50,000 Hits

It seems a bit of a tradition for blogs to celebrate the milestones, which I did last week for the blog turning
1 year old, but I didn't want to let 50,000 go by without a bit of to-do.

In June I posted 10,000 hits, just eight months later it's now up to the 50k mark.

Looking for an appropriate picture for 50,000 I came across this:

Which seems appropriate, since I'll be talking a bit about other countries, and that I've been feeling really cooped up in my home country for far too long now. This is a 50k note from Belarus, showing Mir castle, which I've been to, so even more appropriate!

Mir castle was quite impressive, despite my bias that 'castle' means made from big grey stone blocks.  ;)
Unfortunately most of those type structures in Belarus have long since been destroyed.

As a history buff and a gamer, it's pretty hard for me to resist visiting a castle.

In the US, we only have the ones at Disneyland and the one Hearst built... not really the same. 

From the inside courtyard.

On the walkway between the towers.  

Something tells me if this structure was in the US no one would be allowed to go inside it- this walkway's railing isn't sturdy enough to meet safety standards to prevent idiots from jumping off. 

And the stairs that follow are lawsuits waiting to happen. 

Not the best place to go exploring if you suffer from vertigo in stairwells: the spiral stairs going up the towers are extremely steep:

Good luck trying to attack your way up these stairs!

  And for long distance defense, nothing beats good old reliable rock.

And the view from the towers:

And to put a lid on the castle pictures, the covering of the well inside the courtyard... always good to have a reliable water supply *inside* the castle:

I was waiting for a fountain of blood to erupt through this and an old monster hag to leap out... 

but no such luck

.............

When the blog reached 10,000 hits I looked to see which countries had visited the most.  As you can tell, I do like traveling internationally- and when I can't spare the time to go myself, it's a nice feeling knowing the blog is being visited from all over. Not that domestic visits aren't appreciated: of course they are, and the distance just within my home country can be greater than between some countries! 

The top 3 countries by total visits are:

1. U.S.A

2. U.K.

3. France. 

But it's a bit unfair when countries have different populations, so the best way is to do it per capita.

Coming in first:

 United Kingdom

Second:

Australia

Third:

Denmark

At the 50 Follower mark, I'd added it up and Denmark had been first, UK second and Australia third.

So to commemorate U.K. taking the lead I'll finish up with a bit of one of my all time favorite bands from the U.K. with a song that fits my feeling that war is great for the tabletop, but it'd be nice to have a lot less of it in the real world.

Thanks for all the visits everyone!