New Orleans: The Underground Guide shows visitors how to experience the Big Easy like a local, looking past staples like beignets and Bourbon Street to reveal a city bursting with contemporary and experimental art, genre-busting DJs, international cuisines, and even kid-friendly activities. This fully updated edition offers an expansive collection of alternative recommendations for exploring the city of Mardi Gras, brass bands, and weekly festivals. Featuring over two hundred new entries on local bands, rappers, restaurants with live music, galleries, and more, this guidebook takes readers on a one-of-a-kind journey through New Orleans, giving advice on everything from what thrift stores and bookshops to visit to what bands to catch in concert and what parades to attend. Lead author Michael Patrick Welch provides a detailed guide of the less traditional, more adventurous side of New Orleans, from bars that hold readings of poetry and erotic literature to costume shops that sell handmade masks, party supplies, and all the parade throws you can carry. Drawing on the wisdom of New Orleans celebrities, journalists, artists, and musicians from throughout the Crescent City, the fourth edition of New Orleans: The Underground Guide is an authentic and reliable resource for where locals listen to music, art hop, shop, eat, drink, and let loose.

The greatest structures in human history. Explore the constructions that have shaped our world and learn their hidden secrets in this large format highly illustrated book. Each building analysed by the author is illustrated with its architectural details and enriched with intriguing facts, symbols and infographics. 50 unique structures described including; - Kennedy Space Centre - Great Wall of China - Eiffel Tower - Maracana Stadium - Great Pyramids - Svalbard Global Seed Vault

This stunningly illustrated guide explores the history and mystery of these two sites, as well as looking at the rituals that survive today. Look out for more Pitkin Guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel.

Castles were introduced into England by the Normans in the 11th century, with more than 1500 built throughout England and Wales over the next 400 years. Colourful photos of castles now and artworks showing what they looked like centuries ago accompany informative detail about topics such as medieval castle life, knights and chivalry, and the castle as a home as well as fortress. Also includes a list of interesting castles to visit, including some National Trust properties. A book for lovers of England and her history. Look out for more Pitkin Guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel.

Whether you want to explore a national park, visit major tourist sights, or escape to a quiet town, the local Fodor's travel experts across the United States are here to help! Fodor's Best Weekend Road Trips guidebook is packed with maps, carefully curated recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process and make the most of your time as you plan a quick getaway. This new title has been designed with an easy-to-read layout, fresh information, and beautiful color photos. Fodor's Best Weekend Road Trips travel guide includes: 106 THREE-DAY ITINERARIES WITHIN A SIX-HOUR DRIVE OF 20 MAJOR U.S. CITIES to effectively organize your days and maximize your time 5 DETAILED REGIONAL MAPS to help you navigate confidently COLOR PHOTOS throughout to spark your wanderlust! HONEST RECOMMENDATIONS FROM LOCALS on the best sights, restaurants, hotels, nightlife, shopping, activities, and more TRIP-PLANNING TOOLS AND PRACTICAL TIPS including when to go, driving there and back, and recommended pit stops along the way LOCAL WRITERS to help you find the under-the-radar gems TOP WEEKEND DESTINATIONS FROM: Albuquerque, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, Minneapolis, New York City, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, DC INCLUDES: Asheville, the Berkshires, Breckenridge, Carlsbad Caverns, Charleston, Colorado Springs, Destin, the Grand Canyon, Jackson Hole, Las Vegas, Mendocino County, Montgomery, Napa Valley, Palm Springs, Park City, Pittsburgh, Rapid City, Santa Fe, Savannah, Shenandoah National Park, South Padre Island, Stowe, Taos, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, Zion National Park Planning on visiting other national parks? Check out Fodor's National Parks of the West. *Important note for digital editions: The digital edition of this guide does not contain all the images or text included in the physical edition. ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts. Fodor's has been offering expert advice for all tastes and budgets for over 80 years. For more travel inspiration, you can sign up for our travel newsletter at fodors.com/newsletter/signup, or follow us @FodorsTravel on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We invite you to join our friendly community of travel experts at fodors.com/community to ask any other questions and share your experience with us!

Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest surviving botanic garden in Britain and has occupied its site in central Oxford since 1621. Conceived as a place to grow medicinal plants, born in the turmoil of civil war and nurtured during the restoration of the monarchy, the garden has, unsurprisingly, a curious past. By tracing the work and priorities of each of the garden's keepers, this book explores its importance as one of the world's oldest scientific plant collections. It tells the story of the planting of the garden by its first keeper, Jacob Bobart, and his son, together with how they changed the garden to suit their own needs. The story develops during the eighteenth century as the garden grew exotic plants under glass and acquired a fine succulent collection but then experienced a downturn under the stewardship of the eccentric Professor Humphrey Sibthorp (famous for giving just one lecture in thirty-seven years). Finally, the narrative throws light on the partnership of gardener William Baxter and academic Charles Daubeny in the early nineteenth century, which gave the garden its glasshouses and ponds and contributed to its survival to the present day. This generously illustrated book is the first history of the garden and arboretum for more than a century and provides an essential introduction to one of Oxford's much-loved haunts.

Frankfurt is the international finance and trade fair centre on the river Maini with an impressive skyline and long history, where towers of steel and glass, idyllic half-timbered buidlings and fine 19th-century residences combine with pubs selling apple wine, leafy parks and lively shopping streets. The contrasts of the traditional and the modern, history and banking, trade fairs and culture make for an inspiring visit. The BKB travel guide presents everything you need for your short stay in Frankfurt with attractive city quarters, addresses for accommodation, shopping and of course entertainment. Highlights include Romer, Paulskirche, Bembel, Sachsenhausen, Goethe-House, Mainhatten, Frankfurt Opera, Stadel Museum, shopping and nightlife in Frankfurt.

Saved from destruction by Arts and Crafts scholar, Aymer Vallance, this medieval hall-house isnt quite what it seems. Starting life around 1480, Stoneacre was built from the ragstone quarry in which the house sits. Yet when Arts and Crafts scholar and disciple of William Morris, Aymer Vallance, bought Stoneacre in 1922 his wife remarked that it was practically a ruin. After years of neglect, Stoneacre had fallen into a state of disrepair. Together with his architect, Marshall Harvey, Vallance set about restoring the dilapidated house, and adding to it with parts from other local Tudor buildings and his own stained glass window designs. This guidebook tells the full story of this special place, from its origins as a timber-framed yeomans hall-house through to its 1920s restoration; a place that has continued to surprise and delight visitors since it was left to the National Trust nearly a century ago.

An unsurpassable, visual tour of the greatest pilgrimage sites of Europe, from North to South; East to West. Pilgrimage in Europe is currently thriving on a scale that simply could not have been envisaged just a few decades ago. Not only are greater numbers of people now emulating the medieval pilgrims who made their way on foot across Europe to the shrines of martyred apostles in Rome (SS Peter and Paul), Santiago de Compostela (St James) and Trondheim (St Olav), but international religious tourism is also thriving and millions each year are now travelling by air, rail and road to Europe's major pilgrimage churches and famous sites of Marian Apparition such as Lourdes (France) and Fatima (Portugal). This book covers those key pilgrimage sites as well as many lesser known ones such as the Marian Sanctuary of La Salette in the French Alps, the cave sanctuary of Covadonga in Northern Spain, the majestic twenty-first-century basilica of Our Lady of Lichen in Poland and the Chapel of Grace in Altoetting, Bavaria. It comprises an atmospheric and colourful portrayal of the pilgrimage churches and cathedrals adorned with sculpture, art and iconography associated not only with the Virgin Mary but also the national saints and Early Christian martyrs revered by both Catholic and Anglican faiths alike. En route the reader will see some of the world's most impressive examples of medieval art and architecture set amidst historic townscapes or spectacular landscapes. This volume will serve as both an enticement to take to the road, a treasured aide memoire for those who have visited at least some of these iconic places and hopefully, a source of comfort and inspiration for those unable to travel abroad from wherever they live in the world.

