Rueil-Malmaison, residence of Napoleon and Joséphine

31 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  7 minutes

Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul Church © Myrabella

Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul Church © Myrabella

Rueil-Malmaison is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department. It is located 12.6 kilometers from the center of Paris. Rueil is famous for the Château de Malmaison where Napoleon and his first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais lived. Upon her death in 1814, she was buried at the nearby Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church, which stands at the centre of the city. The Rueil barracks of the Swiss Guard were constructed in 1756 under Louis XV by the architect Axel Guillaumot, and have been classifed Monument historique since 1973. The Guard was formed by Louis XIII in 1616 and massacred at the Tuileries on 10 August 1792 during the French Revolution. At the end of the 19th century, Impressionist painters like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet and Claude Monet came to paint the Seine River which crosses the town. Rueil is (despite the title) the principal location of the novel Loin de Rueil by the French novelist Raymond Queneau.   read more…

Eton and Eton College

29 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  5 minutes

Eton College © Herry Lawford

Eton College © Herry Lawford

Eton is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, lying on the opposite bank of the River Thames to Windsor and connected to it by Windsor Bridge. It has a population of 5,000. Eton was transferred from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire in 1974. Since 1998 it has been part of the unitary authority of Windsor and Maidenhead.   read more…

Re-opening of the Bolshoi Theatre after the great renovation and restauration

29 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  7 minutes

Bolshoi Theatre 2011 © moscowjob.net - Alexey Vikhrov

Bolshoi Theatre 2011 © moscowjob.net – Alexey Vikhrov

The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by the architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and greatest ballet and opera companies of the world, respectively. The theatre is the parent company of The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, a world-leading school of ballet. The company was founded in 1776 by Prince Peter Urusov and Michael Maddox. Initially, it held performances in a private home, but in 1780, it acquired the Petrovka Theatre and began producing plays and operas. The current building was built on Theatre Square in 1824 to replace the Petrovka Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire in 1805. It was designed by architect Andrei Mikhailov, who had built the nearby Maly Theatre in 1824.   read more…

The Pied Piper city of Hameln

28 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Cruisship Hameln on River Weser in front of Hotel Stadt Hameln © Thomas Fietzek

Cruisship Hameln on River Weser in front of Hotel Stadt Hameln © Thomas Fietzek

Hamelin (German: Hameln) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of 59,000. Hamelin is also the gateway to the surrounding Weserbergland mountains, which can be visited by hikers and bikers. Embedded into the gentle hills of the Weser Mountains Region lies, to the left and the right of the river Weser, the town of Hamelin. Amongst Cinderella and the Lying Baron of Münchhausen this is the home of the darkest fellow from the German Fairy-tale Route – the Pied Piper. More than a million day tourists are drawn to Hamelin each year.   read more…

Granada and the Alhambra

27 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Aerial view of the Alhambra © Mike Lehmann

Aerial view of the Alhambra © Mike Lehmann

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. The city of Granada is placed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, Beiro, Darro and Genil, at an elevation of 738 metres above sea level yet only one hour from the Mediterranean coast, the Costa Tropical. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Station, where the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held. At the 2005 census, the population of the city of Granada proper was 236,982, and the population of the entire urban area was estimated to be 472,638, ranking as the 13th-largest urban area of Spain. Granada is also well-known within Spain due to the prestigious University of Granada. The Alhambra (“the red one”), the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra (“the red fortress”), is a palace and fortress complex. It was constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying the top of the hill of the Assabica on the southeastern border of the city of Granada. The Alhambra’s Moorish palaces were built for the last Muslim Emirs in Spain and its court, of the Nasrid dynasty. After the Reconquista (reconquest) by the Reyes Católicos (“Catholic Monarchs”) in 1492, some portions were used by the Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications. After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was “discovered” in the 19th century by European scholars and travelers, with restorations commencing. It is now one of Spain’s major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country’s most significant and well known Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the inspiration for many songs and stories.   read more…

Como in Lombardy

26 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Como Panorama © Nicolago

Como Panorama © Nicolago

Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has made Como a popular tourist destination and the city contains numerous works of art, churches, gardens, museums, theatres, parks and palaces: the Duomo (seat of Diocese of Como), the Basilica of Sant’Abbondio, the Villa Olmo, the public gardens with the Tempio Voltiano, the Teatro Sociale, the Broletto (the city’s medieval town hall) and the 20th century Casa del Fascio. Como was the birthplace of a good number of historically notable figures, including the (somewhat obscure) poet Caecilius who is mentioned by Catullus in the 1st century BCE, the far more substantial literary figures of Pliny the Elder and the Younger, Pope Innocent XI, the scientist Alessandro Volta, and Cosima Liszt, second wife of Richard Wagner and long-term director of the Bayreuth Festival.   read more…

Montpellier, capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region

25 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Rue Foch with triumphal arch Peyrou © Jonas Lange

Rue Foch with triumphal arch Peyrou © Jonas Lange

Montpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, as well as the Hérault department. Montpellier is the 8th largest city of the country, and is also the fastest growing city in France over the past 25 years. Montpellier is one of the few large cities in France without a (Gallo-)Roman background and one of the few cities in southern France without a Greek background.   read more…

Whitstable Oyster Festival

24 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  9 minutes

Whitstable Oysters © The Crab and Winkle Restaurant / seewhitstable.com

Whitstable Oysters © The Crab and Winkle Restaurant / seewhitstable.com

Whitstable is a seaside town in Northeast Kent, Southeast England. It is approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) north of the city of Canterbury and approximately 3 kilometres (2 mi) west of the seaside town of Herne Bay. It is part of the City of Canterbury district and has a population of about 30,000. Whitstable is famous for its oysters, which have been collected in the area since at least Roman times. The town itself dates back to before the writing of the Domesday Book. Whitstable’s distinctive character is popular with tourists, and its maritime heritage is celebrated with the annual oyster festival. Freshly caught shellfish are available throughout the year at several seafood restaurants and pubs in the town.   read more…

Theme Week Paris – Arrondissement du Palais Bourbon (7th) and Arrondissement de l’Élysée (8th)

22 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

7th arrondissement - Palais Bourbon - Seat of the National Assembly © Webster

7th arrondissement – Palais Bourbon – Seat of the National Assembly © Webster


7th arrondissement – Arrondissement du Palais Bourbon
The 7th arrondissement includes some of Paris’s major tourist attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Hôtel des Invalides (Napoléon’s resting place), and a concentration of such world famous museums as the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée du quai Branly.   read more…

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