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Next week Alex and I are taking a little time off. So, to avoid
tumbleweed we’ll be handing over the reigns to you, our favourite
readers, for Google Sightseeing Reader Takeover
Week!

Yes, you have the chance to have your very own
post here on the front page of Google Sightseeing! Your post should
be about something we’ve not featured on the site before id="fnref:1">#fn:1″ rel=”footnote 1, and should
be written in your own words. The length should be similar to our
past posts, and should include the URLs of any Google maps links or
pages you wish to link to, as well as suggestions for the post’s
categories please.

However, you haven’t got long to get your post written - we’d
like you to get your entry submitted by this Friday, 6th
July. We will then schedule all the chosen entries in with
the other posts to take pride of place on the front page of Google
Sightseeing - attributed to you of course!^{#fn:2″ rel=”footnote 2}.

If there’s nothing in your neighbourhood that’s worth seeing
then you might try visiting the http://bbs.keyhole.com/ Google Earth Community or http://virtualglobetrotting.com/ Virtual Globetrotting
for some inspiration, but if you do find a worthwhile location on
another webpage please also include an attribution link.

Time is short, so if you’d like to be a featured blogger here on
Google Sightseeing, get submitting
your stories!

By submitting an entry you are passing the copyright of your
words onto us for publication. We’ll try to get as many of the
really good submissions posted as possible, but please be aware
that not everybody will be chosen.

1. Our http://www.googlesightseeing.com/layer/googlesightseeing.kml
   full KML feed for Google Earth is handy for seeing if a
   location has been posted before. #fnref:1″
   rev=”footnote ↩

2. Make sure you include a link to your
   blog/homepage/myspace/lolcat if you want us to link to you
   too. #fnref:2″ rev=”footnote ↩

Tags: , google, Reader, Sightseeing, Takeover, week

Welcome to day three of Google Sightseeing Reader
Takeover Week! Every day this week, one of you has been chosen to
have their very own sight posted here on GSS, while Alex and James
take a well deserved holiday. Today’s sight is from http://vaes9.codedgraphic.com/ Eugene
Villar!

Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition is the world’s first successful
circumnavigation around the world. Unfortunately, Magellan himself
died during the journey and only one ship and 18 crew members
returned to Spain from the original four ships and 270 people.

Magellan met his demise in the Philippine Islands, specifically
on Mactan Island in Cebu province, where he engaged in local
politics. He died during the Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521
while fighting against the tribe of the local chieftain Lapu-Lapu
on the shores of Mactan Island.

The
Mactan Shrine is dedicated to both Magellan and Lapu-Lapu and
marks the spot where the Battle of Mactan supposedly took place. At
the center of a square plaza in the shrine is an obelisk built in
memory of Magellan and to the north at the center of a circular
plaza is a 20-foot tall bronze statue of Lapu-Lapu, now considered
as the Philippines’ first national hero.

Every year on April 27, the Battle of Mactan is re-enacted
during the Kadaugan sa Mactan festival along the marshes to the
north of the shrine.

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More info on the Wikipedia pages for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan Ferdinand
Magell, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mactan Battle of
Mactan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapu-Lapu Lapu-Lapu and on
http://www.vistapinas.com/article/mactan-shrine Vista
Pinas.

Tags: , Eugene, Mactan, Shrine, Takeover, Villar, week

Welcome to Google Sightseeing Reader Takeover Week!
Every day this week, one of you has been chosen to have their very
own sight posted here on GSS, while Alex and James take a well
deserved holiday. Today’s sight is from Jerome - so have fun, play
nice, and we’ll see you next week!

The name pretty much gives what it is away -
Stone Mountain is the largest exposed mass of granite in the
world (a mountain made of stone, haha). Formed over 300 million
years ago by emerging magma from the earth’s crust, Stone Mountain
is composed mainly of granite which is visible from miles
around.

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Apart from the geology aspect of it, Stone Mountain also boasts
a
bas-relief on the side depicting three figures of the short
lived Confederate States of America - carved in 1909. Nowadays, a
park exists encircling the mountain and the top of the mountain can
be accessed by a 1.3 mile (about 2.1 km) hiking trail, or by taking
a ride on the Skyride, an aerial tramway. Either way, the top
provides a great view of the Atlanta skyline and surrounding
suburbs. Last but not least, every week they hold the “world’s
largest” 40 minute laser show near the carving.

An interesting note is that if you look at it in Google Maps,
you can zoom out quite a bit and still notice the huge rock as a
small whitish speck.

Find out a lot more about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain this huge piece
of granite at Wikipedia or http://www.stonemountainpark.com/ visit the official
site.

Tags: , Jerome, mountain, Stone, Takeover, week

Welcome to the final day of Google Sightseeing Reader
Takeover Week. Every day this week, one of you has been chosen to
have their very own sight posted here on GSS, while Alex and James
take a well deserved holiday. Today’s final sight is from GSS
addict Rob!

Nicknamed “Billionaires Row”, Kensington Palace Gardens, in West
London, is home to a collection of the most expensive homes in the
World.

For those of you who have just come off the hedge fund
management circuit, prices start at around £50 million for the
smaller house, although the asking price for 18-19 Kensington Mews
was a rather modest £85 million.

Sadly though, the street plays host to embassies and ambassadors
residences. However, the Sultan of Brunei, one of the richest men
in the World, owns
Number 20, with the Number 8 on top - “symbolizing the phrase
Ba Shi Fa Cai” (”the number eight brings prosperity”).

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The Sultan is in good company though, with the Worlds 5th
Richest Man (and Britain’s richest), Steel Magnate, Lakshmi Mittal,
living
next door. He bought his house from F1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone
for £57 million - starting to see a trend here? The “Taj Mittal” is
so called because the marble that is used in the house is the same
stuff that made the Taj Mahal.

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Britain’s 6th richest man, Leonard Blavatnik, also occupies,
rather greedily,
15a AND b! Although he probably deserves it, since it is rather
small, and only has a tennis court to show off. He picked his up
for a snip at £40,000,000.

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Find out more and get a full list of residents at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Palace_Gardens Wikipedia.

Tags: , Billionaires, Rob, Row, Takeover, week

We hope you’ve all enjoyed Reader Takeover Week here at Google
Sightseeing and Alex and I would like to thank all those who
contributed, especially our published authors: Jerome, Keir Clarke,
Eugene Villar, Zack & Rob. All five we’re excellent posts and
we’re really grateful for your assistance. A round of applause for
the takeover week authors!

We’re back from holiday now and have begun wading through
hundreds of unread emails and RSS feeds. Your regular GGSS schedule
will resume shortly…

Tags: , Takeover, Thanks, week