An English country house

The Trinovantes region has a lovely recreation of an English country home. The surrounding grounds aren't much to look at, except for a big black horse. But the objects and textures inside the house look very authentic. Someone obviously spent a lot of time creating them. Make sure to have a peek in the kitchen!

I saw some signs of a cat in residence, but not the kitty itself. And on one of the stairways I heard some whispering! Could the place be haunted? Best not to visit after dark, just in case!

LagNmoor Castle

I spent many hours wandering around the castle and grounds of the old LagNmoor parcel that was situated on the mainland. Imagine my disappointment when one day my LagNmoor landmark took me to an empty space! But later I found the owner had moved to his own private island, there to rebuild the great castle on an even grander scale.

To visit the castle, use the Search field on the map to find the LagNmoor region, then click the TP button. You'll find the castle at the top of the highest mountain. It's quite a hike from the landing point! But there's plenty of other interesting medieval-style buildings, furniture, ornaments, etc. to see there as well.

On the road again!

Things have changed a lot since my last report on the SL roadways! (See 15 August 2007) The Linden "moles" have been hard at work upgrading the roads all over SL: levelling and paving, building bridges, and installing signs. They've even set aside some areas where you can rez your own car or boat.

Here's a webpage where you can see maps of all the new SL routes:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Department_of_Public_Works_Roads

Take a trip on Route 10: it goes right past my house!

You'll now find that the roads are much easier to locate on the SL viewer map. Have fun exploring; but drive carefully!

Art For Everyone!

In the canal district of Schwanson Schlegel you'll find Cecilia Delacroix's extensive Art Campus. Taking up almost the entire region, there are several galleries here, exhibiting contemporary art, and a superb collection of impressionist paintings. There's even a gallery of fine wine labels, from Cecilia's own cellar!

Be sure to take the new monorail ride around the campus, and watch out for the full-sized replica of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous architectural creations. (Look closely at the upper-right corner of the photo.)

Don't try to see everything in one visit! This is a place you'll return to again and again.

Industrial Victorians

Science fiction writers imagine the future, and the futures they imagine are conditioned by the present in which they live. So how did the science fiction writers living at the pinnacle of the Age of Steam imagine their futures? You can get an idea by visiting the Babbage estate!

There are four regions making up this estate: Babbage Canals, Port Babbage, Babbage Square, and the underwater Vernian Sea. You get to the last by taking an elevator (steam-powered, of course!) located at the end of the docks.

There's lots of imaginative buildings and machinery to be seen here! If you're a fan of the writings of H.G. Wells or Jules Verne, or even Charles Dickens, this sim is definitely worth a visit.

Real Life in SL

Some people like to recreate parts of the physical world (that place where we keep our computers) in the virtual world of SL. One of my favourite places to visit are recreations of real-world cities.

The picture shows a view of Barcelona, and someone who's been to the RL city told me that the sim is quite accurate. This is the view down Las Ramblas. That column you can see in the distance is the monument to Christopher Columbus.

Other accurate city sims that I've found in SL are London, Paris, Dublin, Istanbul, and New York.

There's no way to get Search to simply list all the RL city sims, so you just have to think of a name and type it in to see whether it's present in SL. If you use the region name search field on the Map, sometimes you'll get a negative result even when a sim does exist. For example, the region that hosts New Orleans is called "Big Easy".

If you find a good RL city simulation somewhere, leave me a blog comment so I can go visit!

Down on the farm

Here's a great sim for any former farm brats who are feeling nostalgic! You can wander through the barns and stables, inspect the wagons and carriages, as well as more modern farm machinery, and make friends with the animals. But beware of Black Bart! He's always in a foul mood. And watch out for the beehives nearby. However, the chickens are in a pen, so you can wear your good shoes.

There's also a church, a big country fair with rides, and a large shopping area with western-style clothing and other items for sale. I also saw a neon sign saying "Live Music", so there may be a dance floor around somewhere. (Does anyone do square dancing anymore?) Definitely worth a visit!