Where to visit while staying home

 

The spiral galaxy NGC 2008 sits centre stage, its ghostly spiral arms spreading out towards us, in this image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA photo)
The spiral galaxy NGC 2008 sits centre stage, its ghostly spiral arms spreading out towards us, in this image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA photo)

Get comfortable. It’s time to visit some of the places that have intrigued you or are on your someday list. Don’t dress for travel.

Lots of destinations have added virtual tours. Some are OK even though they expect you to read French, such as on the 350 degree Louvre exploration or Spanish such as with the Guggenheim in Bilbao videos on Mark Rothko’s “Untitled” and Jeff Koons’ “Puppy.”

Others, like the ones here, have videos and cams that make visitors feel they are there.

So warm-ups or jammies are OK as you visit outer space, a zoo, an amazing garden, a Royal home and an aquarium. Just remember if looking at a cam that the place may be in a different time zone so might have different action at a later or earlier hour.

 

San Diego Zoo

Meet its penguins in Penguin Beach video episodes and safari animals in the cams.

NASA

Visit the Hubble Space Telescope, watch a video on the Evolution of the Moon and experience outer space visits through the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

 

Claude Monet. Water Lily Pond, 1900. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection. (Photo courtesy of AIC)
Claude Monet. Water Lily Pond, 1900. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection. (Photo courtesy of AIC)

Monet

Tour Claude Monet’s Garden at Giverny where you see what the artist painted including the Water Lily Pond.

Osborne House

Visit Osborne, the house that Victoria and Albert built via a Google Arts & Culture video.

Shedd Aquarium

If you have facebook follow penguin Wellington and his friends explore the closed Shedd Aquarium.

 

Shout out for World Penguin Day

Zoos and aquariums are celebrating World Penguin Day today, April 25, 2017. The date was picked because that is when Antarctic penguins annually start migrating north.

Penguins at the Shedd Aquarium. Jodie Jacobs photo
Penguins at the Shedd Aquarium. Jodie Jacobs photo

 

In Chicago, the Shedd Aquarium is celebrating with a wonderful series of videos showing penguins making a nest at the aquarium, a new-born penguin being fed and a Shedd program that rescues African penguins in trouble.

Click Shedd  to watch the videos. And visit the Shedd, 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive, to watch penguins play.

 

The Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago is also is a good place to watch penguins. Go to LPZoo for more information.

 

A good online site to learn about penguins and find excellent photos is EarthSky. A not for profit site, EarthSky is a good place for space information and our planet’s news.

 

On the west coast, the San Diego Zoo is celebrating World Penguin Day with special penguin themed activities. Go to SDZ to see the events.