The Best of CHINA: The East

Over 1000 years ago, Eastern China was the main terminus of the Maritime Silk Road, trading extensively with Japan, Korea, Southeast … More

Trossachs National Park & Loch Lomond

Trossachs National Park in Scotland is centered on Loch Lomond, along with the hills and glens of the Trossachs, a forested nature reserve. The wooded … More

Parc de la Ciutadella

The Parc de la Ciutadella (“Citadel Park”) in Barcelona, Spain was for decades, following its creation in the mid-19th century, the city’s only green … More

The Best of ITALY, Part 1: The North

Italy is a peninsular Western European country bordered by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia and which itself surrounds the two enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. Italy also … More

Gatun Lake

Gatun Lake is a large artificial freshwater lake located south of Colón, Panama. It forms a major part of the Panama Canal, which allows … More

Erhai Lake

Erhai Lake, located in China’s southwestern Yunnan Province, is one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. As an alpine … More

The Sierra Nevada

The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States that lies between the Central Valley (a flat, elongated valley that dominates the interior of California) and the Great … More

Lake Nokomis

Located west of the Mississippi River and south of Lake Hiawatha in Minneapolis, Lake Nokomis (previously named Lake Amelia between 1819 and 1910) was … More

Lake Hiawatha

When first purchased by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in 1922 for $550,000,, Lake Hiawatha, named for the hero of Henry … More

Lake Phalen

Lake Phalen is a large urban lake located in the Saint Paul suburb of Maplewood and the centerpiece of the 494-acre Phalen Regional Park. The lake … More

Quarry Lake Park

The 111-acre Quarry Lake Park in the East Shakopee Industrial Area contains nature trails and a quarry lake, which is … More

Como Park, Part 3: Como Lake

Located with Saint Paul’s Como Regional Park, Como Lake (not to be confused with Lake Como in northern Italy) features: … More

Locarno

Although Locarno is a town in southern Switzerland, located on the northern shore of Lake Maggiore at the southern foot of the Swiss Alps, its … More

Lake Vermillion

Lake Vermilion, a shallow freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, was originally known by the Ojibwe as Nee-Man-Nee, which means “the … More

Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee, also known as “Florida’s Inland Sea”, is the largest of some 30,000 inland lakes in the state. It is also … More

Lake Pepin

Lake Pepin, located on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin, is a naturally occurring lake along the Mississippi River filling in a valley that … More

Palace of Fine Arts

Built around a small artificial lagoon, the Palace of Fine Arts, located in the Marina District of San Francisco, is a monumental structure originally … More

Winona

Named after legendary figure Winona, said to have been the first-born daughter of Chief Wapasha (Wabasha) III, the city of Winona in southeastern Minnesota, … More

Lake Mille Lacs

Mille Lacs is a large, shallow lake in Minnesota, located roughly 75 miles north of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It has a maximum … More

Parks of Linchuan, Part 3: Celebrity Sculpture Park

Celebrity Sculpture Park is a national AAAA-level cultural and ecological park located in the Linchuan District of Fuzhou in China’s … More

Memories of SCOTLAND

Scotland, the 2nd-largest country in the United Kingdom, covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain and accounts … More

Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, Part 3

3. Lake-of-the-Isles: Averaging 5.5 million visitors a year, this picturesque 109-acre lake, which is connected to Cedar Lake and Bde Maka Ska as one … More

Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, Part 2

2. Lake Harriet: Located between Bde Maka Ska to the north and Minnehaha Creek to the south, this 335-acre lake is … More

Lake Erie

Lake Erie, which takes its name from the Erie tribe which used to live along its southern edge, is the 4th-largest of the … More

Lake Superior

Lake Superior, the most northern and western lake of the North American “Great Lakes” chain, is also the world’s largest freshwater … More

The Finger Lakes

The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven mostly parallel north-south-running lakes in New York state, with none of them exceeding 3.5 miles in … More

Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is a shallow, endorheic (high salinity) rift lake located on the San Andreas Fault between the Imperial and Coachella Valleys in southern California. The lake surface today is … More

Okoboji

Often referred to collectively as Okoboji, the Iowa Great Lakes (the largest in Iowa) are a group of natural lakes located in … More

Great Salt Lake

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is the largest lake west of the Mississippi River, the largest salt lake in the Western … More

Hunan Martyrs’ Park

Hunan Martyrs’ Park is the largest park in Changsha, the capital of China’s Hunan Province, covering an area of around 343 acres, almost … More

Tjörnin

Tjörnin (The Pond) is a small, prominent lake next to the City Hall in central Reykjavík, Iceland. In fact, this postmodern government building, which … More