Castles of Loire

The castles of the Loire River Valley in France are fascinating places to visit and explore, and now you can do so using Google Streetview.

Explore the castles using Google Streetview
 

The ExperienceLoire website has a clickable map that gives extensive histories and other information on each chateau:

One of our favorites is Chenonceau:

Everest Base Camp Mountain Trek

End of the trek in Gorak Shep near the Everest Base Camp

This is a rugged and majestic mountain trek in Nepal from Lukla to Gorak Shep near the Everest Base Camp:

 

The following chart provided by Icicles Adventure Treks and Tours shows the altitude changes on this trek.  Mountaineers use this trek to acclimatize themselves to the altitude prior to actual mountain climbing.  That is why it takes eight days to get to Gorakshep and only a few days to get back!

National Geographic provides a detailed topographical map of the entire route:

Here is the Google Map Overview of the trek.  

Click on the little yellow figure who will appear 
in the lower right to see the route:

We begin the trek at the famous 

Pasang Lhamu Memorial Gate in Lukla:

Pasang Lhamu Sherpa was the first Nepalese woman to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.

Head over an awesome suspension bridge on the way to Namche Bazaar:

On beyond Namche Bazaar we meet some yaks on their way to Everest:

On beyond the yaks, we continue along the trail high above the river valley, and glimpse a Chhorten (a Buddhist Stupa or Shrine) in the distance...

 On the way you will pass the famous Tengboche Monastery.
The banners you see flying are Prayer Flags.

Tour the Monastery for some amazing sights!

Everest Base Camp, Gorak Shep, and Kala Patthar Aerial Camera Video October 2015 by Rob Dunbar:

The following expedition takes place in the Himalaya Everest mountains, which is recorded from a remote controlled drone quadcopter. These travelers travel to the Everest Base Camp, Khumbu Ice Fall, Cho La Pass, Renjo La Pass, Gokyo, and even capture footage of Kathmandu, Nepal.

DJI Spark drone flying at one of the highest accessible altitudes on Earth - the mighty Himalayas. And more exactly - Sagarmatha National Park, a.k.a. Solu Khumbu, a.k.a. Everest Region.