Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland

7 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

View of Interlaken and Thunersee from Schynige Platte © Andrew Bossi

View of Interlaken and Thunersee from Schynige Platte © Andrew Bossi

Interlaken is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland, a well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland. Interlaken is located between Lake Brienz to the east and Lake Thun to the west in the area called Bödeli. The town takes its name from its geographical position between the lakes (in Latin inter lacus). The Aare River flows through the town connecting the lakes.   read more…

The BBC Broadcasting House in Westminster

6 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. It is a Grade II* listed building and includes the BBC Radio Theatre, where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience, and lobby that was used as a location for filming the 1998 BBC television series In the Red.   read more…

Vilsbiburg in Bavaria

6 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

City Square © Mathias Plonka/cc-by-sa-3.0

City Square © Mathias Plonka/cc-by-sa-3.0

Vilsbiburg is a town on the river Große Vils, 18 km southeast of Landshut, in the district of Landshut, in Bavaria. Vilsbiburg has 11,000 inhabitants. Vilsbiburg lies in the center of Lower Bavaria and is part of the Alpine foothills. The river Große Vils runs through the town center. Vilsbiburg is about 55 miles northeast of Munich.   read more…

Long Beach in California

5 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  7 minutes

Downtown Long Beach © himefrias

Downtown Long Beach © himefrias

Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the United States and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,000. In addition, Long Beach is the second largest city in the Greater Los Angeles Area after Los Angeles and a principal city of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.   read more…

Theme Week Munich – Schwabing and Maxvorstadt

5 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture Reading Time:  5 minutes

Richard Wagner Street © David Kostner

Richard Wagner Street © David Kostner

Schwabing is Munich’s most versatile district being home to various theaters, museums, a university, the largest park in Europe, and shops that cater to those with money to burn. Schwabing’s highlight is the Englischer Garten, with endless bike and hiking trails, the Eisbach stream, and the makeshift concerts that are put on for people’s enjoyment, which makes this district the perfect place to end a day of sightseeing or a date.   read more…

Kongsberg in Norway

4 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Mint and silver works © Bjoertvedt/cc-by-sa-3.0-no

Mint and silver works © Bjoertvedt/cc-by-sa-3.0-no

Kongsberg is a town and municipality in Buskerud county. It is located at the southern end of the traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsberg. The town was founded in 1624 under the name Konings Bierg by Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV as a mining community. It was granted its royal charter of trade—amounting to official township—in 1802. The municipality of Kongsberg was established on 1 January 1838 (see Formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipalities of Ytre Sandsvær and Øvre Sandsvær were merged into the municipality of Kongsberg on 1 January 1964.   read more…

Tortuga in the Caribbean

3 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Tortuga Island © NASA

Tortuga Island © NASA

Tortuga (French: Île de la Tortue, Englisch: Turtle Island) is a Caribbean island that forms part of Haiti, off the northwest coast of Hispaniola. It constitutes the commune of Île de la Tortue in the Port-de-Paix arrondissement of the Nord-Ouest Department of Haiti. Tortuga is 180 km² (69 mi²) in size and has a population of 30,000. In the 17th century, Tortuga was a major centre of Caribbean piracy. Its tourist industry and reference in many works has made it one of the most recognized regions of Haiti. Although Tortuga was already known by the native peoples, it was never used as a permanent settlement until European pirates made it into a launching ground for piracy activities. The first Europeans to land on Tortuga were the Spaniards in 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus into the New World. On December 6, 1492, three Spanish ships entered the Windward Passage that separates Cuba and Haiti. At sunrise, Columbus noticed an island whose contours emerged from the morning mist. Because the shape reminded him of a turtle’s shell, he chose the name of Tortuga.   read more…

Karlskrona in Sweden

3 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Main Square © Magnus Bäck

Main Square © Magnus Bäck

Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,000 inhabitants. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden’s only baroque city and is host to Sweden’s only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the Swedish Coast Guard.   read more…

Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.

3 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Watergate complex © Tim1965

Watergate complex © Tim1965

The Watergate complex is a group of five buildings next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. The Watergate superblock is bounded on the north by Virginia Avenue, on the east by New Hampshire Avenue, on the south by F Street, and on the west by the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. It is in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood overlooking the Potomac River, next to the Kennedy Center and the embassy of Saudi Arabia. The nearest Metro station, 0.4 miles distant, is Foggy Bottom-GWU. Covering a total of 10 acres (40,000 m2), the buildings include:   read more…

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