Castles in Second Life VI – DaVinci Gardens Castle

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Leonardo da Vinci   

 

          I’m continuing on my ramble across Second Life (SL) as I continue my series about the Great Castles of SL.    

          This time, I return to a sim that I’ve blogged about several times before, DaVinci

Gardens in Kalepa! 

          My destination is the castle there which dominates the area.

          DaVinci Gardens itself is a collection of fantasy worlds which offers to visitors from Real Life (RL) opportunities to suspend disbelief and to jump into all that a virtual world can be.  

          The sim is beautifully laid out with lush gardens, elaborate builds, the fantastic flying machines of Master Leonardo da Vinci himself, and not to mention the flying dragons available for rides! 

          Oh, I forgot to mention the volcano and space ship!

          (Significant Other wants to know why I can only find places like this inworld and never in RL when we go on vacation.)

          In my previous visits to DaVinci, I’d seen the large castle looming over the sim and flown by but never went in. 

          That’s about to change!

          I rezz into the landing zone at DaVinci. 

          In the distance, the castle stands prominently against the horizon.

          The castle sits on promontory surrounded on all sides by water.  It’s only approachable by water or from the air. 

          (What’s with this with castles inworld?  Doesn’t anyone simply build their castle on flatlands surrounded by a classic moat filled with alligators?  OK. Maybe the alligators aren’t classic but you get the idea!)

          The castle building is large, easily the largest single structure in DaVinci. 

          Tall towers and turrets surround the main keep.    

          There are two primary levels each with its own courtyard.  The upper one even has its own fire breathing dragon all saddled up and ready to go for anyone needing a lift.  While in the lower one, a lion’s head fountain spurts water. 

          The castle is built from weathered gray stone with red tiles for its rooves. 

          Approaching the castle, the main entrance surmounted by a large, colorful clock can

be seen. Stone carvings reminiscent of Gothic cathedrals from the Middle Ages border the door frame.  (How do I know?  I saw enough when I was in Europe!)

          Entering through the main entrance, beautiful stained glass windows welcome me. 

          Climbing the stairwells in the towers brings me to upper floors where I come across a

variety of rooms ranging from what appears to be an unfurnished throne room to many small but nicely finished rooms.

          I come across a library with a secret passage which leads to a treasure room guarded by a sleeping dragon.  (What’s with all the dragons?)

          Attention is given to detail.

          In some of the outer turrets, old brick shows through crumbling masonry. 

          A hallway’s walls are covered with the coats-of-arms of the nobles who once walked them.

         

Panoramic views of both sea and land can be seen from the battlements. 

          All around me is the sense of abandonment.

          There are neither furnishings nor artwork save for the stained glass windows and coats-of-arms.

          Sorry, one more item, a picture of the castle in both summer and winter hangs on a wall and can be purchased by anyone wanting it.

          Though empty, the castle is well maintained but I guess this is one advantage of virtual worlds! 

          The castle in DaVinci Gardens is well worth a visit and wandering its empty corridors is fun.

          A visitor can’t help but wonder what was the purpose of all this.

          Who was here and what was their story? 

          Unfortunately, there is no dungeon.

          Or, if there is, I couldn’t find it.

          BTW, I’m planning a new blog series which will be a dungeon crawl through the dungeons of SL.

          I’ll be visiting the deepest, darkest, baddest ones that I can find!

          (For all the teachers, librarians, and mothers who are my friends inworld, yes, I know “baddest” isn’t a real world, I just liked the sound of it!)           

          I strongly recommend a visit to the castle in DaVinci Gardens and take a look at the rest of the sim while you’re there! 

          You’ll be glad you did!

          Additional pictures from my visit can be found here.     

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!

 

Back to the DaVinci Gardens in Second Life

 

It is strange how we hold on to the pieces of the past while we wait for our futures.

Ally Condie

 

 

As part of my campaign to focus on the positive in Second Life (SL) and to avoid becoming the sort of crank whom readers avoid, (Significant Other’s eyebrow arches at the word “becoming.”) I’m blogging about the better aspects of SL now.

I may have gotten away from one of original blogging principles which was to avoid negativity because there seemed to be way too much of it around when I first began writing. 

So, as I did last week when I blogged about the sixth anniversary celebrations in Mieville, I’ll blog presently about the fun and wonder of SL which brought me inworld originally. 

To this end, I return to DaVinci Gardens in Kalepa.  A sim discovered originally by my Research Assistant, Tera Trenchcoat, a while back.

