or had killed) his father in the nearby theatre, at the marriage of his father. Alexander took a second young wife and announced in front of that his already pregnant wife's son would be his successor (not Philip).
Tomb of political leader (who wrote the Greek national anthem), on island of Cephalonia also spelled Kefalonia. I went there on a press tour.

Hong Kong
Cemetery on a hillside seen on train to the airport. Right hand window if you are facing forward. Graves in China are places on hilltops and hillsides near the top to give the soul a good view.

India
Taj Mahal, Agra. Moslem memorial to beloved wife who had numerous children and died during or after childbirth.

Driving south from Delhi towards Agra we passed a Jewish synagogue. We stopped and after much negotiating persuaded the curator to open the door and show us around the small synagogue.
Behind it was a cemetery where a group of presumably non Jewish Indians were camping in a permanent shack. Apparently they are allowed to stay there because they presence guards against vandals.

Cremation is the rule so not so many graveyards of famous Indians.
Memorials and museums for the Gandhis.
British Wartime cemeteries?
I saw cremations on the riverbank and bodies floating in the river at Benares, now called Varanasi.

Israel
Tombs of Jesus and patriarchs. Numerous battlefield from biblical times (Christians search for Old Testament). Holy land tours will feature Christian sites. Jewish tours will concentrate on the Bible and modern Israel such as Kibbutzim.

Italy
Rome, Pantheon: burial place of Italian kings and others.
Catacombs under the city from Roman times.

Assisi and Umbria
Saint Francis of Assisi's birthplace and burial place in Assissi, huge place of pilgrimage in Assisi, plus numerous places he visited around Umbria.

L u c c a
Monument to opera composer Puccini, outside his house which is a museum. I visited this on a press trip. His statue shows him with a cigar in his mouth. Cancer is what killed him.
Puccini's House, Lucca, Italy.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187898-d195713-r130187871-Puccini_Museum_Casa_natale-Lucca_Province_of_Lucca_Tuscany.html

Myanmar (Previously called Burma)
Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon, honours Aung San father of the nation, and father of Aung San Suu Kyi, plus other martyrs.

Mexico
Trotsky
(How can you remember the English spelling of his name? Trotsky is TROTting through the SKY.)
Monument behind his former home where he was killed by an assassin. The home is now a museum.

New Zealand
Anzac Day.

Portugal
Pet cemetery, Lisbon Zoo.
Catacombs, Porto.

Romania
The Merry Cemetery.

Russia
Moscow, Lenin's tomb in Red Square.
The Shirokorechenskoe Cemetery, on the southwestern outskirts of Yekaterinburg, in Russia, has graves of scientists, and heroes of World War II. Graves are decorated with sculptures, including reliefs, gem-embedded headstones and laser engravings of the departed on granite. Yekaterinburg is also spelled Ekaterinburg.

Scotland
Edinburgh
Statue of the dog which supposedly sat on it's master's grave. (But maybe just came to the cemetery because the curator fed it.)
Lockerbie cemetery has a large memorial with names of the lost as well as many individual graves and stories. Worth a visit.

Singapore
Cemeteries have been moved to make way for housing developments.
Walking tour of Bukit Brown cemetery. (Bukit means hill, in Malay language.)

South Africa
Paul Kruger's grave.

Spain
Madrid
Monument to the dead.

Turkey
Ataturk Mausoleum, Ankara.
Gallipoli.
Mausoleum of Mausolus, which gives us the word Mausoleum.

UK
London:
Westminster Abbey, poets' corner.

St Paul's: Famous plaque in St Paul's cathedral was put up to honour the architect Sir Christopher Wren, words chosen by his son said: if you want to see my monument, look around you. (Just in case English is not your first language and the meaning is not clear, the son meant the entire building is a monument to the genius of his father.)

Highgate Cemetery:
Graves of:
Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery. Tours.

Kensal Green cemetery. You see it from the train window. I tried walking around it but the graves are pretty spaced out. Look on line first.

Yorkshire
Brontes.

Jane Austen.

USA
Washington DC.
Arlington Cemetery. Major presidents have their own memorials, such as Lincoln and Jefferson.

Virginia
Mausoleum of leader of the south, Robert E Lee, and his horse, Traveller.
Lee Chapel, Campus of Lee, Virginia.

New Orleans
Cemetery. I went on a tour and heard how the procession to the cemetery would be accompanies by jazz musicians. I was sad to see that the cemetery tours stopped, I think after Katrina flooding. Maybe tours have started again. Check for up to date information.

Los Angeles
Al Jolson statue of him kneeling.
Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California, USA.

Marilyn Monroe: disappointing, nothing to see.

Wild West
Tours around the areas take you to graves of legends. Various amusing graves. Look online.

Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Incidentally, the name Minh in very popular. Two members of a Vietnam Toastmasters club which I visit in Singapore are called Minh. Hanoi is the capital.
Confusingly, the largest city is called Ho Chi Minh city. But the Ho Chi Minh memorial is in the other city, the capital.

Wales
Numerous sites connected with homes of Dylan Thomas.

Websites
BBC
Find a Grave
"A brothel is the best place for a writer to live. Quiet in the daytime and noisy at night." (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Also see country and city tourist board websites.

