Theme Week South Tyrol

17 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Meran © Thomas Hummel/cc-by-sa-4.0

Meran © Thomas Hummel/cc-by-sa-4.0

South Tyrol (German: Südtirol; Italian: Alto Adige; Ladin: Südtirol), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province is the northernmost of Italy, the second largest with an area of 7,400 square kilometres (2,857 sq mi), and has a total population of about 534,000 inhabitants as of 2021. Its capital and largest city is Bolzano.   read more…

Little Chapel on Guernsey

17 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Man vyi

© Man vyi

The Little Chapel is situated in the Les Vauxbelets valley, Saint Andrew, Guernsey. It was created in July 1914, by Brother Déodat. He planned to create a miniature version of the grotto and basilica at Lourdes, the Rosary Basilica. The chapel has been described as “probably the biggest tourist attraction in Guernsey”, and “intricate”.   read more…

Bouillabaisse

16 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - cyclonebill/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – cyclonebill/cc-by-sa-2.0

Bouillabaisse (Provençal: bolhabaissa) is a traditional Provençal fish soup originating in the port city of Marseille. The word is originally a compound of the two Provençal verbs bolhir (‘to boil‘) and abaissar (‘to reduce heat’, i.e. ‘simmer‘).   read more…

Île de Bréhat in Brittany

15 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Liberaler Humanist/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Liberaler Humanist/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bréhat (French: Île-de-Bréhat; Breton: Enez Vriad) is an island and commune located near Paimpol, a mile off the northern coast of Brittany. Administratively, it is a commune in the Côtes-d’Armor department in northwestern France.   read more…

Ponte City in Johannesburg

14 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Inner courtyard © NGunasena WMF/cc-by-sa-4.0

Inner courtyard © NGunasena WMF/cc-by-sa-4.0

Ponte City is a skyscraper in the Berea district of Johannesburg, South Africa, just next to Hillbrow. It was built in 1975 to a height of 173 m (567.6 ft), and was the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa for 48 years, until overtaken in 2023 by Building D01, in Egypt‘s New Administrative Capital. The 55-storey building is cylindrical, with an open centre allowing additional light into the apartments. The centre space is known as “the core” and rises above an uneven rock floor. When built, Ponte City was seen as an extremely desirable address due to its location and views over Johannesburg, but it became infamous for its crime and poor maintenance in the late 1980s to 1990s. It has since been refurbished into a safe property. The neon sign on top of the building is the largest sign in the Southern Hemisphere. Prior to 2000, it advertised the Coca-Cola Company. In 2000, this was replaced by a banner promoting South African branch of Vodacom. Vodacom rebranded in 2023 to advertise VodaPay, a digital wallet system.   read more…

Kansas City in Missouri

13 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Downtown © flickr.com - Dean Hochman/cc-by-2.0

Downtown © flickr.com – Dean Hochman/cc-by-2.0

Kansas City, Missouri (KC or KCMO) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by population and area. The city lies within Jackson, Clay, Platte counties, and a small portion in Cass County. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the MissouriKansas state line and has a population of 2,392,035. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090, making it the 37th most-populous city in the United States, as well as the sixth-most populous city in the Midwest. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River from the west. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued, and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon after.   read more…

Michel-Türmer of St. Michael’s Church in Hamburg

12 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hamburg Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Wolfgang Weber/cc-by-3.0

© Wolfgang Weber/cc-by-3.0

The Michel-Türmer, also Turmtüter, is a trumpeter who, in the tradition of the office of the tower blowers, plays chorales in all four directions every morning and evening from the tower of Hamburg‘s main church, St. Michaelis. The custom was introduced in Hamburg during the Reformation and has been practiced in the Michel, as the Michaelis Church in Hamburg is called, for more than 300 years. Until the gate closure was lifted on January 1, 1861, the trumpet chorale was the signal for the opening and closing of the city gates.   read more…

Hotel Tryp Habana Libre in Cuba

11 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  14 minutes

© Happypepe/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Happypepe/cc-by-sa-4.0

Hotel Tryp Habana Libre is one of the larger hotels in Cuba, situated in Vedado, Havana. The hotel has 572 rooms in a 25-floor tower at Calle 23 (“La Rampa”) and Calle L. Opened in 1958 as the Habana Hilton, the hotel famously served as the residence of Fidel Castro and other revolutionaries throughout 1959, after their capture of Havana.   read more…

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

10 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  10 minutes

Kennedy Center lights up in rainbow colors preceding the annual Kennedy Center Honors © flickr.com - Der Berzerker/cc-by-2.0

Kennedy Center lights up in rainbow colors preceding the annual Kennedy Center Honors
© flickr.com – Der Berzerker/cc-by-2.0

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (officially known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It was named in 1964 as a memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Opened on September 8, 1971, the center hosts many different genres of performance art, such as theater, dance, classical music, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music. It is the official residence of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera.   read more…

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