7 WAYS TO EXPLORE THE WORLD WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR HOME

From live-streamed opera performances to 360-degree tours of tourist destinations, here is how to virtually travel during the global health crisis

businessinsider.in  04.04.2020

Tune into the Metropolitan Opera’s website for a livestreamed show

In response to New York City’s ban on public gatherings, New York’s Metropolitan Opera has suspended shows through the end of April. Until operations resume, the opera is streaming past performances for free on its website at 7.30 pm ET each night. The performances will be available to watch for 20 hours post stream.

Listen to Broadway stars perform hits in a series of Living Room Concerts

Broadway has shuttered productions till April 12. In the meantime, Broadway stars have partnered with Broadway World to produce a series of virtual mini-performances. The performances are filmed by stars in their living rooms and posted on BroadwayWorld.com.

Check out the world’s largest live nature camera network

Explore.org has hundreds of webcams set up in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries around the world and aggregates their live-streams on its website. These include the underwater Channel Islands Kelp Forest cam, the abovewater Manatee Cam at Florida’s Blue Spring Park and the Decorah Eagles cam, positioned at eye-level with bald eagle nests in Decorah, Iowa.

Tour Stonehenge, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal in 360 degrees

Google Arts & Culture, thanks to its 360-degree mapping technology, offers an inside look at some of the world’s most iconic attractions like the Bogd Khaan Palace Museum in Mongolia, Milan Cathedral in Italy, Pyramids of Egypt, etc.

Visit digitised collections of more than 1,200 cultural institutions

In addition to iconic monuments and tourist attractions, Google Arts & Culture allows users to tour the world’s foremost museums in 360 degrees and browse hi-res images of their collections. The collections are searchable by artist, art movement and country, among other categories.

Hike over six miles of the 2,000-year-old Great Wall of China

The China Guide, a Beijing-based travel agency, has developed a virtual tour of one of the Great Wall of China’s most iconic sections, Jinshanling to Simatai. This section crosses the border between Beijing and Hebei provinces and has been the go-to destination for many magazine shoots thanks to its sweeping views, according to the agency.

Peer inside the enclosures of pandas, polar bears and beluga whales

A number of zoos and aquariums around the US have set up webcams in their most popular enclosures. The Houston Zoo, Monterey Aquarium and San Diego Zoo each run multiple webcams. The Atlanta Zoo runs a dedicated live-stream of their pandas and the Georgia Aquarium runs a live-stream of its beluga whales

PICS: ATLANTA ZOO, GOOGLE ARTS CULTURE, EXPLORE ORG, THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE, GETTY IMAGES