Two earlier visits were recorded in my stories about flying the different “devices” and dragons available to visitors there.  I was taken by the clever adaption of the ideas of Master DaVinci himself and from fantasy into the reality of SL.

I promised myself and my readers that I’d return and now seems as good a time as any.  So, I’m off!

I rez into the DaVinci Gardens landing zone and am facing the teleporter board.  Eighteen destinations await me.  The diverse offerings impress me.  Everything from the ancient pyramids to the Charleston to outer space. 

After having spent my previous visits in the clouds here at DaVinci, I decide to stay on the ground. In fact, going to the root of my name, I decide to go spelunking!  I select the Dripstone Cave and move along to the next stage of my journey.  (Air travelers in Real Life (RL), like I once was, would really appreciate the ease and safety of a teleporter to say nothing of avoiding the TSA and airline fees!)

I arrive in a subterranean cavern with bats flying around.  The ceiling is low.  Stalactites and stalagmites are in view.  Water pools in depressions in the floor.  I begin to rethink my idea to start at the bottom.

Looking across the cavern, I see paintings on the wall.  They are copies of the images from the Lascaux caves in France.  In fact, walking through some of them produces the link to the relevant Wikipedia article.

This may be a reproduction of a UNESCO World Heritage site but I’m starting to get claustrophobic!  (Which I normally don’t know matter what Significant Other smugly says!)

I move through the cave, dodging bats (pesky buggers!) and arrive at the edge of a body of water which seems to lead out to daylight.  Fortuitously, one of those SL devices is at hand which permits a gondola to rez and which I can ride in.  (Yes, I get the incongruity of a gondola in a cave filled with prehistoric drawings!  Please remember that I only call ‘em as I see ‘em!)

The designers in the DaVinci Gardens always seem to be able to marry the beautiful with a touch of whimsy.  Drawing on our ancient past and throwing in Venice does make for a fun trip.

As I suspected, the gondola floats down a stream which takes me to the outside world.  The stream banks are covered with colorful flowers, shrubs, and trees.  Visitors stroll through the fields. 

Small cottages reminiscent of those from fairy tales are on the embankment.  Smoke curls from chimneys.  Overhead, the cerulean skies of Kalepa look down on me as do the falcons which I’d noticed in my earlier visits.  I glide through the waters. 

All is at peace with the world.  (At least inworld!) 

Ahead of me loom the erupting volcano and the castle ruins.  Somehow from down here they seem even larger than from above.  In the distance, majestic towers rise and I can see the observatory with its telescope.

I continue down the stream and disembark at a small, aged stone pier jutting into the water.  I return home.

I promise myself to return again.

How can I not?

Once again, I wander through a small world lovingly built and cared for by someone or someones.  (I’ll track down whom for a future story.)  The attention to detail, the flights of fancy, and the wild spread of ideas tell me that some very creative people are behind DaVinci Gardens.

Places like this should be visited and experienced by anyone who calls himself or herself a resident of SL.  Sims like this just don’t appear.  They’re the result of hours spent researching, learning the tools, and then finally building it.  I can only guess at the monetary cost for tier fees. 

I encourage all to go and enjoy themselves at DaVinci Gardens.  I promise you that you won’t be disappointed! 

I’ve included a few pictures of some of the beautiful sights in DaVinci.  My photos do no justice to what awaits the visitor.  Go and see for yourselves! 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.   

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

 

 

Photo No. 1 DaVinci Gardens Teleporter Board

Photo No. 2 Dripstone Cave Landing Zone

Photo No. 3 Dripstone Cave Wall Paintings I

Photo No. 4 Dripstone Cave Wall Paintings II

Photo No. 5 Dripstone Cave Wall Paintings III

Photo No. 6 Underground River

Photo No. 7 Gondola

Photo No. 8 The World Beckons…

Photo No. 9 Riverside Cottage

Photo No. 10 Outside!

Photo No. 11 Riverside Flowers

 

Want to Ride a Dragon in Second Life?

 Never laugh at live dragons.

J. R. R. Tolkien

     
 

          Last year, my friend and Research Assistant (RA), Tera Trenchcoat, (Yes, she’s still with me.  Significant Other believes it’s because she can’t wait to see what trouble I’ll get into next.  I’m still going with a sense of duty, professional curiosity, and my jokes.) brought us to the Da Vinci Gardens in Kalepa.  I was impressed and blogged about the sim then. 

