November 30, 2013, 8:07 pm
Bergen is a city and municipality in Hordaland on the west coast of Norway. As of 30 November 2013, the municipality had a population of 271,000 and Greater Bergen had a population of 398,300, making Bergen the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers an area of 465 square kilometers and is located on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are located on Byfjorden and the city is surrounded by mountains. For this reason, Bergen is known as the city of seven mountains. Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are located on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland and consists of eight boroughs—Arna, Årstad, Åsane, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg and Ytrebygda.
Bergen features a temperate oceanic climate. Areas of the municipality at some higher altitude are largely oceanic sub-polar , with cool winters and mild summers. In the winter, Bergen has the warmest winters of all cities in Norway, caused by the Gulf Stream. Bergen experiences plentiful rainfall, with annual precipitation measuring 2,250 mm on average. This is because the city is surrounded by mountains that cause moist North Atlantic air to undergo orographic lift, which yields abundant rainfall. In Bergen, precipitation is plentiful and heavy rain can happen at any time of the year.
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November 30, 2013, 8:08 pm
The Stone Forest or Shilin is a notable set of limestone formations located in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China, near Shilin approximately 120 km from the provincial capital Kunming. The tall rocks seem to emanate from the ground in the manner of stalagmites, with many looking like petrified trees thereby creating the illusion of a forest made of stone. Since 2007, two parts of the site, the Naigu Stone Forest and Suogeyi Village, have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of the South China Karst. The site is classified as a AAAAA-class tourist site.
These formations, caused by the dissolution of limestone, are believed to be over 270 million years old and are a tourist attraction for both overseas and domestic tourists, with bus tours bringing tourists from Kunming. There are also a number of hotels in the area.
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November 30, 2013, 8:08 pm
Ball's Pyramid is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano and caldera that formed about 7 million years ago. It lies 20 kilometers southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. It is 562 meters high, while measuring only 1,100 meters in length and 300 meters across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world.Ball's Pyramid is part of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park in Australia.
The pyramid was named after Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who discovered it in 1788 on the same trip as when he discovered Lord Howe Island. The first person to go ashore is believed to have been Henry Wilkinson in 1882, who was a geologist at the New South Wales Department of Mines.
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December 1, 2013, 5:31 am
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Easily accessible from the Manta Resort, the Underwater Room is completely self-contained, and is divided into two parts, the underwater and the two-floor wooden deck above water level. The bedroom underwater is accessed only via a ladder leading down below the water’s surface. Featuring a comfortable double bed, it provides the perfect platform for watching life go by so close to the seabed. The hardwood deck above is equipped with toilets and a lounging area. Guests can sleep underwater, or under the stars if they choose to; rocked to sleep by the gentle lapping of the ocean. Looking up into the skies a whole other canvas than the one we’re used to, is revealed; completely free of light pollution, the Zanzibar archipelago guarantees a crystal clear blanket of stars every night. Spotlights placed underneath each windowpane below sea level light up the room’s immediate surroundings, creating a surreal luminous view of the marine life around it which is attracted by the light source whereby the creatures swimming past almost appear to be glowing.
Due to the room being situated in a clearing, known as the Blue Hole, in the coral reef measuring some 12 meters deep, guests also have the opportunity to see a more relaxed side to the ocean.
Completely isolated and utterly compelling, the experience allows guests to delve deeper into a marine world than any diving experience, to really live within a marine environment and to experience its unique rhythm and colours. A night in the Manta Underwater Room costs $750 per night per person.
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December 2, 2013, 2:23 am
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Albuquerque is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County, and it is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 555,417 as of the July 1, 2012 population estimate from the United States Census Bureau, and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. It has a 2012 estimated metropolitan population of 901,700 according to the US Census. Albuquerque is the 53rd-largest United States metropolitan area. The Albuquerque MSA population includes the city of Rio Rancho, Bernalillo, Placitas, Corrales, Los Lunas, Belen, Bosque Farms, and forms part of the larger Albuquerque – Santa Fe – Las Vegas combined statistical area, with a total population of 1,146,049 as of the 2010 Census. Albuquerque is at the southernmost end and the second largest city of the Front Range Urban Corridor, after Denver, which stretches from Albuquerque to Cheyenne, Wyoming and has a population of 5,467,633 according to the 2010 United States Census.
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December 2, 2013, 2:24 am
Blackburn Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral Church of Blackburn Saint Mary the Virgin with St Paul, is an Anglican (Church of England) cathedral situated in the heart of Blackburn town centre, in Lancashire, England. The cathedral site has been home to a church for over a thousand years and the first stone church was built there in Norman times.
With the creation of the Diocese of Blackburn in 1926 (taken from the Diocese of Manchester) the impressive parish church of St Mary the Virgin was raised to cathedral status. The church, which was built in 1826 and designed by architect John Palmer, now forms the cathedral's nave. In the early 1930s, fundraising began to enlarge the cathedral so that the building complemented its newfound importance. By 1938, enough money had been raised and work began on enlarging the new cathedral. Although work was interrupted by the war, it was resumed afterwards and continued through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. After the death of architect W.A. Forsyth in 1950, architect Laurence King joined the project and designed the distinctive lantern tower. The lantern tower, which consists of 56 different panes of coloured glass, with a modernist slender aluminium spire, was completed in 1967.
