• I grew up in Australia and worked in tourism for many years.
• I've seen many tourists make the same mistakes, like expecting warm weather year-round.
• I've also noticed that many tourists don't sample the local cuisine.

I'm a born-and-bred Aussie who's been fortunate enough to work in travel and tourism, promoting Australia to international visitors. For many years, I attended international conferences, gave presentations at colleges, and ran seminars about Australia.

Tourism is an important part of Australia's economy and is expected to generate $265.5 billion this year. But it's also an incredible way to introduce travelers to everything the country has to offer.

Unfortunately, though, while working in the industry, I've seen visitors believe the same misconceptions about Australia and make similar mistakes over and over again.

Here are the five most common mistakes I see when tourists visit the country for the first time.

Underestimating the size of Australia

Australia is the sixth-biggest country in the world and the only country that takes up a whole continent. Despite this, many travelers aim to cover all of it on a short vacation.

When tourists try to do too much in one trip, they end up spending more time at airports than enjoying the sites.

Focusing on Sydney and ignoring other parts of Australia

The first place most people think of when they hear Australia is Sydney. However, I believe Sydney lacks the depth and culture of other Australian cities.

For example, when traveling to Sydney, you'll likely meet many fellow tourists. For a true Australian experience, I recommend checking out other cities, like Melbourne. After all, there's a reason it was named one of the world's most liveable cities.

Although I'm biased, I believe my home city of Melbourne offers far more to tourists and is always the surprise hit of any visitor I speak with. Here, tourists can expect lots of festivals and events throughout the year, a vibrant café culture, a famed art scene, and friendly people.

I also recommend taking a trip to the Outback before leaving Australia. Despite covering 81% of the country, few people visit this vast unpopulated region brimming with diverse wildlife and natural wonders like the stunning pink lakes. The crystal-clear skies are also magical for stargazing at night.

Visiting Uluru is also a must, as it offers an interesting insight into our history and Indigenous culture.

Thinking Australia is hot all the time

Another thing most tourists don't realize is that Australia isn't always hot. The southern half of Australia experiences a chilly winter, and in some mountainous areas, it snows.

Many tourists arrive in the middle of winter unprepared and are forced to buy warmer clothes because summer in the northern hemisphere is winter down under.

The good news is that if you live in the northern hemisphere, you can take advantage of end-of-season winter sales in your home country before your Australian vacation.

When the weather is warm, though, it's important to wear sunscreen. The sun in Australia is harsher than anywhere else I've been, and it's easy to get sunburned.

Even my Texan wife covers herself in lotion — and she's used to the sun and extreme heat.

Not experiencing the local cuisine

Australia has a diverse range of great food, and tourists are doing themselves a disservice by not sampling the local cuisine.

For a true Australian experience, I recommend trying a meat pie at a sporting event, a "parma" (aka chicken Parmesan) at a pub, and, of course, Vegemite on toast.

Being overly paranoid about deadly animals

When I worked in tourism, a lot of prospective travelers asked me how I survived all the deadly animals in Australia. Although it's true that Australia is known for having deadly snakes, sharks, and spiders, I've never seen one outside a zoo.

In fact, many animals are scared of humans and stay away from the big cities and places where humans are.

Of course, tourists should always exercise caution around wildlife. However, the chances of having an encounter with a deadly animal are quite slim.

• Jensen Huang isn't sitting comfortably atop the world's most valuable company.
• He doesn't want Nvidia to meet the same fate as Cisco or Sun, The Information reports.
• The two other companies were on top in the 90s, but collapsed when the dot-com bubble burst.

For Jensen Huang, unparalleled success has reportedly come with a healthy helping of anxiety.

The Nvidia cofounder has been christened the tech world's Taylor Swift — with a rock-star persona to match the company's unprecedented riches.

Known for his signature leather jackets, Huang was recently pictured autographing a woman's chest at a tech event in Taiwan — this as 31-year-old Nvidia became the world's most valuable company on Tuesday, edging out Microsoft with a $3.338 trillion market capitalization.

But The Information reported that behind the scenes, Huang, 61, is concerned with future-proofing Nvidia, telling colleagues he doesn't want it to meet the same fate as former tech titans Cisco and Sun Microsystems.

