New York Bus Tours to Statue of Liberty

One of the best tourist attractions in New York is Statue of Liberty. It is officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution. It represents a woman wearing a stola, a radiant crown and sandals, trampling a broken chain, carrying a torch in her raised right hand and a tabula ansata, in her left arm. Standing on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, it welcomes visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans traveling by ship. New York Bus Tours depart from Times Square.

The statue is made of a sheathing of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151 ft or 46 m tall, but with the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 ft or 93 m tall. Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States. For many years it was one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants and visitors after ocean voyages from around the world. The statue is the central part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, administered by the National Park Service. The National Monument also includes Ellis Island. In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was added to the list of World Heritage Sites. In 2007, the Statue of Liberty was one of 20 finalists in a competition to name the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The climb to the top is 146 stairs on the double-helix stair case. Inside the copper statue it is approximately 15 to 20ºF warmer than it is outside. The NPS allows 10 people at a time with 3 groups an hour up into the crown. This provides a view of New York Harbor the orientation of the statue faces Brooklyn through 25 windows, the largest approximately 18" or 46 cm high. There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal, with 25 windows in the crown which comprise the jewels beneath the seven rays of the diadem. The keystone which the statue holds in her left hand reads, in Roman numerals, July 4, 1776 the day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Statue of Liberty was engineered to withstand heavy winds. Winds of 50 miles per hour or 80 km/h cause the Statue to sway 3 inches or 76 mm and the torch to sway 5 inches or 130 mm. This allows the Statue to move rather than break in high wind load conditions. To know more about New York Sightseeing Tours visit www.newyorktourshuttle.com/

World Botanical Tour Guides of Great Britain

World Tour Guides: One of the Great Royal Botanic Gardens is located in Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens. It is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the brand name Kew are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs both the gardens at Kew and Lakehurst Place gardens in Sussex. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Kew is responsible for the world's largest collection of living plants. The living collections include more than 30,000 different kinds of plants, while the herbarium, which is one of the largest in the world, has over seven million preserved plant specimens. The library contains more than 750,000 volumes, and the illustrations collection contains more than 175,000 prints and drawings of plants.

Kew Gardens originated in the exotic garden at Kew Park formed by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury. It was enlarged and extended by Augusta; some of the early plants came from the walled garden. The collections grew somewhat haphazardly until the appointment of the first collector, Francis Masson, in 1771. In 1840 the gardens were adopted as a national botanical garden. The first curator was John Smith. The Davies Alpine House opened the third version of an alpine house since 1887. Although only 16 meters long the apex of the roof arch extends to a height of 10 meters in order to allow the natural airflow of a building of this shape to aid in the all important ventilation required for the type of plants to be housed.

The new house features a set of automatically operated blinds that prevent it overheating when the sun is too hot for the plants together with a system that blows a continuous stream of cool air over the plants. The main design aim of the house is to allow maximum light transmission. To this end the glass is of a special low iron type that allows 90% of the ultraviolet light in sunlight to pass. It is attached by high tension steel cables so that no light is obstructed by traditional glazing bars. To conserve energy the cooling air is not refrigerated but is cooled by being passed through a labyrinth of pipes buried under the house at a depth where the temperature remains suitable all year round. A design goal of the house is that the maximum temperature will not exceed 20 degrees Celsius.

Kew's collection of Alpine plants (defined as those that grow above the tree-line in their locale - ground level at the poles rising to over 2000 meters in the Alps), extends to over 7000 and as the Alpine house can only house around 200 at a time the ones on show are regularly rotated. Kew Palace is the smallest of the British royal palaces. The Palm House (1844–1848) was the result of cooperation between architect Decimus Burton and iron-founder Richard Turner, and continues upon the glass house design principles developed by John Claudius Loudon and Joseph Paxton. A space frame of wrought iron arches, held together by horizontal tubular structures containing long prestressed cables, supports glass panes which were originally tinted green with copper oxide to reduce the significant heating effect. The 19m high central nave is surrounded by a walkway at 9m height, allowing visitors a closer look upon the palm tree crowns.

A new treetop walkway opened on 24 May 2008. This walkway is 18 meters (59 ft) high and 200 meters (660 ft) long and takes visitors into the tree canopy of a woodland glade. Visitors can ascend and descend by stairs. The floor of the walkway is made from perforated metal and flexes as it is walked upon. The entire structure sways in the wind. The image to the left shows a section of the walkway and the steel supports that were designed to rust to a tree-like appearance to help the walkway fit in with its surroundings. Kew Explorer is a service that takes a circular route around the gardens, provided by two 72-seater road trains that are fueled by Calor Gas to minimize pollution. A commentary is provided by the driver and there are several stops.