Which are the oldest museums in the world? What is a cabinet of curiosities? Who haunts Hampton Court? What is on the FBI's list of stolen art? 'A Museum Miscellany' celebrates the intriguing world of galleries and museums, from national institutions such as the Musee du Louvre, the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to niche collections such as the Lawnmower Museum and the Museum of Barbed Wire. Here you will find a cornucopia of museum-related facts, statistics and lists, covering everything from museum ghosts, dangerous museum objects and conservation beetles to treasure troves, museum heists and the Museum of London's fatberg. Bursting with quirky facts, intriguing statistics and legendary curators, this is the perfect gift for all those who love to visit museums and galleries.

Many incredible dogs have lived at National Trust places and still do.

This book tells their stories, from faithful Gelert immortalised in stone at Beddgelert and the celebrated Spaniels bred at Clumber Park, to the tiny Pekingese inhabiting Ightham Mote's enormous stone-built kennel originally built to house Dido the St Bernard.

Discover the digs at the side of some of Britain's greatest figures, such as Churchill's Poodle Rufus, Agatha Christie's 'beloved dog in a thousand' Peter, and Thomas Hardy's tyrannical Terrier Wessex, who delighted his master but terrorised guests.

Meet also the canine colleagues who live and work at National Trust properties today. Whether herding sheep, guarding historical homes or greeting guests, these faithful dogs have become an integral, beloved chapter in the stories of their adopted National Trust workplaces and homes.

Wales has more castles per square mile than anywhere else in Europe. From the Norman keep at Cardiff to the Welsh stronghold at Criccieth, and Edward I's famous fortifications at Caernarfon and Conway, the castles of Wales tell the fascinating story of Wales' turbulent past and history. A must for all vistors to this this lovely country. Look out for more Pitkin Guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel.

The Tropical Hothouse describes over 50 tropical plants, telling the intriguing stories of their origins and compelling features. Sourced exclusively from the archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, each accompanying illustration presses out of the page, transforming your book into a work of art. The Tropical Hothouse contains a botanical paradise, where tropical trees are festooned with vines, orchids and bromeliads, lurid blossoms perfume the air, and leafy ferns and palms jostle for the light. From exotic-looking potted orchids and motley assortments of succulents, to luxuriant, leafy greenery, house plants and terraria are more popular than ever as additions to stylish interiors. This beautifully presented and fascinating collection includes perennial favourites and unusual specimens, transporting this world of extraordinary plants into your hands and home.

Oxford Botanic Garden has occupied its central Oxford site next to the river Cherwell continuously since its foundation in 1621 and is the UK's oldest botanic garden. The birthplace of botanical science in the UK, it has been a leading centre for research since the 1600s. Today, the garden holds a collection of over 5,000 different types of plant, some of which exist nowhere else and are of international conservation importance. This guide explores Oxford Botanic Garden's many historic and innovative features, from the walled garden to the waterlily pool, the glasshouses, the rock garden, the water garden and 'Lyra's bench'. It also gives a detailed explanation of the medicinal and taxonomic beds and special plant collections. Lavishly illustrated with photographs taken throughout the seasons, this book not only provides a fascinating historical overview but also offers a practical guide to the Oxford Botanic Garden and its work today. Featuring a map of the entire site and a historical timeline, it is guaranteed to enhance any visit, and is also a beautiful souvenir to take home.

Cape Town Then And Now is a unique visual portrait of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula, contrasting rare archival photographs with stunning contemporary views.

The book draws on the superb photographic collections of the Western Cape Archives, including the work of Arthur Elliott, Thomas Ravenscroft and Henry Steer. These images portray the changing Cape Town scene from the 1880s to the 1930s – landscape, architecture, transport, recreation and the march of history. Where possible, the modern-day photographs, which include spectacular aerial panoramas, have been shot from the same locations as the originals.

