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21
Dec

Linderhof Palace

Posted in Europe  by visit

Linderhof Palace is located in southwest Bavaria and was built by King Ludwig of Bavaria second. The castle has some impressive rooms and is surrounded by gardens where you can see all kinds of allegorical statues.
Impressed by the Versailles Castle from France, the initial plans were born in 1857. In 1869 he received to use the Linderhof area, where his father, Maximilian II, had the Royal House oh hunting.

Under the guidance of his architect, Georg Dollmann, the work began at the Linderhof Palace, which was known to become not a representative castle for Bavaria, but rather a refuge for the King Louis II himself, whose withdrawn character was always looking for places to give him peace and protection needed to his solitary personality, as well as there were also castles such as Neuschwanstein and Chiemsee.

Linderhof Palace
was the only building of this kind, initiated by King Louis II, who was finished until his tragic death, of June 13, 1886, when he drowned in the Starnberg Lake.

Even if this is the smallest castle ever built by Ludwig, Linderhof is the only one that was completed in totality and was the place where he lived most.

The first built castle, which was completed during the reign of Louis II and where the king lived, is Linderhof. It was built in the Rococo style, being considered a larger house. Buildings, ponds and fountains in the yard made it as a castle. The apartments are filled with the image of the two Louis of France, and the Sun symbol is ubiquitous. The Bavarian King wanted two things at the Linderhof Palace: a cave and a waterfall, both artificial. In the cave there is an ark and an artificial lake, where Louis, a withdrawn yarn, used to walk alone, and in the right of the royal bedroom was built the so called “Niagara morning,” an impressive artificial fall of water.

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10
Dec

Bali Island

Posted in Asia  by visit

Bali Island is an exotic paradise, a tropical island known for its majestic volcanoes, spectacularly terraced rice crops, especially for its complex culture and traditions preserved for thousands of years. Bali houses many ceremonies and festivals, and from the sightseeings there are remarked the Pura temple, Tanah Lot temple, Tirzah Empul, beach Kuta. Bali Island belongs to Indonesia and is famous for the beauty of tropical beaches and volcanic, with huge palm trees and flowers, its original art making the whole landscape through sculpture, painting, dance and ceremonies dedicated to the gods. Bali combines the image of a tropical island with sun, sand and sea.

The Bali Island is located between Java, Sumatra and Lombok  and became one of the largest tourist attractions in the world.The capital of Bali Island is in Dempasar.

Bali is considered a small island with 140 km length and about 80 kilometers in width. It has a mountainous relief, and here it can be found the Agung volcano which is located to a height of 3142 meters. Because of the relief, the irrigation are naturala and most are in the form of waterfalls which greatly help to the cultivation of cereals, especially rice.
The little Island is surrounded by the Indian Ocean to the South, Java Sea in the north, and by the Bali Straits in the west, which makes the connection between Bali and Java Island.

Because in Indonesia there are spoken more than 300 different languages, the island’s official language is Bahasa Indonesia which is taught even in school, but the older only speak Balinese language, which is completely different to the official one.

Other interesting things come more from tradition and faith, for example Keris is a dagger with great spiritual value which is known to have magic powers. Its making requires a lot of attention every year it needs to be clean, embalmed in a specific ritual.

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30
Nov

The Erechtheion and the Parthenon

Posted in Europe  by visit

The Erechtheion temple’s name comes from one of the first kings of Athens. In the yard of the Erechtheion is growing the olive tree which was thought to be given to the city by the goddess called Athens.

The statue of Athena was so big warrior that the athenians sailors situated far, on the sea, could see the helmet and spear of the goddess shining in the sunlight.

The Propylaea: here is made the entrance into the Acropolis. The way to propylaea was consisted of a steep slope on which they advanced the religious processions heading to the temple.
The Parthenon was the most beautiful building on the Acropolis, it was built by Pericles being a temple dedicated to the Athens Parthenos goddess . The Greek word “Parthenos” means “unmarried” and Parthenon means “house of the unmarried goddess”. It is an imposing building with a length of 99.7 m and a width of 33.5 m. Its construction lasted 15 years, made of Pentel marble, which contains iron and gives a gold glow in the sunlight. Inside, there is another huge statue of the Athens goddess, carved in ivory and gold by Phidias.
The Parthenon was the scene of one of the biggest Athenian festivals:Panathenaea. This festival is being hold every 4 years in honor of the Athens goddess. This was a mixture of religious ceremony and entertainment, athletic competitions were organized and a torches race was being hold at night on the city’s streets. The most important event of the festival was a procession in which young athenians women led the peplos to the Parthenon. Pericles ordered this process to be carved on the frieze that surrounds the Parthenon. These sculptures are called Elgin, and some of them can be admired in the British Museum.

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20
Nov

The Colosseum

Posted in Europe  by visit

The Colosseum was and it is still being the largest and most famous Roman amphitheater. Its construction was completed during the reign of Domitian. The building was called the Flavian Amphitheater. Modification and restoration of the Colosseum have been made to the beginning of the sixth century. In the following centuries has suffered because of negligence, earthquakes and other problems. However, more than one third of the outer arches can be seen today. Internal skeleton which supports the “Cave” has remained largely intact. Unfortunately, all marble and metal decorations have disappeared.

The Colosseum has an elliptical shape, measuring about 189 m in length and 156 m in width. The exterior has 47 m high, composed of 3 floors consisting of arches and an IVth floor. Each of these three floors had at the beginning 80 of arcade. At the Colosseum’s building were used stone blocks, cement and bricks.

The fourth floor contains the Corinthian style decorations. At first, at each arch were statues, and huge iron shields decorating the fourth floor of the building between the so-called windows. There were also a kind of awnings which sustained the top floor protecting spectators from the sun. According to the studies which were made, the Colosseum could accommodate about 60 thousand people.

The indoor arena which had 85 m long and 53 m wide is just a hollow surrounded by a high wall to protect spectators from the wild animals used in fights. The floor was made of wood and was covered with sand to absorb the blood spilled in battles. Under this were found some mechanisms that sustained it. The floor was covering underground tunnels where once, there were imprisoned the animals and gladiators.
The Colosseum is a marvel of engineering because there are so many stairs and exits, so that the entire arena could be emptied in just 10 minutes.
Surely this is an impressive building which represents of the main attractions of Italy.

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10
Nov

Yellowstone National Park

Posted in North America  by visit

Yellowstone is the largest national park in the world. Established in 1872 by an Act of Congress, the park was known as Yellowstone, by the way the tribe of Indians called the water Minnetaree that crosses the land: the river that springs from the yellow rock.   

Located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the park occupies an area of nearly 5470 square kilometers, along the length and the width whom the roads are arranged. Yellowstone is in the territories of three states: Wyoming, southwestern Montana and southeastern Idaho State. In the park you can get through five entries: Gardiner. West Yellowstone, Jackson, Cooly and Cooke City and is crossed by the parallel of 45 grades north latitude.

The first historical evidence of the human existence in this area dates back 12,000 years, and the problem is put over the traces which were left by the nomadic tribes. After coming of Europeans, Bannocks Indians were those to master these lands.

In the winter of 1806-1807, John Colter left the Americans Lewis and Clark expedition and began to explore one area. Colter spent three years in the wilderness area, returning, finally, to St.Louis and storying about the beauties and wonders seen in Yellowstone. Unfortunately, his stories were considered by his fellow citizens as hallucinations of a madman.

The expedition, which finally laid the important region, organized by the explorers was the Washburn, Langford and Doane, in 1870, when there were discovered the waterfalls of the Yellowstone river, mud volcanoes, Yellowstone Lake and Great Fountain Geyser. After the expedition reports were prepared, and published articles about particular phenomenons occurring in the area. Thus, two years later, the region was declared a national park and one of the expedition’s members, Nathaniel Langford, became the first manager of the park.

In terms of geology, Yellowstone crossed three active volcanoes periods, which began 2.1 million years ago, and which generated a volcanic plateau located at approximately 1.950-2.550 m altitude above sea level. The most important feature of the park is given by the geothermal phenomenon: geysers, hot springs, mud volcanoes and mofettes.

Traveler’s eyes are attracted by four major points of tourist interest: the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone river, Thermal springs of Mamut , geysers and Yellowstone Lake.

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30
Oct

Freedom Tower New York

Posted in North America  by visit

Freedom Tower, the building that will replace the World Trade Center towers prostrate in 2001, will be completed in the Tower 2012.

Freedom Tower will lift more than 540 meters (1776 feet, a figure chosen to refer to the year of the Declaration of Independence, the year when it was signed) above Manhattan, will have a cubic base and host more than 240,000 square meters of office space. In 2012, at 11 years from the attacks of September 11, the tower will be opened. On the area where the two towers collapsed is also located a monument to commemorate the 2986 people who lost their lives in the major terrorist attack in the United States.
At the end of February 2008, 9,400 tons of the nearly 50,000 tonnes were known to ease the tower that had already been ordered.

Steel beams that will form the skeleton of the Freedom Tower are made up at the Archs factory, located in the city of Luxembourg Differendange. In October 2008, the construction has already begun to rise from the ground, falling to about 4 feet above the level of refueling. In 2006, the tower project was made public, was intended as Freedom Tower to become the tallest building in the world, but that position was already occupied by the Burj Dubai, with a height of 818 meters.
The process of building the tower meant in the same time the exhumation of remains which weren’t recovered, once with the digging of foundations which weighs 120 tonnes. Around 40% of victims of that terrorist attacks were never identified. Another little known aspect is that the remains of more than 700 people were found after September 11 on the roof of a 40-story buildings, located opposite the twin towers.

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20
Oct

The Coral Castle

Posted in North America  by visit

In Homestead from Florida was built the well known Coral Castle which is one of the strangest man-made structures, comparable to the complex of Stonehenge, ancient Greek temples and Egyptian pyramids.

This Amazing building was conceived, designed and made by one man, Edward Leedskalnin, a Lithuanian immigrant. It seems that he discovered the secrets of the pyramids and levitation. The chosen materials for building were incredible. He used huge blocks of coral rocks, some weighing up to 30 tons. The way he managed to move them still remains wrapped in a total mystery, considering that he could not call at that time, to the aid of modern machinery.

To build the walls and the towers, there were used around 1,000 tons of coral rocks, another 100 tonnes being used for the confection of furnishing and many other art objects. The obelisk weighs 28 tonnes. The wall surrounding the Coral Castle measures about 3 feet height and is made of huge stone blocks which weigh, each, several tons. Battlements are posted on the 6 feet high walls. The heaviest block weighs 35 tonnes. Some of the pieces of stone are twice heavier than the blocks used in the Great Pyramid of Gizeh’s construction.

Edward Leedskalnin went even further with the imagination and he even thought to decorate the castle garden with sculptures, tables and chairs, all made of coral. It even exists, in the bottom called “sanctuary”, a 30-tonne obelisk, 12 m high, and a mini solar observatory, all of stone, of course. The only closed complex structure, the tower, stayed locked during the Leedskalnin’s life. In the bedroom, he placed two beds for children, a swing, a table and a chair. In the whole building there are no facilities, no pipes or cables.
Working alone for 20 years, between 1920 and 1940, to build the house that he called  the Stone Gate Park, Leedskalnin actioned so that after he was being abandoned by his fiancee because he was poor and old.
This sentimental failure turned Edward into a withdrawn individual, totally dedicated to the creation of a great thing, to embody his love. Therefore, the Coral Castle is rightly compared with another temple of love, Taj Mahal, only the latter was built in more than 20 years by thousands of slaves, while this amazing complex in Florida is the work of an only man.

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5
Oct

Galapagos Island

Posted in South America  by visit

The Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, being some of the most isolated islands on the earth. The whole archipelago is composed of 13 large and medium islands and islets and rocks almost deserted. The 13 islands with sizes varying from 45,000 square kilometers to 14 kilometers square is practically a miracle of nature, a paradise whose existence confirms the theory of evolution but the perfect balance of nature.

The position of these islands amid some extremely strong ocean currents favored the evolution of several species on the island, a unique evolution worldwide. An absolutely fascinating thing is that on these islands, animals are not afraid of humans. His intervention was very supeficial until 15 years ago. This feature as well as the exceptional biodiversity of this ecosystem unfortunately attracts lots of tourists every year. The firsts whoaffected this perfect balance were the sailors of the seventeenth century who brought on the island both microbes and infected animals or with a modified behavior such as: wild cats, dogs, rats, were first outrsiders in the middle of the Pacific paradise
.
The Galapagos Islands were formed because of the eruption of volcanoes about 4, 5 million years ago. Since then, they are in a constant change, but the volcanoes are still being active.

Each island is different from the other, and the multitude of species surprises even now many researchers. It is probably the only natural place on the earth where penguins and flamingo birds share the same square foot of sand. Sea lions, turtles, dolphins and a unique species in the world of penguins are very friendly, extremely gentle and fearless people.

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29
Sep

DISNEYLAND

Posted in Africa, Europe  by visit

Amusement Park Disneyland Resort is located in the Marne Valley in Paris and it actually contains 2 parks Walt Disney Studios and Disneyland Park. In this world of fairy tale, cartoon characters created by Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Bambi, Pluto, Donalt Duck, Robinson Crusoe, the Pirates of the Caribbean) welcomes you and invites you to visit the main attractions for both adults and children.
These 2 parks are full of magic with more than 50 attractions, shows and parades.
There are attractions for everyone: stories zine country where all dreams come true, unforgettable family adventure, magic for children, adrenaline and shows for adults.

Disneyland Park is the place where dreams come true: five countries of the story, which embodies five fairy tales Walt Disney.

Walt Disney Studios is created  to discover the secrets of Disney animation and special effects.
What could be better than to go on your birthday or a relaxing weekend in a place that will make you feel a child again for a few hours, without a care and without any concern? Park perfect to spend the story is Disneyland Paris and Eurodisney. Here you will meet famous cartoon characters: from Guffy to Donald, Mickey Mouse and Snow White, Cinderella, Lion King.

Although it seems a magical world dedicated to children, Disneyland Paris is an excellent holiday destination for adults. It is 30 kilometers east of Paris and is reached by a road now, especially built. Wherever you are in the French capital, you can take metro to the suburbs and then train for amusement park. The most known attractions of Disneyland’s “Star Tours”, “Honey I Shrunk The Audience”,”Peter Pan”,  “Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Phantom Manor”. They are well structured, being included in four distinct areas: Frontierland, Discoveryland, Fantasyland and Adventureland. Adult ticket one day in Disneyland or WaltDisney Studios, cost 42 euros and for children 34 euros. If you want to visit them both on the same day, a ticket costs 51 euros for adults and 43 children. Your ticket grants you access to all entertainment, food and drink less. Once at Disneyland, children will enjoy most from meeting with most popular fairy tale characters from Peter Pan to Dumbo elephant, Donald Duck, Captain Jack Sparrow.

A dream world just a few miles away…Would you love it?

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20
Sep

Notre Dame Cathedral

Posted in Europe  by visit

Notre Dame Cathedral is located on the Ile de la Cité and is the most famous symbol of Paris. The construction of this cathedral has started in 1163 and was finished in 1250.

The walls of the cathedral rises on 3 rows of columns, having several statues and paintings in romantic and gothic style. Notre Dame Cathedral is considered today the dark cathedral, and the most splendid in the late Gothic decorative symbols. The entrance to the cathedral is represented by 3 gates of a huge and beautifully decorated both sides of the two rectangular towers.

With its Gothic magnificence of Notre Dame in Paris, dominates not only the river Seine and Ile-de-la-Cite, but also the history of French capital. On the place where today rises the majestic edifice sacred to the ancient Romans, erected a temple dedicated to Jupiter, which was followed by a basilica and then a Romanesque style church dedicated to St. Stephen.

The west façade is downright spectacular. Tower in the south, with the famous bell of the cathedral, Emmanuel, which was last rebuilt in 1631 and related to just the north tower of the famous gallery of chimeras or Great gallery of carved figures are frightening apocalyptic inspired by old Christian legends.

The lower level includes the famous rose window which has a diameter of 10 meters in front of his statue with the Virgin with Child in her arms. Many of its elements of stained glass are dating from the construction of the cathedral of the XIII century. The last lower level, called the Kings Gallery, presents a line of 28 statues of the kings of Judah and Israel, rebuilt after being beheaded by the revolutionaries of 1789, believed that there are kings of France. Sculptures and stained glass windows have a strong influence on naturalist which provides almost human expression. At the bottom there are three portals: on the north portal of the Virgin, in the center and south Ultime Judgment Portal Portal with scenes from the life of Virgin Mary.

The interior was transformed in the middle of the XIII century and has a maximum space and light. There is also a sculpture called the Virgin of Paris.

Notre-Dame de Paris is the quintessential medieval French art. That’s why it has inspired many literary or artistic or the musical Notre-Dame de Paris Luc’s Plamadon and Richard Cocciante. Today this symbol of religious and artistic history of France is the French state owned, but under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, is committed to her job.

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