The Temples of Angkor – Siem Reap, Cambodia
Jump to the full entry & travel map Siem Reap, Cambodia So the day after we arrived in Siem Reap we opted to spend the days exploring Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples, which are one of the biggest tourist attractions in Southeast Asia, and it’s a World Heritage Site as well. If you’re like me, then you probably don’t know too much about the history of the temples, so if you’re interested you can see the Wikipedia page here . The day before we had agreed with the touk touk driver that we would allow him to drive us around the temple complex for $12, and he would take us all day as long as we wanted.
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The Temples of Angkor – Siem Reap, Cambodia
Jump to the full entry & travel map Xianyang, China Possibly the most amazing sight we’ve ever seen! 3 vaults located 40km east of Xian Vault 1 contains 6000 life size warriors & horses arranged in rectangular battle formation Vault 2 has 1000 soldiers & horses Vault 3 probably the headquarters – war chariot & 66 guards. Had nice lunch there, then back to town to the History Museum – quick tour Then up to the walkway on top of the amazing city walls – South Gate opposite our hotel Xian wall is the largest & best-preserved wall in China & one of the few ancient military facilities in the world.
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Xian – Terracotta Warriors – Xianyang, China
Jump to the full entry & travel map Moscow, Central Russia, Russian Federation Russia is a beautiful and fascinating country, with amazing palaces and buildings, beautiful women, incredible history and now lots of cash and glitz on display. We didn’t get very far in Moscow without seeing a strech limo (or hummer) containing graduands/brides/drunken girls and the rest of the traffic was predominantly black SUVs.
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Back to Moscow – Moscow, Central Russia, Russian Federation
Jump to the full entry & travel map Rome, Lazio, Italy WEDNESDAY, JULY 8 I love Roma! My dad, brother, and I came to the consensus that the airport in Paris isn’t our favorite; it was pretty weird for us to get to the check-in counter only to wait since they were all always on break! Our flight was delayed but we made it to Roma and took a shuttle to our hotel that was located near the top of the Spanish Steps. After freshening up we got some pizza at a nearby restaurant and then walked around the city in search of an obelisk that David’s teacher had mentioned to him and we saw on the way into the city. We didn’t find it but got some gelato at one of the many gelato stores that we passed. At 7 we met up with our Through Eternity tour group at the bottom of the Spanish Steps and there were about 15 of us. When we had all gathered we sat down on the steps to listen to our tour guide, Gracelyn, talk about the history of Rome and the area in particular. Towards the end of her mini history lesson I had a very pleasant surprise when my sorority sister Allie happened to be walking up the steps! It was so random to run into her in Rome but it was great to see her and catch up a little before regrouping with the tour. Our tour took us all over Rome and included the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and more. The city was so gorgeous at twilight and I took many mental pictures since I was having issues with my camera lighting. At the Trevi Fountain we threw in coins with hopes to return to Rome (hopefully Danish kroner are just as effective as Euros!). Gracelyn was really animated and the tour was informative and fun. It was also interrupted by all of the police helicopters circling the city because of the G8 Summit. It was pretty crazy because at one point there was a group of about 8 cars racing through the narrow winding streets – just like you’d seen in an action movie – and one car hit another but they just kept going! There was also a point when we were walking down the street and a big mob of people came barreling through and filming someone in the middle of the group as well as more cameras filming the people on the sides as they walked by. One guy in our group thought it was Moammar Kadafi and my dad thought that they were filming the crowd in case anything should happen they’d have our faces on tape. After the tour finished around 10 we had spaghetti and pizza at Navona Notte, by Gracelyn’s recommendation, and it was delicious! There was something about the sauce that was different from American spaghetti and added a little extra umph. After dinner we got a little lost getting back to the hotel but managed to find our way – it was nice getting to see more of the city, though. THURSDAY JULY 9 On Thursday we had breakfast at the hotel on this cute little pavilion and then headed out on the Metro to meet our tour group at the Vatican. Unfortunately, David wasn’t feeling well so he stayed in for the morning. Our tour began at 9 and we had a group of about 17 people from South Africa, Australia, Los Angeles and more. Our guide was fun and really good with the three kids in our group. I enjoyed the tour but it was so crowded!! It was also really great to see some of the artwork that I had studied in History of Art last semester! I know that it’s often said that art is better in person and I found that to be very true. My favorite part of the tour was going through the Sistine Chapel – the ceiling was amazing and I was surprised how big everything was since the figures are always so small in pictures. After we left the chapel everyone was ushered out so that some ambassador could come through. We went down the stairs that dignitaries use to go to the chapel and according to our guide the Obamas would be going up those steps on their visit to the Vatican the next day! After the tour we met up with David and had lunch near the Colosseum where our next tour was scheduled to take place. On that tour we went all through the runes of the Forum; it was really amazing to see the runes and I’m so impressed by all of the parts of buildings that are left standing. We also got to go into an old senate building and could see the differences in the ground level of ancient Rome and today. We were also fortunate enough to go into an old apartment underground (we weren’t allowed to take pictures) and saw some amazingly colorful frescos on the walls. After a couple of hours in the forum with the runes we headed into the colosseum. The Colosseum was so huge and David informed me that Harvard’s football stadium was modeled after the Colosseum! It was also really neat to see the exhibits that explained some of the technicalities of the area; the ancient Romans were so intelligent and clever. Being there really made me want to watch Gladiator again. It was sad to hear about all of the people who died there since many of them were slaves forced into battle entertainment. After our tour was complete we had our last Italian dinner (I had some delicious ravioli) and gelato and then got ready to wake up early and head to Scotland to meet up with my mom and begin our HP adventures! It’s crazy how fast the summer is going by! The summer is basically divided up into sections: 1) Florida, 2) Tennessee/Nashville w/ Olivia, 3) Indiana, 4) DIS Sessions 1 & 2, 5) Paris and Rome, 6) Harry Potter Tour, 7) Home in Hawaii, & then back to Vandy!! I’m now 5/7 done with the summer!
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That’s Amore – Rome – Rome, Lazio, Italy
Jump to the full entry & travel map Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada At 9:00 this morning, we went to the meeting room to hear Dawson Creek’s travel ambassador, Keltie, give a presentation about the town’s history and the building of the Alaska Highway. She was an animated, enjoyable and knowledgeable speaker. We are on our own to explore the area, so Art and I have decided to travel 60 miles to the town of Chetwynd that is known for its display of chainsaw carvings. Our friend from Fenwick Marina, Jerry France, has taken up chainsaw carving and is rather talented. We thought he might enjoy seeing our pictures.
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Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada – Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada
Jump to the full entry & travel map Leeuwarden, Provincie Friesland, Netherlands From Alice’s diary, “TUESDAY – LEEUWARDEN – 07.07.09 Christien, Cor, Mac and I were very slow to get started after all the excitement of yesterday. Cor did go and play tennis for an hour but the weather was not to good. Rain and wind a typical Dutch day. Christien and I went through all the old family photo’s we had bought with us on my computer and she chose quite a few. After we accomplished that we had lunch and then the four of us went into the city. I just love Leeuwarden. We walked around for awhile and then went on a little boat through the canals. I learned quite a lot about the history of Leeuwarden that no doubt I had learned at school but seeing that, that is a long time ago I had forgotten quite a lot. Before we got back we saw Christien’s sister in law Alie on her bike, camera in hand taking photo’s of us and waving at and every bridge we got to she was there again with her camera. It was very funny. After we got off the boat everybody of course had to have an icecream and then we went to Alie and Thewis house. We sat outside in their garden, the weather had improved to a sunny day and the wind had dropped. Thewis was home as well and it was great to see him I hadn’t seen him since I left Holland when I was eighteen. We had dinner and then Japie called in, another brother of Christien. I had seen Japie three years ago and it is at times like these we miss Gurrie. We sat and talked until 10.30pm and decided it was time to go home. We are so fortunate and really enjoying our time in Leeuwarden with my family but tomorrow we have the big job of trying to organize the cases and repacking everything for our big trip home.”
