She's In Love With The World » Photo of the Week

Photo of the Week: The Eiffel Tower

Sarah Lipman — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:00:51 +0000

This photo is from my first trip abroad in 2008, a 25-day speed-dating tour through the capital cities of much of Western and Eastern Europe. This is the trip that inspired me to almost (and maybe still one day) attend graduate school in Paris helped me unleash my not-so-hidden love for travel. During this post-college summer trip, I immediately fell in love with Paris and everything it has to offer. My trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower happened to coincide with not only France’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union (which rotates between member states every six months), but also on Fête Nationale — or Bastille Day — the day the French celebrate their independence. Free concerts, food and fireworks speckled the streets of Paris that week and the Eiffel Tower donned the EU’s circle of 12 gold stars, as seen in the picture.

Photo of the Week: Petra

Sarah Lipman — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:02:31 +0000

When I decided to forgo Europe and head through some of the Middle East instead, everyone kept telling me I needed to visit Petra, in a small Bedouin city called Wadi Musa in the south of Jordan. I had never heard of this historic site, but I soon learned that “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” was filmed there. Aside from that, I ventured into Jordan blindly with just three days left in my trip and intentions of seeing this mysterious rock city called Petra. Turns out, Petra is one of the most impressive sites I visited my entire trip.

It is a historic and archaeological city (named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985) that was established some time around the 6th century BC. The site, nicknamed “The Rose-Red City” was unknown to the Western World until 1812, when it was rediscovered by a Swiss explorer. Today, while tourists flock to Petra, many parts of the rock city are still being excavated and discovered. I spent about seven hours one hot afternoon hiking through the UNESCO site and taking in the beautiful desert scenery. This photo was taken about a third of the way to the highest peak at Petra, from which you can see over 80 percent of the entire rock city.

Photo of the Week: Ir David in Jerusalem

Sarah Lipman — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:11:02 +0000

Ir David — or the City of David — is Jerusalem’s oldest settled neighborhood and a major archaeological site that runs from the South of Temple Mount. This picture was taken at the Shiloach Pool, part of the city remains from the Byzantine Era. Archaeologists believed that during the Second Temple Era waters from the Gihon flowed into this pool and were collected in an additional larger pool. Each day, single women would walk down to the pool to collect water in jugs for the city, in hopes of being chosen for marriage. Discovered in the summer of 2004, today it is used as a splashing ground for Orthodox children in Jerusalem on hot summer days.

Photo of the Week: Bangkok Burning

Sarah Lipman — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:10:40 +0000

May 19 saw the worst violence Thailand has seen in nearly two decades as the Royal Thai Government handed down orders to crackdown on the red shirt anti-government protesters that have been occupying the city since mid-March. I watched the day’s events unfold from a safe distance in a friend’s apartment-cum-expatriate refugee camp not far from mine, which offers an iconic view of the Bangkok city skyline. Logged into the Reuters’ live blog of events, Al Jazeera’s live broadcast coverage, Twitter and Thai TV stations, we could see the thick black plumes of smoke billow and cover the skyline from the affected areas – a view so vastly different from the city we all knew.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about the aftermath and my afternoon cleaning up the city this week.

Photo of the Week: Mui Ne Sand Dunes

Sarah Lipman — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:04:24 +0000

Mui Ne is a sleepy little beachside town on the southern coast of Vietnam. Quiet and relaxing, there’s not much else to do besides lounge poolside and work on your tan.

Aside from that, I recommend renting a Jeep and taking a tour of the sand dunes of Mui Ne, one of the most stunning views of Vietnam that shows the diversity of such a beautiful country. Begin walking along the sienna colored Fairy Streams before heading to the white dunes for some sand sledding. Sheets of plastic that act as sleds can be rented for 20,000 VND from children eager to teach their favorite pastime in the sleepy city. From there, spend the early evening hours watching the sun set at the red dunes and watch as the sky turns a million different colors against the orange-yellow sand mountains.

Photo of the Week: DMZ Zones

Sarah Lipman — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:15:48 +0000

While in Hué, I opted to take a day out of the city and on multiple long bus rides to various demilitarized zones throughout Vietnam. Hué and the neighboring villages were some of the most heavily bombed areas during the Vietnam War because of the proximity of the North/South border. Our tour guide, Phu, was incredibly knowledgeable on the subject matter and put the War into an honest and enlightening perspective:

“When I drive along Highway 9, I don’t like to see the things related to the war in the past. I like to see the future and so do the people who live along Highway 9. They’re all young and look toward our bright tomorrows.”

I took this photo of an American sandbag bunker at one of the DMZs. I found the bright white and yellow of the daisy contrasted against the aged, war-ridden bunker as an anamoly — happiness and peace can exist after war, but the legacy of it will always remain.

I’ve decided to extend my donations from this post for Haiti and Chile. For every comment on the post, I will donate an additional $1 to the Red Cross to help earthquake efforts in both Haiti and Chile through April 20.