Some unusual gravestones:
A sundial on a gravestone in Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire, Scotland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilbirnie_Auld_Kirk#/media/File:Sundial_on_Gravestone_at_Kilbirnie.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_(horse)
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187898-d195713-r130187871-Puccini_Museum_Casa_natale-Lucca_Province_of_Lucca_Tuscany.html Puccini's House, Lucca, Italy.

See Wikipedia article on Mausoleums.
BBC article entitled Find The Plot:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39480595

Museums in some cities are free on:
18 April (International Monument Day)
- 18 May (International Museum Day)
- 5 June (International Environment Day)
- the last weekend of September (European Heritage Days)
- 27 September (World Tourism Day)

Read more: http://www.inthessaloniki.com/en/archaelogical-museum-of-thessaloniki#ixzz4gPRPAkxR
See my previous post on the Merry Cemetery of Romania.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.

Incredible India: Miriam Margolyes, Hotels, and Buddha

I love Mark Twain's comment, quoted at the Incredible India presentation at The World Travel Market in London, November 2016.



What is incredible about India? Everybody knows about the Taj Mahal, which is a Moslem mausoleum to the wife lost after numerous childbirths, all elegant patterns and curves but no pictures. Contrast this with the wonderful Hindu temples, covered with figurines, including the amazing erotic carvings at Khajurao.

India also has most of the sites connected with Buddha.

Hotels and Miriam Margolyes
At the Incredible India presentation we heard from ministers and the actress Miriam Margolyes, who featured in the film about the Marigold Hotel. Miriam spoke about the warmth of the people. Of course, actresses are all about people and how they relate to each other. Miriam, like many of the ministers, is not tall, and when I stood at the back of the hall it was easy to hear her well projected, resounding voice, but harder to see, so I wished that she and the other VIP speakers had stood up to address us.

Miriam is a distant relative of mine, through a common ancestor, and we had corresponded and hoped to meet previously but she moved from England to Australia and back and I was off to Singapore and we never made a meeting. So it was a delightful surprise to meet her at last.


Hotels In India
India is known for its hotels, many being converted palaces, others designed to resemble palaces. I have stayed at a couple of the older ones, one at Jaipur. I insisted on stopping just for a look and walk around to visit another modern six star hotel on the road from to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. (A day trip can be taken to see the Taj Mahal, but it is said to be best at dawn and sunset, so staying overnight is recommended.)

Kerala and Tamil Nadu
I have been to Delhi, known for its gold sellers' quarter. My favourite seaside city is now called Mumbai, although the old name Bombay, from the Portuguese, sums up its attraction for tourist, meaning Beautiful Bay. My first trip to India I translated French into English at a lawyers' conference. It was back in the 1970s, the days of the typewriter, and I remember being the only female typist in a room of male secretaries, who all jumped to their feet when I walked into the typing room.

As an author and English teacher, on my next trip to India I hope to visit Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which have the highest literacy rates. They are also in the south, which will be a contrast of food. Instead of meat curries favoured by Muslims, and Hindus, in the north, there will be more vegetarian food, favoured by Hindus, and Muslims, in the south.

(If you are in London, England, you will find 'Indian' restaurants everywhere. The oldest ones, such as Veeraswamy, near Piccadilly, date back to the days before Pakistan separated. In London centre there are even chains serving spicier food. We have lots of Tandoori and Balti restaurants in the suburbs. In Hatch End (Euston line to Watford) you will find Coriander, which serves meat. In Rayners Lane (Piccadilly and Metropolitan line) you will find several vegetarian restaurants and sweet shops, even a giant grocery store, JB, at North Harrow, for sacks of rice and loose vegetables with names I have to look up in a dictionary on my phone. (For pictures see my previous posts.)

Over in Singapore, Little India has restaurants serving fish head curry on banana leaves. (For pictures of restaurants in London and Singapore see my previous posts.) For details of Buddha, pearls and flowers

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.





Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

World Tourism Day 27 September

World Tourism Day 27 September was established by the United Natons. It is on Sept 27 every year because that is the end of the summer holiday season in the northern hemisphere and the start of the Spring season in the southern hemisphere.

So who benefits most? The southern hemisphere (spellcheck turns that into mis fire) with the holiday season ahead, or the north with the season over and therefore the need for a tourism  boost?

What happened to world tourism day?

Flag of Lithuania.

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA

 I was alerted to World Tourism Day by Vilnius, Lithuania, which emailed me a press release.

Full marks to their tourist board.

I marked the date in my calendar. I planned and scheduled a blog. But then the world went quiet. What a missed opportunity.

Slogan:
One billion tourists; one billion opportunities.

http://www.un.org/en/events/tourismday/

World tourism day was eclipsed by the eclipse of the moon.

INDIA

However, after the event I learned that tourists got in to see the Taj Mahal in India for free.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/On-World-Tourism-Day-30000-tourists-to-see-Taj-for-free/articleshow/49121352.cms

Vilnius was famous for the Vilna Gaon or genius. Now tourists can enjoy self-guided tours listening to the city's 'talking statues'.

Vilnius Tourism and Convention Bureau
Vilnius g. 22
LT-0119
Vilnius
tel: +370 5 262 9660
www.vilnius-tourism.lt/en
www.vilnius-events.lt
You need the word en on the end to get the website in English.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.