VirtualGlobetrotting: Maps Submitted On: 2008-05-02

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Villa La Leopolda - Lily Safra's House
BermudaBreeze (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: BermudaBreeze.
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Billionaire Lily Safra’s house is a historic villa in Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera – Villa La Leopolda, the second most expensive house in the world. A native of Brazil, she is a citizen of Monaco with homes in Geneva and Monaco, and also spends time in New York and London.
Lily Safra, born Lily Watkins, is the widow of Edmond J. Safra, a banker who died in a fire in 1999. Lily Safra’s net worth is $1.2 billion.
Villa La Leopolda is a 20-acre estate valued at 500 million euro ($750 million) in 2008.
The estate was once owned by King Leopold II, given to his mistress Blanche Zelia Josephine Delacroix (also known as Caroline Lacroix), then owned by King Albert I. The villa was used as a military hospital during World War I.
After it was acquired by Therese Vitali, comtesse de Beauchamp, in 1919, she commissioned modifications by Ogden Codman, Jr., American Architect. Codman purchased existing structures on the site and eventually rented them to tenants. When Codman died in 1951, the estate was sold to Izaak Walton Killam, whose wife sold it to Gianni Agnelli, president of Fiat, after her husband’s death.
Edmond Safra purchased the property in 1988 and commissioned Interior Designer Renzo Mongiardino. Mica Ertegun decorated the second-floor bedrooms.
La Leopolda has been featured in the 1948 movie “The Red Shoes” as well as Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief.” It is a French Monument Historique.
Lily Safra is known for her philanthropic works and has donated heavily to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, almost $20 million since 2001. She raised almost $38 million donated to 32 charities at an event at Christie’s in Geneva called “Jewels for Hope”. Her collection
auctioned at the event totaled 70 items.
Lily Safra chairs the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, the recipient of most of her husband’s fortune, which supports science and medicine, humanitarian relief, education, religion and culture in 40 cultures. The Foundation has reportedly donated $250 million since it was created. She also co-founded the International Sephardic Education Foundation, supports the American Red Cross, and helped Hurricane Katrina victims. She has contributed to and supported many other medical and health-related causes and entities.

Elton John's House
BermudaBreeze (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: BermudaBreeze.
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This is Sir Elton John's stunning French Riviera Villa, just south of Nice. Originally built in the 1920s as an artists colony, Elton with the help of Fred Dilger and Monique Gibson, redesigned the interior to be beautifully and extravagantly decorated in Sir Elton’s style, complete with Andy Warhol originals.
Considered a summer home by the singer, this French Riviera Villa boasts an impressive view of the Mediteranian from the overlooking tower room. Featured in Architectural Digest and his own book, Elton John’s Flower Fantasies: An Intimate Tour of His House and Gardens, the home is lush, and decorated often with extensive floral arrangements. A perfect getaway for the world renowned musician to enjoy the sunshine of southern France by the pool with his husband, David Furnish.
Sir Elton John, born in England, is a world renowned pianist, singer and songwriter. Over the course of his 57 year career he has sold over 300 Million records worldwide making him the 5th best selling recording artist of all time. Putting him among the world’s most well known musician among the likes of Madonna, Elvis, Michael Jackson, and The Beatles. He is currently married to David Furnish, and the two spend their time happily between this property and several others including a home in London and Los Angeles.
Critically acclaimed, Sir Elton John has received 5 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and in 2013 Billboard named him the most successful solo Male artist on The Billboard Top All-Time artists, and named him third overall behind Madonna and The Beatles. In 1998 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music and charitable service. A voice of a generation and one of the worlds best known musicians.
Sir Elton John was recently featured in the biopic film, Rocketman, released in May of 2019. The film has received a warm reception from critics. Elton John is also on a farewell tour.
Sir Elton John currently has earned a net worth of 500 Million, likely low because of his notorious spending and taste for luxury. This French Riviera home a prime example of his taste for the finer things in life. Certainly, he remains a well paid artist, among one of the highest paid in fact, as between 2018 and 2019 he has earned nearly $85 Million. No surprise when considering that when he signed with Taupin in 1992 for twelve years he received a $39Million Dollar cash advance. The largest advance of its kind in its time!

