分类必应美图下的文章

Aerial view of Superkilen Park in Norrebro district in Copenhagen, Denmark (© Oliver Förstner/Alamy)

This park is Superkilen

Welcome to Superkilen, a half-mile-long linear urban park meant to inspire long-time residents, immigrants, and visitors alike to congregate together in Nørrebro, one of Copenhagen's most culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. What was once a neighborhood public space battling gang activity, graffiti, and vandalism, is now an example of 'extreme public participation.' The residents who live around Superkilen helped design it, including the addition of cultural objects that represent their homelands—more than 60 countries.

We're looking down at the Black Market, the heart of the park, one of three distinct areas where residents gather. The star-shaped fountain center-left is from Morocco and to the right is a Japanese playground structure shaped like an octopus. It's a style of urban design called placemaking, using elements such as furniture, car-free pedestrian plazas, and illustrated asphalt art to support community interactions. For instance, the white lines you see are bicycle lanes encouraging residents to move about the neighborhood.

布莱顿码头，阿德莱德布莱顿 (© Darryl Leach/Alamy)

The Hollywood sign overlooking Los Angeles, California (© Sean Pavone/Shutterstock)

Hollywood's big night

It's Oscars night in Tinseltown, and we're offering you a moment's escape from the paparazzi to gaze over the glittering megalopolis of Los Angeles—and to get an unfamiliar view of a familiar landmark. The Hollywood Sign originally read 'Hollywoodland' when it was erected in 1923 and festooned with light bulbs to advertise a real estate development. But within a few years, as the silent-film era gave way to 'talkies,' the sign evolved into a popular tourist attraction. Falling into disrepair in ensuing decades—at the peak of its decay, the sign was missing its third 'O' altogether—the original was demolished and a sturdier version built in 1978.

Though it's inspired similar designs advertising locales from Ireland to Taiwan to the fictional Simpsons' hometown of Springfield, the now-permanent Hollywood Sign is cherished by residents as uniquely LA. Today, a dedicated nonprofit maintains and promotes the sign as both a source of Angeleno pride and an emblem of romanticized Hollywood.

Lantern Festival in Pingxi, Taiwan, China (© Jung-Pang Wu/Getty Images)

欧罗巴山Los Argaos山脉上的日落，西班牙阿斯图里亚斯 (© jregueiro/Getty Images)

【今日元宵节】祝大家平安健康，团团圆圆！ (© Sino Images/Getty Images)

魁北克老城区的景色，加拿大 View of the Old City in Quebec City, Canada (© RENAULT Philippe/age fotostock)

Frozen fun in the Canadian cold

Not far downriver from Montreal, where the banks of the St. Lawrence River widen as it approaches the Atlantic, lies Quebec's picturesque and often chilly capital. Quebec City, one of the continent's oldest European settlements, is often called the most European city outside Europe. It's the only North American city outside Mexico whose fortified walls still stand, and its winding streets showcase a French-tinged exemplar of old Romantic architecture (typified by the steep-roofed Château Frontenac in the photo's foreground).

The mid-sized metropolis has been central to French Canadian life for over 400 winters, and the annual Quebec Winter Carnival—which kicks off today—is one of the largest and oldest cold-weather celebrations on Earth. Thousands of Quebecers and visitors will spend the next 10 days ice skating, enjoying night parades, exploring the festival's ice palace, and dressing up for the Château's masquerade ball. A few will even perform winter feats like the ice canoe race, where boaters pilot specially-equipped canoes across the freezing St. Lawrence, intermittently stepping out to carry their vessels over huge ice chunks.

亚伯拉罕湖中的冰泡，加拿大艾伯塔省 Bubbles in the ice of Abraham Lake in Alberta, Canada (© robertharding/Alamy)

Frozen beauty

Located on the North Saskatchewan River, Lake Abraham is an artificial lake and Alberta's largest reservoir. Even though it's man-made, it takes on the blue color of other glacial lakes in the Rocky Mountains. In winter, the lake draws nature photographers interested not just in the wildlife and spectacular landscape, but also the lake's odd appearance when it freezes over. Bacteria on the lake bottom feed on dead organic matter and release the methane bubbles you see here. When the surface water freezes, the bubbles get trapped, creating a photographer's dream. They may be beautiful, but these frozen bubbles can be dangerous because they're highly flammable. If you happen to be lighting a match nearby, you'll want to watch out or the released methane could explode. The bubbles aren't so friendly to the environment, either; methane emissions are a major part of global greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.

Rock of ages

We're here at Sigiriya, or Lion Rock, in Sri Lanka, for the South Asian nation's Independence Day, celebrated annually on February 4. Sigiriya towers 600 feet off the ground, jutting dramatically out of the heart of this island country and serving as a formidable monument to the past. The king of Sri Lanka himself, King Kashyapa, who ruled from 473 to 495 CE, once made this the site of his new capital. He ordered that his palace be constructed atop the rock and about halfway up, he had a large gateway carved into the side of the outcropping in the shape of a lion (hence the name). His fortress was abandoned when he died, and the site later served as a monastery. These days it's a tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

拉帕努伊国家公园中阿胡汤加里基的摩艾石像，智利复活节岛 Moai statues at Ahu Tongariki in Rapa Nui National Park, Easter Island, Chile (© blickwinkel/Alamy)

The 'moai' you know

Roam around the tiny, remote Easter Island and you'll find almost 900 of the stern stone faces called moai. They seem ancient as the pyramids, even a little alien, but they were actually sculpted between 500 and 800 years ago from compacted volcanic ash that's as terrestrial as it comes. You're seeing six of the 15 moai that stand on Ahu Tongariki, the largest ahu (stone platform) on the island. These statues were toppled in the 18th or 19th century along with other moai island-wide for reasons not fully known to scholars, though earthquakes or possible tribal infighting are postulated. The statues were later buried by a tidal wave and lay in ruins until the 1990s when they were excavated and placed back on the ahu.

Though scholars still debate how and why the moai were constructed and moved into place, it's known that they represent the ancestors of the Rapa Nui, an isolated and hardy culture that still celebrates its uniqueness. Visit Easter Island during the first two weeks of February and you'll find yourself in the midst of Tapati Rapa Nui, a festival that revives islander ceremonies of song and dance, as well as sporting events like ocean canoeing, horse racing, and haka pei (high-speed sledding on banana tree trunks).

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