Having launched in 1999 as a maker of GPUs for gaming systems, Nvidia has had its stumbles over the years, The Information reports, including a failed attempt at software for self-driving cars.

There's no imminent sign of a slowdown for Nvidia's white-hot chips that are largely powering the AI boom.

But a glimpse at the histories of fallen tech companies illuminates just how quickly fortunes can turn.

Cisco shares plunged when the dot-com bubble burst

Several analysts have drawn parallels between Nvidia and Cisco, which also trafficked in hardware that fueled its day's transformative technology.

Cisco sold routers and other networking hardware during the dot-com bubble. It went public in 1990 and saw its stock crest in 2000, briefly becoming the world's most valuable company with a $569 billion market cap.

Sound familiar?

But then the bubble burst. Data centers built by telecom companies went untapped, and Cisco's hardware went from revolutionary to commonplace.

The company announced layoffs in 2001, and by October 2002, its share price had plunged 90%, according to Investor's Business Daily. While shares have never reached peak levels again, the company continues to operate.

Sun had a $200 billion valuation — and was later acquired for a fraction of that.

Another cautionary tale Huang reportedly heeds is Sun Microsystems.

"He tries to remind people not to get 'Sunned,'" a Nvidia employee told The Information.

The server and computer manufacturer experienced a similar ascent to Cisco during the dot-com bubble, with CEO Scott McNealy and programmer Bill Hoy emerging as celebrities of the tech industry, according to Forbes.

Sun's operating systems were an early hit and eventually led the company to a peak market cap of $200 billion in 2000, according to Marketwatch.

But eventually competitors caught up — and Sun failed to pivot to the lucrative software space, The Information reports.

It was acquired by Oracle for $7.4 billion in 2009.

The Information reports Huang is seeking to avoid the same fate by diversifying Nvidia's business beyond chips, including with cloud server rental and software businesses.

Nvidia AI Enterprise, for instance, is an operating system that trains AI. Whether history repeats itself remains to be seen.

Correction July 11, 2024: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Sun Microsystems' peak market cap. It was $200 billion, not $200 million.

• The first "Gladiator 2" trailer shows Paul Mescal as Lucius fighting Pedro Pascal's Marcus Acacius.
• In the original "Gladiator" movie, the younger Lucius was played by Spencer Treat Clark.
• Here's why Clark doesn't reprise the role in "Gladiator 2."

The trailer for the "Gladiator" sequel dropped on Tuesday, leaving fans wondering why Paul Mescal plays the slave fighter Lucius instead of Spencer Treat Clark, who played him in the original.

Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" starred Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius, a former Roman general who is betrayed and sold into slavery. Lucius, the heir to the Roman Empire, watches Maximus fight in the Colosseum.

The 2000 movie is one of the most beloved historical epics of all time and won five Oscars, including best film and best actor. Because of this, there's plenty of pressure on "Gladiator 2" to live up to the high expectations set by the original.

The first trailer for "Gladiator 2," which is out on November 22, suggests Lucius disappeared after the events of the original movie and forged a life for himself. But like Maximus, he's forced into becoming a fighter when he's captured by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) and his soldiers.

It's not surprising that Scott cast Mescal as Lucius for the sequel considering the Irish actor has become a rising star after his critically acclaimed performances in"Normal People," "Aftersun," and "All of Us Strangers."

But "Gladiator" fans on social media have said it's odd that Scott didn't ask Clark to reprise the role since he's still working as an actor.

Scott said he needed someone younger to play Lucius in "Gladiator 2"

Clark, who is now 36 years old, also played Joseph Dunn in "Unbreakable" opposite Bruce Willis — a role he later reprised in 2019's "Glass." And he's appeared in several TV shows, including "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," "Animal Kingdom," and "Manhunt."

In November last year, Scott told Deadline that he wanted to cast a younger actor to play Lucius in "Gladiator 2" and that he was impressed by Mescal, who is 28, in "Normal People."

Scott said: "I'm always looking for someone, something new and fresh. I mean, fresh is terribly important. So they're not carrying … baggage is a terrible word for what they've done before, because it's great stuff, but you will remember he just did this character already.