Roman Abramovich's House
BermudaBreeze (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: BermudaBreeze.
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The Château de la Croë is a large detached villa situated in eight hectares of grounds on the Cap d'Antibes peninsula of the Côte d'Azur, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of southern France. The classical-style château was designed by architect Armand-Albert Rateau and built in 1927 for Sir Pomeroy Burton, general manager of Associated Newspapers.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor leased the château in May 1938, in addition to their Parisian mansion, after the Duke's abdication as King Edward VIII in 1936.
The Duchess of Windsor subsequently renovated the house, leading the author Rebecca West to comment that "There are not many women who can pick up the keys to a rented house, raddled by long submission to temporary inmates, and make it look as if a family of cheerful good taste had been living there for two or three centuries."
Winston and Clementine Churchill celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary with the Windsors at the château in 1948.
Among the Windsors' guests were Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and her husband, the 11th Duke of Devonshire. Deborah Devonshire later recalled that the Duke of Windsor wore full Highland dress at dinner, with a kilt and a dirk, and a Highland piper entertained the dinner guests, which Devonshire thought was "more suited to the misty glens than the Côte d'Azur in July." The Windsors' housekeeper later worked at Chatsworth, home of the Devonshires. The housekeeper told Deborah Devonshire that all the staff employed at the Château de la Croë by the Windsors were blonde haired, however, in Edward Wessex’ 2015 documentary, “Whatever happened to the Windsors?”, there is film footage of staff with dark hair and dark skin filmed at the Chateau.
The Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis owned the château from 1950 to 1957, selling it after his wife, Athina Livanos, found him in bed with her friend, the socialite Jeanne Rhinelander. The house was then acquired by Onassis's brother-in-law and business rival, Stavros Niarchos, who bought it for his wife, Eugenia Livanos, Athina's sister.
The Château de la Croë has been owned by the Russian businessman Roman Abramovich since 2001. Abramovich is believed to have spent £30 million restoring the château. In 2010, a lecture was given and a short film was shown at the house about Abramovich's restoration of the Château de la Croë. Before its restoration, the château had been damaged and occupied by squatters, with only the structure still intact. The permit for the renovation was granted in February 2004, and work took four years to complete. The work was completed two months ahead of the deadline, with all of the furniture and fittings individually made and designed for the house.
As part of the work, an approx. 15 m long swimming pool was built on the roof of the building, and a gym and cinema were installed in the basement. The grounds were landscaped by Peter Wirtz, the son of noted Belgian landscape designer Jacques Wirtz, and planted with Californian and Mediterranean species.
As of April 2022, due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the chateau has been seized by the French government because of sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

Chinese secret nuclear submarine base
neotrix (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: neotrix.
China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.
Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft carriers.
more info in the "more info" link

Steffi Graf's childhood house
neotrix (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: neotrix.
In this villa with own indoor and outdoor tennis-court tennis player Steffi Graf grew up.

Smart Tech store - "The Forty Year Old Virgin"
milwhcky (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: milwhcky.
In the 2005 comedy "The Forty Year Old Virgin", Steve Carrell plays Andy Stitzer, an employee at a Smart Tech home electronics store.
The store used in filming the movie is a medical skin care business in the Encino Courtyard Mall.

Richard Ziman's house
neotrix (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: neotrix.
Richard S. Ziman is Chairman of AVP Advisors, LLC, the exclusive advisor to American Value Partners a $500 million real estate fund of funds covering all sectors of real estate investment throughout the United States.

Google had airport security a little worried
cmueth (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: cmueth.

Luxor Temple
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.
Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the River Nile in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was founded in 1400 BC.

Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo is the city zoo of Sydney. Officially opened on October 7th, 1916, it is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman.

Medinet Habu temple
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.
The temple, some 150 m long, is of orthodox design, and resembles closely the nearby mortuary temple of Ramesses II (the Ramesseum). The temple precinct measures approximately 700 ft (210 m). by 1,000 ft (300 m) and contains more than 75,350 sq ft (7,000 m²) of decorated wall reliefs. Its walls are relatively well preserved and it is surrounded by a massive mudbrick enclosure, which may have been fortified. The original entrance is through a fortified gate-house, known as a migdol (a common architectural feature of Asiatic fortresses of the time).
Just inside the enclosure, to the south, are chapels of Amenirdis I, Shepenupet II and Nitiqret, all of whom had the title of Divine Adoratrice of Amun.
The first pylon leads into an open courtyard, lined with colossal statues of Ramesses III as Osiris on one side, and uncarved columns on the other. The second pylon leads into a peristyle hall, again featuring columns in the shape of Ramesses. This leads up a ramp that leads (through a columned portico) to the third pylon and then into the large hypostyle hall (which has lost its roof). Reliefs and actual heads of foreign captives were also found placed within the temple perhaps in an attempt to symbolise the king's control over Syria and Nubia.
In Coptic times, there was a church inside the temple structure, which has since been removed. Some of the carvings in the main wall of the temple have been altered by coptic carvings.