          I’ve been meaning to get back to have a look around and finally had a chance this week.  (I try to write about what my readers ask about but sometimes I write for myself.  There’re advantages to being a literary type, or, at least having pretensions to being one.)

          I arrive at the landing zone and as before am overwhelmed by the spectacle around me.  Tall towers and castles stretch out from me as far as I can see on islands in a sea which reminds me of the Mediterranean on a sunlit day.  (I have seen the Mediterranean Sea on a beautiful sunlit day so I know what I’m talking about.  I wasn’t always confined to cyberspace!)  The sea stretches to the horizon beyond the archipelago. 

          Da Vinci Gardens is wide open and seems to just go on.  Stairways and causeways lead from one structure to another.  Doorways are everywhere.  Giant condors soar overhead.  Teleports hint at further secrets. 

          The architectural style is eclectic.  From Middle Earth to Moorish.  Dark Ages to the samurai.  Sci fi to who knows what.  Ships of sail and other means of propulsion yet to be identified.  Ruins loom over one island.  A telescope aims at the sky from an observatory.

          A very active imagination has been behind the layout of Da Vinci Gardens.

          I want to see it all, to do it all.  But, I know I don’t have much time.  So, I bound up the spiral staircase in front of me all the way to the top.  (I’m finding I get just as dizzy on spiral staircases in Second Life (SL) as I do in Real Life (RL).  Remind to tell you about my trip to the Statue of Liberty some time.)

          At the top of the stairs, a dragon stands.

          A very big dragon who breathes fire and smoke.

          A very big dragon who breathes fire and smoke and who is saddled and ready to ride.

          Why not?

          The beauty of SL is that no matter what happens inworld, we can always close down and restart.

          I mount the very big dragon who (you get the picture, I won’t repeat myself) and launch into the skies.

          Problem number one.  How does one steer a fire breathing dragon?  (Give me some credit, after fumbling for a while, I looked for instructions.  There were none.)

          Eventually, I get the situation under control.  (All those hours spent on flight simulators finally pay off.) 

          I soar.  I dive.  I hover over an erupting volcano.  I sweep through the courtyard of the Dark Ages castle.  I have a blast.  (Significant Other just sighs.)

          Somewhere along the way, I learn that this dragon is a combat dragon intended to fight other dragons.  I have fire control if I want and health gauge for my beast in case I start something I can’t finish.  (Significant Other smiles knowingly.)

           Fortunately, for my brave stead and me, we encounter no other dragons.  Yes, I resist the temptation to burn down buildings or roast the condors. 

          Problem, number two.  How does one park a fire breathing dragon and dismount?

          I’ll keep it simple.

          We end up at the bottom of the harbor surrounded by very big fish with very big teeth.  I guess at this point, my dragon figures out whom he has riding on his back yelling “Hi ho, Silver, away!” because I find myself standing alone on the sea bed except for those very big fish with very big teeth.

          At this point, discretion being the better part of valor, (As Corporal Randolph Agarn once said, “He who runs away lives to run away another day!”) I teleport the Hell out of there and head home.

          And that, dear reader, is my adventure with the dragon at Da Vinci Garden. 

          The feeling of flying among the condors and looking down on the beautiful scene below is an exhilarating one.  The sim permits avatars to fly but trust me on this, there’s nothing like flying on a fire breathing dragon.  (Even if I do get soaked in the end!)

           I plan to return to Da Vinci Gardens in the future and further explore all its secrets.

          I’d like to thank Tera for introducing me to the sim originally and sticking with the team as we work our way across the Grid!

          I’ve included links to pictures of my dragon riding exploits below but go and see for yourselves.  You’ll be glad you did! 

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.    

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

 

Photo No. 1 I Ride the Dragon

Photo No. 2 Airborne Over Da Vinci Gardens

Photo No. 3 Over the Fire

Photo No. 4 Something Different

Photo No. 5 Double Head Shot

Photo No. 6 The Castle

Photo No. 7 Aerial View

Photo No. 8 Ruins Ahead

Photo No. 9 Aerial View II

Photo No. 10 Undersea

Airborne in Second Life

 For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.

Leonardo da Vinci

 

          This story will be a little different from my usual fare. 

          Or, maybe, it just goes back to my roots when I began wandering about in Second Life (SL) a rosy cheeked noob, wandering about, looking in awe about myself.

