Happy Anniversary to Two Landmarks!

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Display a picture you're taken of a famous man-made landmark. Significant buildings, big statues, great walls (particularly in China) -- it people put it together, it counts.

In my usual overboard way, I'm going to do this twice, with two landmarks.  #1 is kind of a picture-taking cliché, but I've got some unusual shots of it.  #2 might be a bit of a surprise coming from me.

#1:  Hey, it's Sleeping Beauty's Castle! But it looks different, somehow!



Although the Matterhorn, Space Mountain and even the Haunted Mansion are instantly recognizable for Disney fans around the world, Disneyland's most famous landmark is Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  This is the castle that Tinker Bell lit with fireworks for many years on tv; real fireworks still go off behind it most nights.   All the shots here are from September, 2005, but I could easily have added photos from the 1980s and 1990s.

Sleeping Beauty Castle stands at the end of Main Street USA, just past the park with its bronze statue of Walt and Mickey.  Through the archway is Fantasyland.  The drawbridge has only been opened twice in the castle's 50-year history: at the park's grand opening in July 1955, and at the rededication of Fantasyland in 1983 after major upgrades to the rides there.  On that occasion, according to one source, the drawbridge didn't quite go up all the way.



For the 50th Anniversary, the castle has gotten a major makeover.  Banners have been hung, the fresh paint includes gold leaf trim, and seven crowns have been added, each representing one of the Disney Princesses.  The coat of arms under the 50th Anniversary Ears logo is the Disney family crest.




Here's another angle - looking up!  The castle is only 77 feet tall, but uses tricks of perspective to appear taller. 



The castle is photographed almost as often at night as in the daytime.  No fireworks at that moment though.  Sorry!



Here's a much less celebrated view of the castle, as seen from Fantasyland.  The other castle on the right is the entrance to Snow White's Scary Adventure.  When the park first opened, this and other Fantasyland "dark rides" had only flat, painted facades.  These days, they look like real castles and manor houses, with lots of fun details for those who pay attention to such things.

2.  The Gateway Arch, St. Louis, March 1986



When John and I wandered the country in early 1986, one of our stops was in St. Louis for a Star Trek convention and to see the sights.  This first photo, which may have been taken by John rather than me, is a little misleading.  Although it's in a park, the Arch is not in the middle of nowhere by any means.  We have photos of it behind downtown buildings (including our hotel, I think).  On the other side of the Arch is the mighty Mississippi itself, with riverboats docked there, including, as of 1986, a riverboat McDonald's.  Nevertheless, it's a very cool thing. 



This one was definitely taken by me.  John gets vertigo looking up at tall structures like this, but I had fun looking at it from different angles, and taking a few pictures.  I even took a tram ride inside the thing!  I was a little claustrophobic, but it wasn't unbearable.  The property includes a museum about westward espansion from St. Louis, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and states added through 1900.  I was a little surprised that Arizona wasn't there, but I shouldn't have been.  It's the 48th state!



This is my favorite shot.  It looks very futuristic from that angle, like something from a World's Fair.  This makes sense, because the Arch was completed in 1965, right after the second New York World's Fair.  The Gateway Arch celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

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Good news:  the roofers showed up today to do more work on the roof.  They haven't forgotten to finish the job after all!

Karen