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A walk and canal trip around Leeuwarden – Leeuwarden, Provincie Friesland, Netherlands
Full title of an article just published in Russian: Russia and the next long wave, and why its agricultural villages are important By Michel Bauwens, http://p2pfoundation.net, May 25, 2009 Introduction Here is a text I just wrote with the assistance of Franz Nahrada and Gleb Tyurin, a later version of which has been translated into Russian where it is part of a debate about the renewal of policies after the meltdown, see the Regnum version just below. This essay consists in two parts. The first part is a general presentation of the nature of the present crisis, and how we can realistically expect a renewed period of growth.
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Russia and the next long wave
Jump to the full entry & travel map Beijing, China After eight visits to South Korea and my long-standing fascination with its northern neighbour, or maybe it’s more fair to say its northern part, I finally decided to go there, to see it with my own eyes and attempt to get my own impression of what’s behind one of the last genuine iron curtains in the world. South from the 38th parallel there’s still an almost paranoid fear from what’s up north, and American military presence and their bases seem like an almost only guarantee of at least some kind of peace on Korean peninsula. Whenever something’s written on North Korea, then it’s inevitably in a negative context
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Beijing, September 26, 2008 – Friday – Beijing, China
Jump to the full entry & travel map Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia I´ve been in Cartagena on the carribean coast for a few days taking some spanish classes and making the most of the beautiful old town. Although the surrounding area is extremely popular with rich Colombians and tourstis, I´ve kept to the colonial part of the city where it´s a little touristy but where you can while away the hours just wandering the streets admiring the architecture. It reminds me of Antigua in Guatemala, only much bigger and with a lot more history to share. Cartagena is Colombias biggest port which was involved in numerous pirate attacks back in the 16th century. Ít still has many of the forts that were built to defend it and the original walls of both the inner and outer areas. The 23 dungeons (Las Bovedas) in the north east corner are worth a look as they are more than 15m deep and also a good place to shop for souvenirs although they are not really up for bartering much! Today I ventured to Castillo de San Felipe (fort), an impressive example of spanish construction which was enlarged externsively to cover the entire hill just outside the city. The tunnels are open to visitors but you can easily get yourself lost in the maze of traps designed to catch the enemy! The weather has been humid and generally stormy everyday, but you soon get used to getting wet and then drying off whilst sitting in one of the many plazas and watching the world go by. I really like it here but will very soon have to move on again to ensure I make the most of my time.
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Romancing the stone – Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia
Jump to the full entry & travel map La Paz, La Paz, Bolivia It has taken me a very long time to proceed with my blog at this point. I was in La Paz for longer than any other place, with the exception of Sydney, yet I find I have very little to report that would be of any interest to anyone, or that wouldn´t violate the fifth amendment. My time there was utterly devoid of any cultural experiences and also amazingly good fun
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Fear and Laothing at 3600m – La Paz, La Paz, Bolivia
Ynge Gamlin Tornrosa 1954 During the 1950s the Swedish textile company Nordiska Kompaniet, under the leadership of Astrid Sampe, took great strides in the process of opening up the world of textile design to the new ideas and influences of the post war culture that had spread rapidly since the end of the Second World war.