"I watched this show called 'Normal People.' It's unusual for me, but I saw one and thought, that's interesting. These actors are really good I watched the whole goddamn show and thought, damn."

He added: "So this came up at a time when I need a 23-year-old, 24-year-old to take up the mantle of Lucius. And I just said, 'You want to do it?' He said, 'Yeah.'"

Representatives for Spencer Treat Clark didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Correction: July 11, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated that the first "Gladiator" film won an Oscar for best director.

• I have three grandchildren aged 11, 10, and 7. 
• When they come over to my place, I make sure to have activities for them to enjoy. 
• I'm always overjoyed when their parents call to let us know they want to come stay with us again. 

I am 68 and still working as a travel writer. My husband is a retired professor aged 70 who still dabbles in special projects and teaches online. I love babysitting my grandchildren during school holidays and when their parents need a break.

We spend time playing games that I have created. I spend a lot of time pulling together activities because I get to tap into creativity in a different way than my work and the enjoyment they get out of it is incredibly rewarding. My husband and I have simple fun with the kids and get to be kids ourselves, a reminder of our childhood.

We have a unique connection to our grandchildren. We both embrace our inner child, and it is perfectly acceptable to be silly and laugh outrageously.

We enjoy our time together; time flies by, and everyone has fun. As a bonus, grandparents who engage with their grandchildren live longer, stay more active, and have more purpose, according to a 2016 study.

Our three grandchildren, ages 10, 11, and 7, are two girls and a boy. Every time they visit, I give them a choice of activities I know all of us, including Grandad, will enjoy.

I let them choose what activities they want to do

Every time they come over, I present the choices on a prepared menu, each item in a different color with boxes to check for the young ones to select their preferences. I sometimes make a "choosing clock" with the activities written in a circle on a paper plate or construction paper. The children turn the arrow to each activity in order of their preference. The fun begins just by doing this. They now expect choices and enjoy having a list to choose from and prioritize. If I pick them up in the car, I bring it with me to give them something to do on the way to our house. Sometimes, they jump from one activity to another, and other times, they stick with one for the whole afternoon.

One time, I made a doctor's kit with a toy stethoscope and plastic surgical tools from the dollar store. Grandad is usually a willing patient. Children of all ages love a tea party, and if we want to take it up a notch, we decorate tea party hats.

Playing restaurant is a variant of the tea party. The children draw up a menu on construction paper or a chalkboard. We can play one game of doctor for an hour, then have afternoon tea for another hour. It's mindlessly relaxing because I don't think about anything else while I am with them.

The children love maps, and we often draw maps of our town with them, adding their school, favorite stores, where both parents work, and where other family members live. Trees and cars are added. At times, these maps turn into treasure maps, with one grandparent aging the paper ahead of time, burning the edges to age them, and adding a pirate story to the treasure map.

Recently, my 10-year-old granddaughter came over and mentioned she wanted to paint her bedroom, so we went to the paint store and let her choose as many paint chips as she wanted. She then spread them out on the dining table and prioritized them in piles. We drew the layout of her bedroom, cut out templates for her bed, night table, dresser, and desk, and had her move them around to change the layout of her room. She went home with a rolled-up plan of the new layout, paint chips stapled to the design and was happy with the afternoon she spent with us. Something unplanned and fun for all of us. It's an example of making everything into a game. It encourages creativity and participation.

I love spending time with my grandchildren

The reward for this effort comes every time the parents call and say that the kids are asking when they can come over.

Playing with them is an escape because I play whatever they want to focus on and don't think about anything else. We can play one game of doctor for an hour, then have afternoon tea for another hour.

What's not to love? The children like to come to our house to spend time with us and don't want to leave.

Shelley Duvall, the beloved character actor best known for starring in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the Stephen King horror classic "The Shining," has died at age 75.

The award-winning actor died of complications from diabetes, her partner Dan Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter.

"Too much suffering lately, now she's free," Gilroy told the outlet.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

• Many celebrities, politicians, and entrepreneurs got their start working in fast-food chains.
• Jeff Bezos said working the grill at McDonald's taught him responsibility. 
• Former President Barack Obama worked at Baskin-Robbins in high school.