Detailed captions explain the differences between the old and the new views, and bring out fascinating continuities over time. Cape Town Then and Now is a visual journey that will appeal to Capetonians and visitors alike.

Hill Top is a shrine to Beatrix Potter, each room imbued with her spirit. The house she bought with the royalties from her first and most famous book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, became her cabinet of curiosities, a giant dolls house where she would arrange and re-arrange her things as she liked. Every painting, piece of furniture and antique had symbolic or emotional meaning to her. Featuring new photography, illustrations from the little books and photographs of Beatrix and her family, this new guidebook traces the fascinating story of this extraordinary woman. Peppered with quotes from Beatrix, it reveals her lonely London childhood, how she became a successful author and illustrator, and how she fell in love with the Lakes and acquired Hill Top. Readers will discover her lovely farmhouse and cottage garden and see how her surroundings inspired many scenes in her little books, and how, in later life, she reinvented herself as a farmer, landowner, conservationist and National Trust supporter. Today, it is thanks to her that the Lake District remains one of the most spectacular corners of England.

The story of Stourhead (Wiltshire) is a fascinating one, as much about the people who created it, as the garden itself. It is a timeless paradise, a landscape garden as breathtaking today as when it was created in the eighteenth century. No other garden from that period feels as complete, so perfectly balanced in its ideas, design and execution, and in the intensity of feeling it induces. Stephen Anderton tells the fascinating story of how this tribute to the classical world complete with lake, temples, grotto, bridges and monuments of all kinds came to be created by generations of the Hoare family in Wiltshire.

He takes us inside Stourhead s beautiful Palladian mansion, and together with the head gardener Alan Power, explores the garden through the seasons, with its world-famous views and magnificent trees. This book is an informative companion to one of Britain s greatest gardens.

Built between 1855 and 1860, Oxford University Museum of Natural History is the extraordinary result of close collaboration between artists and scientists. Inspired by John Ruskin, the architect Benjamin Woodward and the Oxford scientists worked with leading Pre-Raphaelite artists on the design and decoration of the building. The decorative art was modelled on the Pre-Raphaelite principle of meticulous observation of nature, itself indebted to science, while individual artists designed architectural details and carved portrait statues of influential scientists. The entire structure was an experiment in using architecture and art to communicate natural history, modern science and natural theology. 'Temple of Science' sets out the history of the campaign to build the museum before taking the reader on a tour of art in the museum itself. It looks at the facade and the central court, with their beautiful natural history carvings and marble columns illustrating different geological strata, and at the pantheon of scientists. Together they form the world's finest collection of Pre-Raphaelite sculpture. The story of one of the most remarkable collaborations between scientists and artists in European art is told here with lavish illustrations.

This richly illustrated guide to the historical buildings of the Bodleian Library not only makes an attractive keepsake but is also packed with fascinating architectural details about one of the oldest libraries in Britain that has been in continuous use since the Middle Ages. Following a short introduction which tells the story of the founding of the Library by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1602, this book offers a succinct guide to the architectural styles, exquisite stone masonry and subsequent renovations of the renowned buildings of the Bodleian, situated in the heart of the University of Oxford. It also describes the involvement of famous architects such as Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor in designs and embellishments for these buildings. As well as giving the individual histories of Duke Humfrey's Library, the Divinity School, Convocation House, the Schools Quadrangle, the Radcliffe Camera and the Clarendon Building, author Geoffrey Tyack also provides a guide to the intriguing statuary and carvings which adorn the buildings, and gives translations of the many Latin inscriptions which mark key moments in the library's history. The 400-year narrative is brought up to date with a description of the development of the Weston Library, a state-of-the-art renovation of the New Bodleian Library, designed to house the Bodleian's special collections in the twenty-first century.