          We begin when Tera Trenchcoat, my friend and Research Assistant (RA), (Wait, I didn’t tell you that I have an RA now?  Well, I have a lot of stories and projects to juggle, and Tera met the three basic requirements for the job.  She likes my writing, has a keen sense of adventure, and is willing to work for nothing.  I suspect there is a certain amount of curiosity about what I’ll mess up next but that’s another story.  I believe Significant Other has similar motivations.)  IM’d me recently after I’d rezzed inworld and asked me to join her.  She’d found something exciting.   

          Tera has a very good sense of what’s worthwhile and what’s not in SL, so I joined her.

          Did I mention that Tera also has a real knack for understatement? 

          I say this because when I joined her, I was taken aback by what awaited me.  (How’s this for building suspense?)

          I’d arrived in Da Vinci Gardens in Kalepa.  Actually, Tera was lost in the bowels of a Pharaonic pyramid.  It was when we extricated ourselves and came to the main landing zone that I was amazed.

          What we saw was a land of beauty and fantasy.  Towers, causeways, winding staircases leading into mountains surrounded us.  The sea stretched far off to the horizon.  The sun shone on us and great beasts flew in the skies.  We walked upon beautiful mosaics.  Trees and flowers were everywhere.  High in a tower built upon a peak, an observatory with a large telescope scanned the skies.  And, of course, no world of fantasy would be complete without distant ruins hinting of great events in a long forgotten past. 

          I’ve seen a lot inworld as readers of my stories know but Kalepa is something entirely different.  A board offers to teleport visitors to the different corners of this sim.  Tera and I were both impressed.

          There is much to explore and write about here in Kalepa.  Then there’s Felix Shepherd, the creator behind all of this, whom I hope to interview about all his work.  But, what this story will be about will be flying in this sim because, at least for me, this is the most fantastic aspect of Kalepa. 

Yes, I know, we can fly like the birds in SL.  What’s the big deal about heavier than air flight inworld then?

Well, let me tell you about that.

Maybe I can soar, and I sometimes do inworld, like a bird but to be able to fly in Da Vinci’s “aerial screw” like I did with Tera is something I couldn’t do in Real Life (RL). Nor could I sit on a feather and float across the skies as I did at Kalepa.  And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the dragon.     

Then there’s the view.  The rides in Kalepa take one on a breathtaking aerial ride across the sim.  Da Vinci’s aerial screw (Actually more of a cross between Da Vinci and steampunk when I take a closer look.) is the most breathtaking giving a bird’s eye view of the sim. 

Below us are castles, islands, volcanoes, and ships at dock.  Around us soar large birds.  The styles of architecture are varied across the sim and my brief flight only whets my appetite to return and see more.

When I land, Tera and I promptly switch to the Feather Tour which takes us on enormous feathers for a flight much closer to the ground.  We fly under arches and bridges.  See prehistoric paintings on cave walls as we fly through subterranean caverns.  Birds of all types surround us either in flight like us or standing on the ground. 

We return to our departure area and RL commitments require us to leave.  But, Tera and I will return to Kalepa.  There is much to see and do.  On this trip and a subsequent one I took back for photos, a good number of visitors always seem to be about. 

Our trip through Kalepa has been a marvelous experience.  The sim shows considerable care in its design and layout with much attention to detain.  Felix can be very proud of his work. 

           Expect to hear more from me about Kalepa!

I’d like to thank Tera for finding Kalepa and leading me there.  I’d also like to thank her for all her efforts supporting my writing and explorations across the Grid! 

I’ve included several pictures documenting our trip.  But, as always, pictures especially mine can only hint at what’s there. I encourage all to visit Kalepa, you won’t be disappointed! 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.    

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

  

Photo No. 1  Kalepa Landing Zone

Photo No. 2  Teleporter Board

Photo No. 3  Skyline View

Photo No. 4  DaVinci’s Helicopter

Photo No. 5  Dragon

Photo No. 6  Flying Feather

Photo No. 7  Observatory with Telescope

Photo No. 8  Distant Ruins

Photo No. 9  Ready for Takeoff!

Photo No. 10  The Journey Begins…

Photo No. 11  Airborne Scenery I

Photo No. 12  Airborne Scenery II

Photo No. 13  Airborne Scenery III

Photo No. 14  Airborne Scenery IV

Photo No. 15  Airborne Scenery V

Photo No. 16  Airborne Scenery VI

Photo No. 17  My Final Destination

Photo No. 18  The Feather Tour