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Ynge Gamlin, Astrid Sampe and Abstract Expressionism
Jump to the full entry & travel map New York City, New York, United States We made our way up to New York because that’s where we flew into the country and would be flying back out. We had saved most of our NYC sight-seeing for this summer leg of the trip since winter really wasn’t the best time to be out and about in New York. So we gave ourselves a week this time. And two days into it, my sister flew in and met us. She had just graduated from college and was coming back to Thailand to spend the summer with me! We were able to get her on the same flight with us. Since it was her first time traveling abroad, that was a big relief. And she had never been to NYC, so that was a cool added bonus to her summer travel plans. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum, Central Park (which was lovely, by the way), Times Square, took the Staten Island Ferry, saw the Statue of Liberty, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, and got to go to the Jimmy Fallon show live where we saw Steve Martin and listened to The Roots play. It was all awesome
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Summer in the City – New York City, New York, United States
Our Teacher Carla from Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Florence asked his students attending the course for Italian language Teachers held in October 2008 an opinion about their experience at Scuola Leonardo. Here down their answers: “Il corso insegnanti che ho seguito in Ottobre 2008, è stato interessante da più punti di vista.
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Italian language course for Teachers: read our STUDENTS’ OPINION!
Edward Burne Jones The Failure of Sir Gawaine; Sir Gawaine & Sir Uwaine at the Ruined Chapel This was a sequence of ten tapestries, six major panels and four linking pieces, designed by Edward Burne-Jones and produced by Morris & Co. Based on the King Arthur legend of the knightly quest for the Holy Grail, it was completed at the very end of the nineteenth century and can be seen as perhaps one of the last grand romantic gestures of that century. Burne-Jones, though the major contributor to the tapestries, was not the only designer.
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Edward Burne-Jones ‘Quest for the Holy Grail’ Tapestries
A journalist wrote an article about the experience she had in Italy , more precisely in Siena , and talked about us, the Italian language School Leonardo da Vinci . Yes, it’s true! In the ‘travel page’ of The Epoch Times, a global newspaper throughout Canada, USA & London, the Indian journalist Jasleen Kandhari tells about her two lovely weeks spent in the Tuscan medieval town learning Italian at the School Leonardo da Vinci and attending the course “ La Dolce Vita ”.
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Scoop on School Leonardo da Vinci: an article about us!
Handicraft is popularly defined as something – an article of value produced using the skill of hand, however Indiasoulhandicraft goes a bit further in defining it. We at Indiasoulhandicraft believe that it is much beyond the skill of hands, it is set of skills coming from the creative ability of one’s soul. The perfect colour combinations, the wonderful patterns , the authentic and unique designs and the most important the end uses of these arts and crafts are what define them the best.
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History of Indian Handicrafts
girl skirt long cotton skirt Although a certain look is always a rage because it is a season signature, the long slit skirt is a classic gem that typifies elegant, understated glamour. Usually worn by women in their late 20s and 30s, long skirts are generally preferred by confidant, sophisticated women who can boast a life well lived. Leaf through any fall-winter fashion glossy, and there it is-long, slim and, if one’s figure is hourglass personified, slit to the thigh.
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Long Cotton Skirts for Summer
A sari or saree or shari is a female garment in the Indian subcontinent. Sari Fashion A Sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff.The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (pavada/pavadai in the south, and shaya in eastern India), with a blouse known as a choli or ravika forming the upper garment
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“Sari or Saree or Shari” Female Garment in the India
In summer 2009, NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) will offer a large number of prestigious Summer Courses in the field of Italian Language plus Design , such as Fashion Design, Styling and Accessories, Fashion Marketing and Merchandising, Fashion Photography and Journalism, Fashion Textiles and Fibres, Interior and Product Design, Landscape Architecture, Lighting Design Studio, Graphic Design, Graphic Art Design for Fashion, Photography and the Moving Image, Theatre Design. After attending the course of Fashion Photography, for example, students will have the opportunity to understand the high-potential of images, while through the course of Fashion Journalism they will perceive the convincing power of words also in a field like fashion, where what people see is usually more important than what is written, thought or illustrated.
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Fashion, Design and Graphic Design Summer Courses in Milan
There are many who might consider a picture frame as something which surrounds a picture and is used to hang the picture from a wall conveniently. But a picture frame is something more than the ‘finishing touch’ that adds dramatic flair to the pictures they enclose. There is a wide variety of decorative picture frames available
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Beautify your interiors with beautiful picture frames