Would you be shocked to learn that many successful entrepreneurs and celebrities once made money flipping burgers?

From Jeff Bezos to Brad Pitt and Barack Obama, these celebrities prove that even the most successful people can have humble beginnings — and learn a lot of valuable lessons from working at fast-food chains. 

Here are 13 successful people who got their start working in fast food.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos got his start working the grill at McDonald's.

Before he became the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of $212.4 billion, according to Forbes, Bezos used to work at McDonald's.

In Cody Teets' book "Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald's," Bezos revealed he worked the grill and that the job taught him responsibility. Business Insider previously reported that Bezos worked at McDonald's over the summer when he was a teenager — and that Bezos' father had also been a McDonald's employee.

"My first week on the job, a five-gallon, wall-mounted ketchup dispenser got stuck open in the kitchen and dumped a prodigious quantity of ketchup into every hard-to-reach kitchen crevice," Bezos told Teets. "Since I was the new guy, they handed me the cleaning solution and said, 'Get going!'"

"I was a grill man and never worked the cash registers," he continued. "The most challenging thing was keeping everything going at the right pace during a rush. The manager at my McDonald's was excellent. He had a lot of teenagers working for him, and he kept us focused even while we had fun."

When she was just starting out, Rachel McAdams also worked at McDonald's.

In her own words, the actress wasn't a star employee at the fast-food giant and even accidentally broke an orange juice machine while she was on the clock, US Magazine reported.

"I worked at the local McDonald's for three years," McAdams told The New York Times in 2008. "I'm not sure why they kept me: I am something of a daydreamer and a dawdler, so they would only let me be the 'friendly voice' that greeted you when you entered the restaurant. I was slow — I would be organizing the sweet-and-sour packets in the customer's takeout bag while the line snaked out the door."

Barack Obama scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins in high school.

Obama worked at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop near his grandparents' Honolulu home in the summer of 1978. 

"Scooping ice cream is tougher than it looks. Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists," the former president wrote about the experience in a since-deleted LinkedIn post.

"My first summer job wasn't exactly glamorous, but it taught me some valuable lessons," Obama said. "Responsibility. Hard work. Balancing a job with friends, family, and school."

Before making it, Madonna worked at Dunkin' Donuts in Times Square.

The "Material Girl" singer told Howard Stern during a 2015 interview that she got fired when she squirted jelly filling on a customer. 

"I think I stayed there for maybe a week," she said, revealing that she got fired for playing with the jelly doughnut machine and for not taking it seriously. 

Brad Pitt dressed up as a chicken when he worked at El Pollo Loco.

The award-winning actor spoke about his brief stint working as an El Pollo Loco mascot with Ellen DeGeneres in 2019. 

Pitt told the talk-show host that before he made it big as an actor, he dressed as a chicken for the grand opening of the fast-food chain's location at Sunset and La Brea in Los Angeles, and that he had "no shame" about the job. 

"Man's gotta eat," he laughed. 

Jay Leno got his start slicing potatoes at the Golden Arches.

CNBC reported that the comedian and late-night host worked at a McDonald's restaurant in Andover, Massachusetts, as a teenager before hitting it big. 

"I worked at a restaurant on Main Street for two years, from 1966 to 1968," Leno told Cody Teets in "Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald's." "This was back in the good old days when they still had roast beef and strawberry shortcake, which I was a huge fan of."

"I had these massive forearms from cutting those potatoes," he continued, explaining that he was in charge of cutting the potatoes to make the chain's famous fries each day.

Queen Latifah's first job was at Burger King when she was 15 years old.

Long before she was an Oscar-nominated actor, Latifah learned the value of a dollar by working at her local Burger King restaurant. 

"If my brother and I wanted money in our pockets, we had to get jobs — my first was at 15, at Burger King. We had to come up with ways to create an income," Latifah, who back then was just known as Dana Owens, told Parade in 2011.

Pink once worked in the drive-thru at McDonald's.

In an interview with Food and Wine in 2015, Pink revealed that her family encouraged her to start making her own money as a teenager.

"I was a drive-thru girl at McDonald's. I had a Janet Jackson microphone — I had power," the singer told the magazine, according to Pop Crush. 

