Here are today’s Fun Photo Friday favorites from our visit to the Middle of the World:
Tag Archives: Middle of the World City
Fun Photo Friday — The Middle of the World
Filed under Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation
Ecuador — The Middle of the World
As noted on Monday’s article, the Middle of the World monument located here near Quito is actually about 787 feet/240 meters south of the equator. The French miss-measured just a tad way back in 1736, and the Ecuadorians never got around to correcting them.
But, it’s close enough for most of us.
While we were here I got to view a couple of really old automobiles. For those of you younger than I who think the BMW Mini Cooper is a modern vehicle, let me introduce you to one of the real Mini Coopers, produced in England. The first Minis were made by British Motor Corporation from 1959 to 1968. Then came British Leyland, which produced the same basic Mini for another eighteen years. When British Leyland collapsed, the Mini soldiered on as a product of Rover Group from 1986 until 2000.
How about something just a tad older? Something from the 1940s, perhaps? Here is a neat old Dodge Truck converted for use as a bus of sorts.
Now for a photo gallery/slide show from the Middle of the World:
Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation
Ecuador — A trip to the Middle of the World
As Agent 86 would say, “Missed it by that much.” Today we visit the Middle of the World City (Ciudad Mitad del Mundo). The Middle of the World is about 16 miles/26 kilometers north of downtown Quito, and our group arrived here after lunch and the Changing of the Guard (see last week’s articles).
This site was determined to be at the Equator by a French expedition in 1736, and they missed. The marker in the background above is located at 0° 00′ 08″ south latitude, or 787 feet/240 meters south of the actual equator. Fortunately, our ancestors were a bit better at such measurements. There exists an Ecuadorian architectural site that in AD 800 was placed at exactly 0° 00′ 00″.
The walk from the parking lot to the Equatorial marker is lined with statuary, flags, and markers such as these:
Here are examples of the statuary:
And the “city” itself? Here are some of the buildings:
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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation