Theme Week South Korea – Busan

30 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Seomyeon © flickr.com - Carey Ciuro/cc-by-2.0

Seomyeon © flickr.com – Carey Ciuro/cc-by-2.0

Busan, formerly known as Pusan and now officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea‘s second most-populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.5 million inhabitants. It is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern Korea, with its port—Korea’s busiest and the 9th-busiest in the world—only about 120 miles (190 km) from the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Honshu. The surrounding “Southeast Economic Zone” (including Ulsan and South Gyeongsang) is now South Korea’s largest industrial area.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Incheon

29 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Jr55662/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Jr55662/cc-by-sa-4.0

Incheon, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City, is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. Today, about 3 million people live in the city, making it S Korea’s third most-populous city after Seoul and Busan. The city’s growth has been assured in modern times with the development of its port due to its natural advantages as a coastal city and its proximity to the South Korean capital. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, along with Seoul itself and Gyeonggi Province, forming the world’s fourth largest metropolitan area by population.   read more…

Atlanta in Georgia

29 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Piedmont Park and Downtown skyline © flickr.com - seanpinto/cc-by-2.0

Piedmont Park and Downtown skyline © flickr.com – seanpinto/cc-by-2.0

The city serves as the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5.8 million people and the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Atlanta is the seat of Fulton County and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. Atlanta was founded as a transportation hub at the intersection of two railroad lines in 1837. After being mostly burned to the ground during the American Civil War, the city rose from its ashes to become a national center of commerce and the unofficial capital of the “New South“. During the 1960s, Atlanta became a major organizing center of the civil rights movement, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and many other locals playing major roles in the movement’s leadership. In the decades following, the city earned a reputation as “too busy to hate” for the relatively progressive views of its citizens and leaders compared to other cities in the “Deep South“. During the modern era, Atlanta has attained international prominence as a major air transportation hub, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic since 1998.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Daegu

28 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Dalgubeol Grand Bell at National Debt Repayment Movement Memorial Park © Timber Tank/cc-by-sa-2.0

Dalgubeol Grand Bell at National Debt Repayment Movement Memorial Park © Timber Tank/cc-by-sa-2.0

Daegu is the fourth-largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third-largest metropolitan area in the nation with over 2.5 million residents. Daegu and surrounding North Gyeongsang Province are often referred to as Daegu-Gyeongbuk, with a total population over 5 million. Daegu is located in south-eastern Korea about 80 km (50 mi) from the seacoast, near the Geumho River and its mainstream, Nakdong River in Gyeongsang-do. The Daegu basin, where the city lies, is the central plain of the Yeongnam region. In ancient times, there was a proto-country named Jinhan, to which the current Daegu area belonged. Later, Daegu was part of the Silla Kingdom which unified the Korean Peninsula. During the Joseon Dynasty period, the city was the capital of Gyeongsang-do, which was one of the traditional eight provinces of the country.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Suwon

27 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Fortifications of Suwon © flickr.com - Richard Mortel/cc-by-2.0

Fortifications of Suwon © flickr.com – Richard Mortel/cc-by-2.0

Suwon is the capital and largest metropolis of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea‘s most populous province which surrounds Seoul, the national capital. Suwon lies about 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as “The City of Filial Piety”. With a population close to 1.2 million, it is larger than Ulsan, although it is not governed as a metropolitan city.   read more…

Portrait: Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of West Germany

27 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  6 minutes

Dr. Konrad Adenauer, 1952 © Bundesarchiv - Katherine Young/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Dr. Konrad Adenauer, 1952 © Bundesarchiv – Katherine Young/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1949 to 1963. He was co-founder and first leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) (till 1966), a Christian Democratic party that under his leadership became one of the most influential parties in the country.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Daejeon

26 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Dunsan prehistoric settlement site © Yoo Chung/cc-by-sa-2.5

Dunsan prehistoric settlement site © Yoo Chung/cc-by-sa-2.5

Daejeon is South Korea’s fifth-largest metropolis. Daejeon had a population of over 1.5 million in 2010. Located in the central region of South Korea, Daejeon serves as a hub of transportation and is at the crossroads of major transport routes. The capital Seoul is about 50 minutes away by KTX high-speed train.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea

25 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  13 minutes

Changdeokgung Injeongjeon in Seoul © flickr.com - eimoberg/cc-by-2.0

Changdeokgung Injeongjeon in Seoul © flickr.com – eimoberg/cc-by-2.0

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and lying to the east of the Asian mainland. The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo which was one of the great powers in East Asia during its time, ruling most of the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, parts of the Russian Far East and Inner Mongolia, under Gwanggaeto the Great. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone and has a predominantly mountainous terrain. It comprises an estimated 51.4 million residents distributed over 100,363 km² (38,750 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 10 million.   read more…

The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

25 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Barack Obama's 2009 Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol © flickr.com - Steve Jurvetson/cc-by-2.0

Barack Obama’s 2009 Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol © flickr.com – Steve Jurvetson/cc-by-2.0

The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the District’s street-numbering system and the District’s four quadrants. The United States Capitol Complex is a group of about a dozen buildings and facilities. The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), located below the East Front of the Capitol and its plaza, between the Capitol building and 1st Street East, opened on December 2, 2008.   read more…

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