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December 2, 2013, 2:26 am
Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).
The Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon became a National Monument in 1923 and was designated as a National Park in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres (55.99 sq mi; 145.02 km2) and receives relatively few visitors compared to Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, largely due to its remote location.
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December 2, 2013, 2:29 am
Castell Coch is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built on the remains of a genuine 13th-century fortification, cared for by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service. It is situated on a steep hillside high above the village of Tongwynlais, to the north of Cardiff in Wales, and is a Grade I listed building as from 28 January 1963.
Designed by William Burges, with an impressively medieval appearance, working portcullis and drawbridge, and sumptuous interiors which rival those of Cardiff Castle, it has been described as "the most spectacular example of [that architect's] translation from High Gothic into High Victorian."
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December 2, 2013, 2:29 am
Camperdown Country Park, often known as just Camperdown Park, is a public park in the Camperdown area of Dundee, Scotland. The park comprises the former grounds of Camperdown House, a 19th-century mansion, which was bought by the city in 1946. Camperdown Park is home to a wildlife centre and recreational facilities. It is the largest park in Dundee, stretching to 400 acres (1.6 km2). Over 190 species of tree are found in the park.
Camperdown House is "the largest Greek Revival house remaining in It is protected as a category A listed building, and the park is included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant parks.
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December 2, 2013, 2:31 am
King's Cross railway station is a major London railway terminus, opened in 1852. It is on the northern edge of central London, at the junction of Euston Road and York Way, in the London Borough of Camden on the boundary with the London Borough of Islington. It is one of 17 UK stations managed by Network Rail.
King's Cross station is the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line, one of Britain's major railway backbones. Some of its most important long-distance destinations are Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh. It also hosts outer-suburban services to Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, and fast regional services to Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn.
Immediately to the west across Pancras Road is St Pancras International, the London terminus of the Midland Main Line, Eurostar and high-speed trains to Kent via High Speed 1, and a major interchange for Thameslink services between Bedford and Brighton. The two stations are operationally completely separate, but as they are adjacent, they are regarded as a single complex for interchange purposes. They share King's Cross St. Pancras tube station on the London Underground network, where six Underground lines meet. Taken together, the two main-line stations and the associated Underground station form one of Britain's biggest transport hubs. The station is also within walking distance of Euston, the southern terminus for the West Coast Main Line.
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December 2, 2013, 2:32 am
Parque Lage (in full "Parque Enrique Lage") is a public park in the city of Rio De Janeiro, located in the Jardim Botânico neighborhood at the foot of the Corcovado.
The land was formerly the residence of industrialist Enrique Lage and his wife, singer Gabriela Bezanzoni. During the 1920s Lage had the mansion remodeled by Italian architect Mario Vodrel, with interior paintings by Salvador Payols Sabaté. In the 1960s the land became a public park, with walking trails through subtropical forest. The Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (Visual Arts School of Parque Lage) and a café open to the public operate from the former mansion.
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December 2, 2013, 2:33 am
Lake Blanche is a salt lake in central South Australia. It lies below sea level. It forms part of the Strzelecki Desert Lakes Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for waterbirds when holding water in the aftermath of floods.
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December 2, 2013, 2:35 am
Lake Blanche is a salt lake in central South Australia. It lies below sea level. It forms part of the Strzelecki Desert Lakes Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for waterbirds when holding water in the aftermath of floods.The Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, commonly known as the Rotunda of Mosta or Rotunda of St Marija Assunta (sometimes shortened to as The Mosta Dome) is a Roman Catholic church in Mosta, Malta. It is the fourth largest unsupported dome in the world and the third largest in Europe.
Built in the 19th century on the site of a previous church, it was designed by the Maltese architect Giorgio Grognet de Vassé. Its dome is among the largest in the world, with an internal diameter of 37.2 metres (122 ft). The rotunda walls are nearly 9.1 metres (30 ft) thick. The rotunda dome is the third-largest church dome in Europe and the ninth largest in the world.
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December 2, 2013, 2:36 am
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North Cornwall has a stretch of coastline that borders the Celtic Sea to the north. The Carboniferous sandstone cliffs that surround Bude (and stretch down as far south as Crackington Haven) were formed during the Carboniferous period, around 300 million years ago. They are part of what are known to geologists as the Culm Measures which continue eastwards across north Devon. The folded and contorted stratification of shale and sandstone is unique in southern England. During the Variscan Orogeny, which affected the entire Cornish coast, the cliffs were pushed up from underneath the sea, creating the overlapping strata. As the sands and cliffs around Bude contain calcium carbonate (a natural fertiliser), farmers used to take sand from the beach, for spreading on their fields. The cliffs around Bude are the only ones in Cornwall that are made of Carboniferous sandstone, as most of the Cornish coast is geologically formed of Devonian slate, granite and Precambrian metamorphic rocks). The stratified cliffs of Bude gave their name to a geological event called the Bude Formation. Many formations can be viewed from the South West Coast Path which passes through the town.