Before he founded Def Jam, Russell Simmons made $2.25 an hour working behind the counter at Orange Julius.

Simmons told Forbes that working at Orange Julius provided him a good learning experience, though the gig didn't last long. 

"I was fired after a month, so I learned you need to be inspired about work," he said. 

Gwen Stefani's job at Dairy Queen led to the formation of her hit band No Doubt.

The Los Angeles Times reported that "The Voice" judge worked at Dairy Queen as a young woman, where she also worked with her brother Eric Stefani and friend John Spence.

The group formed its first band, Apple Core, in 1986. They later renamed themselves No Doubt and went on to win two Grammy awards — arguably all thanks to Dairy Queen. 

Eva Longoria worked at Wendy's before making it big as an actor.

Longoria first alluded to her gig flipping burgers at Wendy's in her 2012 speech to the Democratic National Convention, The Huffington Post reported.

She later revealed that she worked the gig when she was underage in order to pay for her quinceañera — with a signed parent's permit that allowed her to work before it was technically legal to do so.

"I wanted to have a quinceañera when I was 15, and my family didn't have the money," the actor told Redbook, according to People. "I got a job at Wendy's and paid for it myself. I couldn't wait to get to work and make my own money."

Megan Fox dressed up as a giant banana when she worked at Tropical Smoothie Café.

"I worked at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Florida when I was 15," the "Jennifer's Body" star told Bang Media in 2009, according to Digital Spy.

"I would have to go out in the street wearing a gigantic banana costume and dance to try to get customers to come in," she continued. "There was no anonymity, the costume had a big hole cut out so that everyone would see your face."

"My friends from school would drive back and forth and yell all kinds of awesome obscenities at me," she said.

Jennifer Hudson said her "first and only real job was working at Burger King."

"I used to sing at the drive-thru window. That was my microphone," Hudson told People in 2018.

• Apple's Find My feature started from an intern's idea to track lost devices.
• It began with the Find My iPhone app, announced at the 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference.
• The feature evolved to include Find My Friends and AirTags for all Apple devices.

If you've ever done the dreaded pat-down of your pockets when you realized your phone is missing, Apple's Find My feature has probably been a lifesaver.

And according to Apple's senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, the company's idea for the feature was found through surprisingly humble origins.

Cue, in an interview with tech YouTuber Safwan AhmedMia (better known by his moniker SuperSaf), said that the company's Find My ecosystem was actually started by an intern.

The now ubiquitous tool for more forgetful users "started with the idea of somebody losing their phone on the couch," Cue said. After an intern recognized the universal panic of misplacing your phone, the company worked to develop a solution.

"I remember one of the first things was if you have your phone in silent mode, it better override silent mode, or you're not going to see it," he said.

The original Find My iPhone app was first announced in 2009 during Apple's 26th Worldwide Developers Conference. It was released the following year alongside the iPhone OS 3, initially only available to members of Apple's now-defunct paid MobileMe service.

With the introduction of iCloud in 2011, it became free for all users. Later that year, the feature was extended to Macs with "Find My Mac" and has since become preinstalled on all iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches.

And now it's not just for lost devices but people and, say, misplaced luggage.

"Look at where it's led to," Cue said. "It went to Find My Friends to now AirTags because you're finding your suitcase somewhere in the airport."

Find My Friends, which allows users to share their locations with each other, was announced in 2011 on the day before Steve Jobs' death.

Ten years later, the AirTag was released, allowing people to trace personal items with the physical tracking device that's now popular for luggage, keys, and other accessories.

Other companies have introduced similar tech, including Google, which announced earlier this April that its own Find My Device feature would now be available for Android phones and tablets.

But when it comes to Apple, "this is a great example of one where you go, 'Well sure, that's pretty easy. It didn't take a genius to think that,'" Cue said. "But nobody thought of it until we did it."

• My parents taught me about the joys of sports and exercise; they also joined in on the fun.
• As an adult, I am still athletic, and I'm a yoga teacher; I thank my parents for that. 
• I tell my yoga students they didn't need to start young like me; they just need to stick with it.

When I became a yoga teacher four years ago, I noticed that people always asked me the same questions — the most prominent being, "How did you get started?"

