Grad school is over! Thanks @JardiniereSF for the sweets and thanks friends! @gourmetstylegirl @jzappelli #sanfrancisco

Grad school is over! Thanks @JardiniereSF for the sweets and thanks friends! @gourmetstylegirl @jzappelli #sanfrancisco

Today is Easter in the Orthodox religion and while I celebrate Catholic Easter, which was over a month ago, I still get a little sentimental on this day. Five years ago, I happened to be in Greece during Orthodox Easter and it was one of my most memorable experiences while traveling. I was staying with my friend’s aunt Karen in Chania on the island of Crete. Karen made my friends and I feel so welcome and at home. On Good Friday, we joined the candlelit procession through the village of Chania and on Saturday at midnight we congregated at the town’s church to celebrate Christ’s rising and finally on Easter Sunday, my friends and I helped prepare a feast of baby goat, tzatziki, salad, and so much more that we shared with Karen’s family and friends. It was a special time and here are just a few photos from my stay in Chania. Christos Anesti!

"In America, the years after World War II were ones of dizzying possibility, an ideal time for a publication whose raison d’etre was to offer armchair access to locales that were now accessible to the masses. Transcontinental flight was beginning to boom. So were ever more luxurious hotels, tour groups, vacation packages, and travel agents. And color photography was everywhere ascendant, allowing travelers to share shots of their excursions with envious friends. ‘It was a peacetime world,’ says Roger Angell. ‘And you could see that all of these places that we had become aware of in horrific circumstances were now peacetime places that you wanted to go.’"
- Michael Callahan on travel magazine Holiday, “A Holiday For the Jet Set,” Vanity Fair
Archimedes the owl at the @sfzoo for @chroniclebooks volunteer day! #chronicleconnects

Archimedes the owl at the @sfzoo for @chroniclebooks volunteer day! #chronicleconnects

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The Netherlands Celebrates Koninginnedag

Browse more Koninginnedag photos under the hashtags #koninginnedag, #troonswisseling and #queensday, and browse the Leidseplein, Dam, and Museumplein location pages.

This year’s Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day) is a special one for the Netherlands. Revelers have celebrated Queen Juliana and her successor Queen Beatrix on April 30 every year since 1948 with orange costumes, parties, concerts and local gatherings like flea markets. This year, however, will mark the last Koninginnedag for a while, as Queen Beatrix celebrated the holiday by abdicating her throne and ceding it to her son, Prince Willem-Alexander. Today, Willem-Alexander ascended to the throne, and next year the holiday will be renamed Koningsdag (King’s Day) and celebrated on his birthday, April 27.

Festivities began last night with Koninginnenach (Queen’s Night) and the Queen’s national farewell address beneath Rembrandt van Rijn’s “Night Watch” at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This morning, Beatrix signed official papers at Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam to enact the change of royal titles. More than a million people are expected in Amsterdam for the celebration, including royal guests from 18 countries.

What was your best experience visiting a European country?

- Asked by nilla4ebonyandivory

It’s hard to choose because I had so many great experiences but there was one day in particular in Santorini when my friends and I rented ATVs for the day and rode them up all around the island stopping at different beaches and then ended the day in Oia to watch the famous sunset and have dinner.

Fort Funston with Carrera

Fort Funston with Carrera

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The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries

“Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.” -Ray Bradbury

For centuries, books have housed the collective knowledge of the world and formed the foundations of educational institutions. Given that these objects that contain such value, it only makes sense that throughout history people have constructed beautiful buildings to house them.

We put together a list of some of the most beautiful libraries as captured by Instagrammers around the world. For more photos from these architectural wonders, check out their linked location pages below.

Past and present