Should you find yourself in Roker, Sunderland, England make sure to leave the comfort of your Best Western and see the scenery. The town of Roker is in the Sunderland area of England. It is mainly a tourist resort, an affluent one at that.

Roker is situated on the North Sea. The coast of Roker hosts the biggest airshow in Europe. That’s right, all of Europe. The Sunderland International Airshow is quite impressive.

If you visit you must stop by the Bungalow Cafe, it’s a crowd favorite.

The war monument above is one of many interesting sites along the coast. Be sure to take your camera(s)!

This post is part of UpTake’s Monday Museum, Memorials & Monuments Series.

Photo: smlp.co.uk via Flickr

It’s time for another rousing edition of Where in World is This Piece of Public Art and What is the Town Like Where You Found It. We’re still working on the name.

And now the clues:

The town featuring this public art is well-known for its weather and water.

Was that too easy?

Here’s another, it’s also well-known for its parks, both city and amusement, respectively.

It’s classy.

If you said San Diego, then congratulations, you are a freaking genius. Tell everyone.

The bell is the Yokohama Friendship Bell given by the people of Yokohama, Japan to San Diego in 1958 as part of the Central Celebration marking the formal relations between Japan and the United States. Yokohama is San Diego’s sister city.

The sculpture in the foreground is “The Girl in Red Shoes” and was added in 2010 to further honor the relationship between the two countries.

See? That’s classy.

This post is part of the UpTake Public Art Series

Photo: Port of San Diego via Flickr

Do you like the travel photography and the coffee table conservation starters? Then you’ll love what LIFE Books has released. Heaven on Earth: The World’s Must See Destinations is a treat full of places we should all probably visit.

Today we’re looking at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The Taj Mahal is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the greatest examples of Muslim art in India (and the world?).

Some history: In 1632 Emperor Shah Jahan of Mughal Empire constructed the Taj Mahal (well, not him per se, but he knew people) as a mausoleum for his much-loved third wife Mumtaz Mahal. Upon completion of the shrine the emperor, according to Wikipedia, said:

Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator’s glory.

In a nutshell, he thought they did a nice job.

If you are visiting India the Taj Mahal is a must-see. Just ask the 4 million visitors that arrive there annually. They’ll vouch for it.

Photo: Taj Mahal by Larry Burrows/LIFE, courtesy of LIFE Books

In Austria there is a lake that isn’t. That is, during the winter it is a grass-filled valley full of hiking trails and benches, and during the summer the snow melts and the valley becomes Austria’s Green Lake full of clear, green water. Also, grass, hiking trails and benches.

Sounds amazing. Have any of you ever been?

Despite all of the words beneath it, this post is a Wordless Wednesday entry.

Photo: Alex Barth via Flickr