At first, I was taken aback because I had never considered it. My parents were athletic people who signed us up for sports the second we were old enough. Trying out every activity — from tee-ball to karate, horseback riding to weight lifting — our parents encouraged us to give it a shot if we showed any interest in the new endeavor. Sure, I went on a short hiatus now and then or changed up the activity, but I never stopped moving my body.

With that constant movement, I found the habit bleeding into my everyday life. I find random times in the day to stretch if my body hurts or for fun because I am bored and the kettle takes too long. But that is what I have done since I was a kid. I intentionally or unintentionally physically move when possible because it feels good. And I have my parents to thank for teaching me that.

My parent's relationship with fitness shaped my views on how to take care of myself

My parents are still active in their day-to-day lives. My father started on the track team as a pole vaulter, and my mother was a cheerleader. He has since moved on to daily stretching and lifting to strengthen his body, as his job as a mechanic is highly labor intensive. My mother still loves to dance and practices Zumba, whether in person or online. She is also open to trying out a new sport, like rock climbing, when her kids bully her into it.

The big difference is that not only did my parents tell us that physical exercise was necessary for a healthy lifestyle, but they also took the time to join the fun. My mother went roller skating with us, and my father spent his weekends teaching me to pitch when I thought I wanted to leave cheerleading for softball. They encouraged our relationship to fitness and participated in the activities with us.

I started yoga at 13 because I desperately wanted to improve my cheerleading skills. I had gone to cheerleading camp for the first time and was floored when I learned that you could make a living as a National Cheerleader Associate (NCA) camp counselor. I had found my dream job, and with it, I knew I needed to step up my game if I was going to compete on that level.

My parents encouraged me every step of the way, and I spent six years trying to make this dream a reality. But in the end, even with all my training in weight lifting, yoga, and gymnastics, my dream didn't come to fruition, and I traded in my pom-poms. I still kept the habit of exercising, though. It was just the norm. Even though I had left the team setting, I still made time in my daily schedule to train.

I am now passing on what I have learned

When people asked, "How did you get started," my initial answer was, "Oh, I just started as a kid." I shrugged it off as if there was no challenge for me to show up day in and day out to challenge my body in uncomfortable positions. It bummed people out. This leads to their follow-up question, "Why should I start now when I'm behind?" My intention was not to discourage anyone; the best part about yoga is that it isn't a competitive sport against one another but an opportunity to improve one's balance between mind and body.

Since then, I have changed my response to: "Oh, I started when I was younger. But when you start, isn't important; that fact that you stick to it is what matters." I want to take the focus off the past of "I should have started sooner" and make sure students focus on the fact that they need to stick with it because even if they started as kids, that would not benefit them in the future if they have given up on movement.

My parents didn't teach me that I needed to start young to be an athletic adult. They taught me that I needed to follow my passions and stick with them for as long as they gave me joy.

One does not need athletic parents to live an athletic life. With resources like YouTube, you can access unlimited tutorials and courses and hundreds of hours of free material where you can pick any activity you wish and find someone ecstatic to teach you.

• Vladimir Putin is seeking to grind out a victory in Ukraine.
• But its coming at a massive cost in casualties. 
• A Ukrainian officer said Russia lost 5,000 troops in battles for a district.

Russia's war of attrition in Ukraine is coming at a huge cost in killed and injured troops, with a Ukrainian official claiming Russia suffered 5,000 casualties in battles for one neighborhood alone.

Ukrainian defense official Lieutenant General Ivan Havrylyuk, in an essay published in Ukrainian outlet NV on July 9, discussed the possibility of a new Ukrainian counteroffensive to drive back Russian forces occupying territory in the south and east of Ukraine.

In the article, Havrylyuk claimed that Russia would likely have trouble sustaining the initiative in the conflict using its manpower and equipment advantages.

Havrylyuk pointed to massive Russian casualties he said its military was sustaining, claiming that 5,000 Russian troops were killed or injured in battles for control of a single district in the strategically vital town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk, east Ukraine.

The hilltop town has been the scene of ferocious fighting in recent weeks, with Russian forces managing to seize control of a district last week.

Havrylyuk didn't name the district, but the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said he was likely referring to the Kanal Microraion neighborhood.

