Theme Week Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates

16 August 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  12 minutes

Abu Dhabi skyline from Marina © FritzDaCat/cc-by-sa-3.0

Abu Dhabi skyline from Marina © FritzDaCat/cc-by-sa-3.0

Abu Dhabi is the capital and the second most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and also capital of the largest of the UAE’s seven member emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western coast. The city proper had a population of 921,000 in 2013. Abu Dhabi houses federal government offices, is the seat of the United Arab Emirates Government, home to the Abu Dhabi Emiri Family and the President of the UAE, who is from this family. Abu Dhabi has grown to be a cosmopolitan metropolis. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed Abu Dhabi to a larger and advanced metropolis. Today the city is the country’s center of political and industrial activities, and a major cultural and commercial centre, due to its position as the capital.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy – Honfleur

26 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - Yves Remedios/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Yves Remedios/cc-by-2.0

Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from Le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. Its inhabitants are called Honfleurais.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy – The seaside resort Étretat

25 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

© M. Pfeiffer/cc-by-3.0

© M. Pfeiffer/cc-by-3.0

Étretat is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region. It is a tourist and farming town situated about 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Le Havre. It’s located on the coast of the Pays de Caux area. Étretat is best known for its cliffs, including three natural arches and the pointed “needle”. These cliffs and the associated resort beach attracted artists including Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet, and were featured prominently in the 1909 Arsène Lupin novel The Hollow Needle by Maurice Leblanc. Two of the three famous arches are seen from the town, the Porte d’Aval, and the Porte d’Amont. The Manneporte is the third and the biggest one, and cannot be seen from the town.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy – Lisieux

24 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Basilique de Sainte-Thérèse © Renegade

Basilique de Sainte-Thérèse © Renegade

Lisieux is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region. It is the capital of the Pays d’Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and Normandy’s typical hedged farmland, where there is a mix of livestock farming (mostly milk cows) and cider apple cultivation (from which Cider and Calvados are made, not forgetting Pommeau). Lisieux is situated on the confluence of the river Touques and many of its tributaries: the rivers Orbiquet, Cirieux and Graindain.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy – Bayeux

23 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Anton Bielousov/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Anton Bielousov/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department. Bayeux is a sub-prefecture of Calvados. It is the seat of the arrondissement of Bayeux and of the canton of Bayeux. The River Aure flows through Bayeux, offering panoramic views from a number of locations. The Jardin botanique de Bayeux is a botanical garden dating from 1864.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy – Saint-Clair-sur-Epte

22 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© P.poschadel/cc-by-sa-3.0

© P.poschadel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Saint-Clair-sur-Epte is a commune in the Val-d’Oise department in the Île-de-France region, about 75 km north-west of Paris. Henry I of England seized the castle of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 1118.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy

21 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Bon appétit, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  8 minutes

Deauville © Viault/cc-by-sa-3.0

Deauville © Viault/cc-by-sa-3.0

Normandy is a geographical region of France corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two regions: Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. The population of Normandy is around 3.45 million. The continental population of 3.26 million accounts for 5.5% of the population of France. The Channel Islands (referred to as Îles Anglo-Normandes in French) are historically part of Normandy. The principal cities are Rouen, the capital of Upper Normandy and formerly of the whole province; Caen, the capital of Lower Normandy; Le Havre; and Cherbourg. The historical Duchy of Normandy was a formerly independent duchy occupying the lower Seine area, the Pays de Caux and the region to the west through the Pays d’Auge as far as the Cotentin Peninsula. The region is bordered along the northern coasts by the English Channel. There are granite cliffs in the west and limestone cliffs in the east. There are also long stretches of beach in the centre of the region.   read more…

Theme Week Dresden – The Semperoper

16 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Sebastian Terfloth/cc-by-3.0

© Sebastian Terfloth/cc-by-3.0

The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper ballet. The building is located on the Theatre Square in central Dresden on the bank of the Elbe River in the historic centre of Dresden. The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841. After a devastating fire in 1869, the opera house was rebuilt, partly again by Semper, and completed in 1878. The opera house has a long history of premieres, including major works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.   read more…

Theme Week Moscow – GUM department store on the Red Square

2 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Shopping Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Otets/cc-by-sa-3.0-lu

© Otets/cc-by-sa-3.0-lu

GUM (an abbreviation of the Russian Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin; literally “main universal store”) is the name of the main department store in many cities of the former Soviet Union, known as State Department Store during the Soviet times. Similarly named stores were found in some Soviet republics and post-Soviet states. The most famous GUM is the large store in the Kitay-gorod part of Moscow facing Red Square, opposite of the Lenin Mausoleum and the Kremlin. It is currently a shopping mall. Prior to the 1920s, the location was known as the Upper Trading Rows. Nearby, also facing Red Square, is a building very similar to GUM, known formerly as the Middle Trading Rows. It is about the same size as a large North American shopping mall.   read more…

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