Mackinac Island in Michigan

11 November 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  15 minutes

Main Street © n8huckins/cc-by-sa-4.0

Main Street © n8huckins/cc-by-sa-4.0

Mackinac Island is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles (11.3 km²) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and “Mitchimakinak” in Ojibwemowin meaning “Big Turtle”. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the US gained this island in its territory. In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction and summer colony. Many of the structures on the island have undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration. Because of its historic significance, the entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark. It is well known for numerous cultural events; a wide variety of architectural styles, including the Victorian Grand Hotel; and its ban on almost all motor vehicles, with exceptions only for city emergency vehicles (ambulance, police cars and fire trucks), city service vehicles and snowmobiles in winter. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park. In 2022, Travel + Leisure named Mackinac Island the best island in the continental U.S. to visit.   read more…

Grand Hôtel in Stockholm

5 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  4 minutes

Blasieholmen with the Grand Hôtel in the center © Arild Vågen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Blasieholmen with the Grand Hôtel in the center © Arild Vågen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Grand Hôtel is a five-star hotel in Stockholm. It was founded by Frenchman, Jean-François Régis Cadier, in 1872. It opened on 14 June 1874 at the same time as the Grand Hotel in Oslo; all the Scandinavian capitals have a major hotel called ‘Grand Hotel’. The Grand Hôtel is located next to the Nationalmuseum and opposite the Royal Palace and Gamla stan (the old town).   read more…

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island

1 September 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, House of the Month, Hotels Reading Time:  12 minutes

© flickr.com - Eli Duke/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Eli Duke/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Grand Hotel is a historic hotel and coastal resort on Mackinac Island in Michigan, a small island located at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac within Lake Huron between the state’s Upper and Lower peninsulas. Constructed in the late 19th century, the facility advertises itself as having the world’s largest veranda. The Grand Hotel is well known for a number of notable visitors, including five U.S. presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, inventor Thomas Edison, and author Mark Twain. Grand Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 1957, the Grand Hotel was designated a State Historic Building. In 1972, the hotel was named to the National Register of Historic Places, and on June 29, 1989, the hotel was made a National Historic Landmark.   read more…

Fairmont Monte Carlo

26 August 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - Leandro Neumann Ciuffo/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Leandro Neumann Ciuffo/cc-by-2.0

The Fairmont Monte Carlo is a luxury resort located in Monte Carlo managed by the Canadian-based hotel chain Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Construction of the hotel was completed in the early 1970s. The hotel was built on the spot of the first Monegasque railway station, by the real estate development company Caroli Group. As it stands today, there is still a section of the original station wall hidden in one of the hotel’s offices.   read more…

Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich

21 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  6 minutes

Hotel Bayerischer Hof © Mattes

Hotel Bayerischer Hof © Mattes

The Bayerischer Hof on Promenadeplatz in the northwestern part of Munich is a five-star Grand Hotel. Built in 1841, it remains a destination for celebrities and guests of state in Munich. The hotel was erected in 1841 on behalf of Joseph Anton von Maffei according to plans by Friedrich von Gärtner. It initially had about 100 rooms and two halls. Some of its renowned guests included Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Sigmund Freud. In 1897 the Hotel was purchased for 2,850,000 Mark by Mark Hermann Volkhardt, who converted the facade to its historicism style. Performances in the grand ballroom at this time were made by artists such as Enrico Caruso along with many others. After the reconstruction period in 1924, the Bayerischer Hof was the largest hotel in Europe. During the Second World War the building suffered heavy damage, but was rebuilt after the war.   read more…

The music city of Montreux

7 September 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

View on Lake Geneva and France © Christian Perez

View on Lake Geneva and France © Christian Perez

Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d’Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population of 23,800 and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – The Hotel Imperial

24 August 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  6 minutes

Hotel Imperial 1880 - Zeffiro Ciuffoletti: Das Reich der Habsburger 1848-1918 - Photographien aus der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie

Hotel Imperial 1880 – Zeffiro Ciuffoletti: Das Reich der Habsburger 1848-1918 – Photographien aus der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie

The Hotel Imperial, also known as Imperial, Wien or simply The Imperial, is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria. It is located at Kärntner Ring on the Ringstraße.   read more…

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