Business Insider was unable to independently verify the casualty figures given by Havrylyuk, but other reports and statements by officials indicate that Russia is also suffering high casualties in its campaign in the Kharikiv region in northern Ukraine.

Russia is launching head-on "meat assault" attacks on Ukrainian positions using waves of troops with UK intelligence claiming that Russia's casualties in May spiked to its highest point in the war, with its military losing around 1,200 men a day.

Havrylyuk said that people were seen as expendable by Putin in his mission to conquer Ukraine, but economic issues and problems supplying its troops with ammunition and equipment could soon blunt its campaign.

The ISW said that high casualties were part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategy to grind out a victory in Ukraine through a war of attrition.

"The recent increase in reports of entire Russian units becoming combat ineffective due to losses highlights the tactics on which Russian forces are relying on to pursue Putin's theory of a slow, gradual, grinding victory in Ukraine," it said.

• Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York, belonged to three elite New York City families.
• Completed in 1842, the Gothic Revival mansion spans 14,000 square feet.
• The Max show "The Gilded Age" was filmed inside the mansion and on the 67-acre grounds.

Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York, once belonged to three of New York City's wealthiest, most elite families. Now, it's a museum and an occasional film set for the Max show "The Gilded Age."

Located around 26 miles from New York City, the mansion was built by former New York City mayor William Paulding Jr. and completed in 1842. It was subsequently purchased by merchant George Merritt and railroad tycoon Jay Gould.

Take a look inside the historic home, including a behind-the-scenes look at its onscreen appearances in "The Gilded Age."

Once a lavish summer escape for New York City's elite families, Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York, is now a museum.

I booked an hourlong Classic Mansion Tour, which costs $25 and visits 16 rooms. The full list of tour offerings is available on Lyndhurst Mansion's website.

Seasons one and two of the Max show "The Gilded Age" were filmed inside Lyndhurst Mansion and on the 67-acre grounds.

On "The Gilded Age," Lyndhurst appears as the home of characters Charles and Aurora Fane, played by Ward Horton and Kelli O'Hara.

The estate grounds also served as Sheep Meadow in Central Park in the show.

Other grand New York homes from the period also serve as film sets for the show. An ornate library at Hempstead House in Long Island, for example, is used for George Russell's office.

The Carriage House, where horses were fed and groomed, is now the museum's Welcome Center.

Built in the 1860s, the carriage house's horse stables have been reimagined as booths.

The gift shop was once the tack room where bridles and saddles were kept.

The original metal hooks on the walls that once held saddlery now help display the assortment of clothes, accessories, and other merchandise sold in the gift shop.

Part of the Carriage House was also transformed into The New York Globe office for "The Gilded Age."

The New York Globe was a Black newspaper founded by Timothy Thomas Fortune, played by Sullivan Jones in "The Gilded Age."

When the show isn't filming there, the space functions as a screening room in the Welcome Center.

Visitors can watch an educational video about Lyndhurst Mansion and its history.

The tour began outside the mansion, where our guide spoke about the three families that owned the property: the Pauldings, the Merritts, and the Goulds.

In 1836, former New York City mayor William Paulding and his wife, New York real-estate heiress Maria Rhinelander Paulding, purchased the land overlooking the Hudson River to build a summer home.

Architect Alexander Jackson Davis designed the home and much of its furniture. Construction began in 1838 and was completed in 1842.

In 1864, the Pauldings' son sold the mansion to George Merritt, who made his fortune as the patent holder of a rubber spring used in railroad cars, and his wife, Julia. The Merritts rehired Davis to design an addition to the home, doubling its square footage.

After George's death, Julia sold it in 1880 to Jay Gould, a railroad tycoon and businessman who was one of the wealthiest figures of the Gilded Age, and his wife, Helen Day Miller. Adjusted for inflation, his net worth totaled approximately $71.2 billion.

Gould's daughter, Helen Gould, then took ownership of the property, followed by his youngest daughter, Anna Gould, who married a French aristocrat and spent most of her adult life abroad. After her death, Anna left the Lyndhurst estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which manages the site today.

The name "Lyndhurst" came from the Linden trees that the Merritts planted on the property.

The Linden trees still grow on the grounds today.

