(upbeat music)
Hi everyone, Chi-Lan Lieu here,
coming to you from my newly renovated kitchen.
Okay, I know a lot of us are settling
into that home-bound lifestyle.
We have our quaranteam in place.
We may even be settling into a schedule,
but I know that many of us could be
also running out of things to do within our four walls.
So I thought, why not bring up these amazing
virtual tours, that have really allowed me
and my quaranteam to explore beyond what we have at home.
With all of these virtual tours, you're able to explore
amazing museums, these natural wonders,
not only in the United States, but all around the world.
If you are looking for something like a virtual
field trip for those in your house,
Arizona state university has put together
a really cool resource of not only 360 degree tours,
but also photos, videos, as well as educational lessons.
Score!
You can check out the grand Canyon.
You can check out the rainforest.
You can check out just the red rocks.
There are so much to explore, and the great
thing is they already have the lesson plan up there for you.
If you're looking to explore outside
of the United States, why not take
them and yourself on a trip to the great wall of China.
It's got some great pictures of the great wall.
It's got some good information,
but this is what makes it unique.
It takes you to the more touristed area called Badaling's.
You get to see the most popular area of the great wall
without having to fight through the crowds.
And they also have options of going to the
less traveled areas of the great wall,
which is really nice to be able to explore.
Let's talk about museums.
Just because we're stuck at home
doesn't mean that we can't visit
some of the world's best museums and many of them
have opened their doors to us on the internet.
You can gain access by going to single website,
Google Arts & Culture.
Now the cool thing about going straight
to Google Arts & Culture is that it
has a collection of over 500 different museums.
The British Museum in London,
The Scottish National Gallery,
The Met in New York,
The Natural History Museum,
The Musée d'Orsay in Paris,
The Uffizi Gallery in Florence,
The Tate Modern in London, and so much more.
You can explore more grounds.
You can take virtual tourists throughout the entire museum.
You can even zoom in on specific
pieces of artwork in each museum's collection.
Oh, and the cool thing is if these
museums have VR experience, you can do that as well.
Not only that, but Google Arts & Culture
is also bringing you in depth look at
The Palace of Versailles outside of Paris.
You can experience it in AR or in VR,
so you don't have to actually be in
The Hall of Mirrors to experience that majesty.
But it doesn't stop there.
Google Arts & Culture has also partnered
with The National Park Service to bring
in a more in depth look at certain national parks.
Having just a virtual drive through
the car or certain highlights.
But I'm talking about being able to take
certain hikes in these national parks.
Can you imagine just being able to virtually walk these
hikes all from the comfort of your own living room?
Just think about what you'll get to see.
It's really exciting. And here's another thing,
for all of us looking for family activities,
Google Arts & Culture has created a family page
for content the entire family
can explore, including virtual tours of
museums guided by a penguin friend. That is so adorable.
Another great resource for learning
and fun live animal webcams. I mean,
what child doesn't love animals, right?
Well, check this out at the Georgia aquarium.
You can watch live, their sea otters, their puffins,
even their massive beluga whales.
And if you want to go a little bit further, well
explorer.org allows you to check out the live cameras of
elephants at the Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa,
the polar bears in the Netherlands, and the bald Eagles
in their natural habitat in the United States.
Pandas are at the zoo in Atlanta, and if you love aquariums,
the Monterey Bay Aquarium has live cameras on their
kelp forests, their sharks, their coral reefs,
their aviary and so much more.
And if you just can't get enough of all the cute little
otters that you're seeing in all these aquariums,
well not to worry, the River Otter Falls cam.
Use your camera right on those otters in their habitat.
And if you're looking for more lessons,
the Aquarium of the Pacific is offering
The Aquarium's Online Academy, with educational
as well as fun activities for everyone.
And if that isn't enough for you, if Instagram
is your thing, I want you to check out,
@SINGITA_ and @ANDBEYONDTRAVEL,
you're going to see wild animals in their natural habitat.
Get to take these virtual tours, they bring
the wilderness straight to you.
And if plants are your thing, well check out the
New York Botanical Garden virtual tour of The Orchid Show,
Jeff Leatham's kaleidoscope. Now if you don't know who
Jeff Leatham is, he's actually a fairly famous florists
who handles all of the Four Seasons floral designs.
He collaborated with the New York Botanical Garden
to create really stunning displays.
And this video allows you to take a
virtual tour of the entire orchid show,
all from the comfort of your own home.
It is beautiful, it is stunning, it is springtime.
You get to see all of these gorgeous flowers in there.
I hope this has helped you just spend a little bit
more time online learning, exploring, growing,
doing whatever you want to do because hey,
we're all stuck at home together, right?
I'm Chi-Lan Lieu and I will see you next time.
(crowd cheering)