Cruise ship 'ms Astoria'
giove (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: giove.

Celebrity Cruises' ship 'Infinity'
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.

Boeing OC-135 "Open Skies"
Rene73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Rene73.

Funeral in progress
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.

Iranian Hovercraft
giove (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: giove.
Hovercraft in Iranian Navy
Type:Saunders-Roe BH-7 Mark 5

Car Accident

Mausoleum of Romulus
giove (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: giove.
Built for the son of imperator Maxence, dead in 309AD.

Cleveland Dam
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.
The Cleveland Dam is a concrete dam at the head of the Capilano River in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that holds back Capilano Lake. Part of the Capilano River Regional Park, it is not used for generating hydroelectricity, but rather for storing a portion of the Lower Mainland's drinking water. It was completed in 1954, and is named after Ernest Cleveland, first chief commissioner of the Greater Vancouver Water District.

Glider flying around the former RAF Wormingford airfield

"Elk" (Frontier JetExpress)
Rene73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Rene73.

Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse at Point Danger
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.
Point Danger is home to the Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse. It lays claim to being the first in the world to experiment with laser technology (1971) to create its beam, but the experiment was unsuccessful and it returned to the more conventional mirrors, magnifying glass and powerful electric lamps (1975?).

'Cleopatra's Wedge' by Beverly Pepper
pmoore66 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: pmoore66.
in Burn's Commons

Castle Hohenfreyberg
418-32: built by Friedrich Freyberg zu Hohenfreyberg, eldest son of Friedrich Freyberg von Eisenberg.
1481: sold by Georg von Freyberg to Archduke Sigmund of Austria, subsequently often mortgaged to rich patricians
1646: burned down along with the castle of Eisenberg and Falkenstein
1714: Baron von Freyberg-Eisenberg auf Runau bought the mortgage
1791: Austria redeemed the mortgage
1805: became Bavarian through the treaty of Pressburg

Hugh Keenleyside Dam
Hugh Keenleyside Dam is a hydroelectric dam spanning the Columbia River, 12 km (6.5 miles) upstream of the city of Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada.
The reservoirs behind the dam is named Arrow Lakes extending 232 km (145 miles) north to Revelstoke Dam, and contain 8.76 km3 (7.1 Maf) of reservoir volume. The dam is operated by BC Hydro.
The dam, originally named the Arrow Dam, was built in 1968 as part of fulfilling Canada's role in the Columbia River Treaty, and was intended only to control the flow of water in the Columbia River for downstream dams, but in 2002 a 185 megawatt (MW) powerhouse was added.

Giant Cow

Boeing 737 "Ready to Go"
Rene73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Rene73.

Temple of Edfu
The Temple of Edfu is an ancient Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in the city of Edfu. It is the second largest temple in Egypt after Karnak and one of the best preserved. The temple, dedicated to the falcon god Horus, was built in the Ptolemaic period between 237 and 57 BCE. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Greco-Roman period in ancient Egypt.

Pontoon plane
cmueth (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: cmueth.
This area is full of them. Must be a nice tourist area

Temple of Kom Ombo
The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple built during the rule Ptolemaic dynasty in the Egyptian town of Kom Ombo. One side of the temple is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world. The other side is dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris, also known as Horus the Elder. The temple is atypical because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis.
The temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-145 BC) at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemys, most notably Ptolemy XIII (47-44 BC), who built the inner and outer hypostyle halls.
Much of the temple has been destroyed by the Nile, earthquakes, and later builders who used the stones for other projects. Some of the reliefs inside were defaced by Copts who once used the temple as a church.
A few of the three-hundred crocodile mummies discovered in the vicinity are displayed inside the temple.

Brera Observatory Milan

People in circle
Effi (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Effi.

G222 in flight
Near lake Fogliano in south Italy

Hobart Cenotaph

Boeing 757 "Red Nose Day 2007"

Boeing KC-135 (Low-G Flight Research aircraft)

Kalabsha Temple

Plane over the Mediterranean Sea
cmueth (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: cmueth.

Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Stephen W. Groves (FFG-29)

Sail boat race in Marseille
Six small boat, a buoy and the jury boat

Pontoon plane near Vancouver

Football game in progress
Effi (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Effi.

Revelstoke Dam

Plane aproaching Savona