We then moved into the porte-cochère, the enclosed doorway where residents boarded and disembarked from horse-drawn carriages.

The Merritts had Davis enclose the open porte-cochère from the Pauldings' era of the house with floor-to-ceiling doors and windows and construct a second porte-cochère outside.

The grand entryway featured a marble floor and four closets.

Closets were a sign of wealth, indicating that the owners could afford to use a room's valuable real estate for storage, the tour guide said.

The walls and the ceiling looked like marble, but they were actually handpainted plaster, another sign of wealth.

The Merritts could have afforded real marble, but it was more expensive to decorate with faux finishing than actual stone, making it a status symbol for their wealth.

The Parlor, also known as the Drawing Room, was used for family gatherings and entertaining.

All of the furniture is original to the Pauldings, the home's first owners from 1842, except for the cabinet in the bay window.

A portrait of George Washington hung in a corner of the Parlor.

The piece was painted by American artist Rembrandt Peale.

"The Gilded Age" transformed the room for scenes in the show, though the same blue patterned carpet is still visible.

"The Gilded Age" brought all of its own furniture in for filming since the existing furniture pieces are valuable artifacts original to the home.

The formal Dining Room, added as part of the Merritts' renovation, featured a hexagon-shaped table designed by Davis.

Staff prepared food in a downstairs kitchen, brought it up on a dumbwaiter, and plated it in a butler's pantry off to the side of the room.

The fireplace was made of red-grain marble, but its columns were handpainted with a marble pattern over plaster and wood.

The walls were also hand-stenciled to look like they were covered with leather wallpaper.

The Dining Room featured stunning views of the Hudson River.

The Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge would not have been visible in the Gilded Age since it was completed in 2018.

Scenes from "The Gilded Age" were shot in the Dining Room.

The Dining Room appears in episode three of the first season of "The Gilded Age."

One of the mansion's grandest rooms was the enormous Art Gallery on the second floor.

Priceless paintings covered nearly every surface of the walls.

The Pauldings originally used the room as a library.

When the Merritts moved in, they turned the Pauldings' old dining room into their library and built the new dining room as part of the expansion.

The Lyndhurst guide called Gould's art collection "one of the finest intact Gilded Age art collections in the country."

Gould's collection included pieces from French, German, and Spanish artists.

The State Bedroom off the Art Gallery was considered the best guest room in the house.

The room featured a Tiffany & Co. stained-glass window.

A bathroom in the hallway was furnished with pink double sinks sourced from Trenton, New Jersey.

The bathroom also included a claw-foot tub and rain-style shower.

Gould's daughter, Anna Gould, redecorated her late sister Helen's girlhood room and turned it into a guest room.

Anna Gould continued to sleep in her childhood bedroom when she visited Lyndhurst.

Before electricity, Lyndhurst's wealthy residents used speaking tubes in the walls to communicate with servants.

The tubes connected to the butler's pantry downstairs.

Back downstairs, the estate office contained one of the mansion's most valuable artifacts: Gould's "laptop."

Gould's 100-pound Wooton desk, known today as his "laptop," held all of his business paperwork and accompanied him to work in New York City every day.

Gould refused to take the railroad to work because it was owned by his archrivals, the Vanderbilts.

Even though the railroad passed right by Lyndhurst Mansion, Gould commuted with his desk down the Hudson River on his steam yacht called the Atalanta. The journey took around 45 minutes.

The Vanderbilts also owned a mansion upstate during the Gilded Age in Hyde Park, New York.

Once the mansion tour concluded, the guide encouraged us to spend some time exploring the grounds.

The property is full of walking trails, gardens, and scenic picnic spots with views of the Hudson.

I could see why the estate stood in for Central Park in "The Gilded Age."

The wooded paths, park benches, and grass lawns looked just like Central Park.

While walking along the river, I stopped inside the bowling alley built for Helen Gould in 1894.

The bowling alley can be rented for special events where guests bowl with the lightest possible balls to help preserve the historic space, according to The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Lyndhurst Mansion and its sprawling estate are worth a visit even if you've never seen "The Gilded Age."

With so many notable residents and original furnishings, the home preserves the opulence of the real Gilded Age.