University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia

31 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  8 minutes

Warden Garden and Main Entrance to the Penn Museum © Mefman00

Warden Garden and Main Entrance to the Penn Museum © Mefman00

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university claims a founding date of 1740 and is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered prior to the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin, Penn’s founder and first president, advocated an educational program that trained leaders in commerce, government, and public service, similar to a modern liberal arts curriculum. The University of Pennsylvania considers itself the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, though this is contested by Princeton and Columbia Universities. The university also considers itself as the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.   read more…

Annaberg-Buchholz in Saxony

29 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Devilsanddust/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Devilsanddust/cc-by-sa-3.0

Annaberg-Buchholz is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Lying in the Ore Mountains, it is the capital of the district of Erzgebirgskreis. The previously heavily forested upper Ore Mountains were settled in the 12th and 13th centuries by Franconian farmers. Frohnau, Geyersdorf, and Kleinrückerswalde—all now part of present-day town—are all attested from 1397. The most well-known personalities associated with Annaberg-Buchholz include Adam Riese, the “father of modern arithmetic”.   read more…

Theme Week North Korea – Pyongyang

27 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  19 minutes

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

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

Pyongyang is the capital and largest city of North Korea. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about 109 kilometers (68 mi) upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. Pyongyang is a directly-administered city with equal status to North Korean provinces. Pyongyang is the political, industrial and transport center of North Korea. It is home to North Korea’s major government institutions, as well as the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Pyongyang is in the west-central part of North Korea; the city lies on a flat plain about 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of the Korea Bay, an arm of the Yellow Sea. The Taedong River flows southwestward through the city toward the Korea Bay. The Pyongyang plain, where the city is situated, is one of the two large plains on the Western coast of the Korean peninsula, the other being the Chaeryong plain. Both have an area of approximately 500 square kilometers.   read more…

Raine Island National Park in Queensland

27 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Green Sea Turtles and Masked Boobies © National Marine Sanctuaries - Mark Sullivan

Green Sea Turtles and Masked Boobies © National Marine Sanctuaries – Mark Sullivan

Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay 32 hectares (79 acres) in total area situated on the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef off north-eastern Australia. It lies approximately 620 km (390 mi) north-northwest of Cairns in Queensland, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) east-north-east of Cape Grenville on the Cape York Peninsula. Raine Island is the site of the oldest European structure in tropical Australia, a stone beacon built in 1844, and harbours the world’s largest remaining population of green turtles. An important environmental icon, the island is totally protected from public access. It got its name from Captain Thomas Raine (1793–1860), the English mariner who discovered it. Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay dominated by low herbaceous annual vegetation (Batianoff et al. 1993). The cay is composed of a central core of phosphate rock surrounded by sand and extensive fringing reefs. It lies just off the eastern edge of the continental shelf, next to a shipping channel known as the Raine Island Entrance and Pandora entrance. The entrance allows shipping to enter the water of the Great Barrier Reef.   read more…

Theme Week North Korea – Sinuiju

26 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Aerial view of Downtown Sinuiju with Sino-North Korean Friendship Bridge as seen from Dandong in China © Baycrest/cc-by-sa-2.5

Aerial view of Downtown Sinuiju with Sino-North Korean Friendship Bridge as seen from Dandong in China
© Baycrest/cc-by-sa-2.5

Sinŭiju (known before 1925 in English as Yeng Byen City) is a city in North Korea which faces Dandong, China across the international border of the Yalu River. It is the capital of North P’yŏngan province. Part of the city is included in the Sinŭiju Special Administrative Region, which was established in 2002 to experiment with introducing a market economy. In recent years, the city, despite lagging behind the development in the capital Pyongyang, has seen a small construction boom and increasing tourism from China.   read more…

Okehampton in Devon

26 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Kicior99/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Kicior99/cc-by-sa-4.0

Okehampton is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Okehampton is 21 miles (33 km) west of Exeter, 26 miles (42 km) north of Plymouth and 24 miles (38 km) south of Barnstaple.   read more…

Theme Week North Korea – Hamhung

25 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Mass Dance © flickr.com - Mario Micklisch/cc-by-2.0

Mass Dance © flickr.com – Mario Micklisch/cc-by-2.0

Hamhŭng is North Korea‘s second largest city, and the capital of South Hamgyŏng Province. With an estimated population of 768,551, Hamhung is the second largest city by population in the whole country of North Korea. Located in the southern part of the South Hamgyong province, Hamhung is the main and most popular metropolitan area in the whole province, and serves for almost all tourism by foreigners to the province. Hamhung has a thriving local economy compared to other metropolitan areas in North Korea, and it is known by North Koreans as a great area of architectural construction that was centrally planned, and built by the government of North Korea.   read more…

Galtür in Tyrol

25 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Panoramic overview of the beginners ski slope at Galtür-Wirl © panoramio.com - Henk Monster/cc-by-3.0

Panoramic overview of the beginners ski slope at Galtür-Wirl © panoramio.com – Henk Monster/cc-by-3.0

Galtür is a village and ski resort in the upper Paznaun valley in Austrian state of Tyrol located in the Central Eastern Alps 35 km southwest of Landeck near the border of Vorarlberg and Switzerland. Galtür was settled by the Engadinern from the south, the Walsern and Vorarlbergern from the west, and Tyroleans from the east. Today the cultivation work of the Engadiner is remembered in the name Galtür, meaning Cultura. During the Thirty Years’ War, Galtür was badly damaged. The church and many houses were burned down.   read more…

Theme Week North Korea – Kaesong

24 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

The Goryeo Museum © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Goryeo Museum © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kaesong is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close to the border with South Korea and contains the remains of the Manwoldae palace. Called Songdo while it was the ancient capital of Goryeo, the city prospered as a trade centre that produced Korean ginseng. Kaesong now functions as the DPRK’s light industry centre.   read more…

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