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December 2, 2013, 2:38 am
The Old Harry Rocks are three chalk formations, including a stack and a stump, located at Handfast Point, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southern England.
Old Harry Rocks lies directly east of Studland, about 1.5 miles northeast of Swanage, and about 3 miles south of the large towns of Poole and Bournemouth. The chalk headlands of the Ballard Downs are owned by the National Trust. The rocks can be viewed from the Dorset section of the South West Coast Path.
The chalk of Old Harry Rocks used to be part of a long stretch of chalk between Purbeck and the Isle of Wight, but remained as a headland after large parts of this seam were eroded away. As the headland suffered Hydraulic action (a process in which air and water is forced into small cracks by the force of the sea, resulting in enlarging cracks), first caves, then arches, formed. The tops of the arches collapsed after being weakened by rainfall and wind, leaving disconnected stacks. One of these stacks is known as Old Harry. Old Harry's Wife was another stack which was eroded through corrosion and abrasion, until the bottom was so weak the top fell away, leaving a stump. Hydraulic action is the main cause of erosion in this case.
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December 2, 2013, 2:39 am
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra, and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the Académie Royale de Musique, but continued to be known more simply as the Opéra. Classical ballet as we know it today arose within the Paris Opera as the Paris Opera Ballet and has remained an integral and important part of the company. Currently called the Opéra National de Paris, it mainly produces operas at its modern 2700-seat theatre Opéra Bastille which opened in 1989, and ballets and some classical operas at the older 1970-seat Palais Garnier which opened in 1875. Small scale and contemporary works are also staged in the 500-seat Amphitheatre under the Opéra Bastille.
The company's annual budget is in the order of 200 million euros, of which 100 million come from the French state and 70 million from box office receipts. With this money, the company runs the two houses and supports a large permanent staff, which includes the orchestra of 170, a chorus of 110 and the corps de ballet of 150.
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December 2, 2013, 2:44 am
The Palacio Real de Madrid (literally: Royal Palace of Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family at the city of Madrid, but is only used for state ceremonies. King Juan Carlos and the Royal Family do not reside in the palace, choosing instead the more modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid. The palace is owned by the Spanish State and administered by the Patrimonio Nacional, a public agency of the Ministry of the Presidency. The palace is located on Calle de Bailén (Bailén Street), in the Western part of downtown Madrid, East of the Manzanares River, and is accessible from the Ópera metro station. Several rooms in the palace are regularly open to the public except during state functions. An admission fee of 11€ is required except for residents of the Iberian Peninsula.
In Spanish, it is sometimes incorrectly called "Palacio de Oriente" by confusion with the "Plaza de Oriente", the square which lies to the East (Oriental) side of the palace.
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December 2, 2013, 2:45 am
An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice (one form of sea ice). As it drifts into shallower waters, it may come into contact with the seabed, a process referred to as seabed gouging by ice.
In addition to size classification, icebergs can be classified on the basis of their shape. The two basic types of iceberg forms are tabular and non-tabular. Tabular icebergs have steep sides and a flat top, much like a plateau, with a length-to-height ratio of more than 5:1. This type of iceberg, also known as ice islands, can be quite large, as in the case of Pobeda Ice Island. Antarctic icebergs formed by breaking off from an ice shelf, such as the Ross Ice Shelf or Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, are typically tabular. The largest icebergs in the world are formed this way.
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December 2, 2013, 2:47 am
Twin Lakes State Park is situated in Michigan's Copper Country located in Houghton County, 15 miles northeast of Mass City and 26 miles southwest of Houghton/Hancock on Highway M-26. The 175-acre modern campground is located on the southwest shore of Lake Roland.
Twin Lakes State Park makes a good base camp for many area attractions. Travel north to Historic Fort Wilkins where the lives of the soldiers and their families during the mining boom of the 1840's are re-enacted. Travel south and see how the first miners lived at the restored mining community at Victoria or enjoy a hike on one of the trails in the Porcupine Mountains. Other area attractions include the copper mines near Hancock and Delaware and the historic and mineralogical museums in the area. There is also a newly created Keweenaw National Historic Park in Calumet.
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December 2, 2013, 2:48 am
The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat are official names for a Russian Orthodox church in Red Square in Moscow. The church is also called the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, anglicized as Saint Basil's Cathedral. It was built from 1555–61 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan.
St. Basil's marks the geometric center of Moscow (not to be confused with the geographic center, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower). It has been the hub of the city's growth since the 14th century and was the city's tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.
Because the church has no analogues, in preceding, contemporary, or later architecture of Muscovy and Byzantine cultural tradition in general, the sources that inspired Barma and Postnik are disputed. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc rejected European roots for the cathedral; according to him, its corbel arches were Byzantine, and ultimately Asian. A modern "Asian" hypothesis considers the cathedral a recreation of Qolsharif Mosque, which was destroyed by Russian troops after the siege of Kazan.
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