Berlijn is ontstaan omstreeks 1200. In die tijd waren er twee stadjes die gebouwd werden aan de rivier de Spree. De stadjes waren Cölln en Berlijn, die in 1307 samen zijn gevoegd. De stad kende een roerige tijd met vele oorlogen. Op 18 januari 1871 riep Otto von Bismarck het Duitse Rijk uit met Berlijn als hoofdstad. Hierna volgde een tijd van industrialisatie waardoor de stad snel groeide.

In 1963 was de stad het toneel van de Olympische zomerspelen.
Duitsland wilde onderleiding van Adolf Hitler, berlijn uitroepen tot wereldhoofdstad van het Germaanse rijk. Waarna de Tweede Wereldoorlog volgde.
In 1945 viel de sovejet unie Berlijn binnen. Waarmee een einde werd gemaakt aan de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Hierna werd de stad verdeeld onder de geallieerde landen (Frankrijk, de Verenigde Staten en Groot – Brittannië) en de Sovjet-Unie. Dit was aanleiding voor Koude Oorlog.

Vanaf 24 juni 1948 was het voor mensen uit de geallieerde sectoren verboden om door de Sovjet Unie sector te reizen. Om de geallieerde sectoren te bevoorraden moest er door de Sovjet Unie gereisd worden. De geallieerde loste dit probleem om door de sectoren te bevoorraden per vliegtuig. Hierdoor besloot de Sovjet-Unie op 2 mei 1949 de blokkade weer op te heffen.

In datzelfde jaar werd de DDR (Duitse Democratische Republiek) opgericht met Bonn de hoofdstad. Dit zorgde voor een verdeling in het communistische oosten en democratische westen. Vele inwoners van de DDR vluchten naar het westen.
De DDR wilde hier een einde aanmaken en in de nacht van 13 augustus 1961 werd een grens van prikkeldraad opgetrokken rondom west Berlijn. De versperring van prikkeldraad werd al snel vervangen door een stenen muur. Iedereen die over de muur probeerde te vluchten werd neergeschoten. Na vele politieke onderhandeling werd op 9 november 1989 werd de grens geopend. Waarna op 3 oktober 1990 Duitsland officieel werd herenigd en Berlijn werd weer de hoofdstad van Duitsland werd.

Original post by Martijn and software by Elliott Back

Anghiari is a lovely medieval small town located in Arezzo’s province. The locality lies on a charming hill situated between Tiber and Arno rivers, overlooking the beautiful High Tiber Valley landscape.

During the middle Ages, Anghiari was under the dominion of the Lords of Galbino subsequently passing into the Camaldolesi’s power.

Fully proud of its Tuscan history, the town reached it leading part during the famous Battle of Anghiari, held on 29th June 1440 by Milan’s government against Florence’s State in alliance with the Pope Eugene IV.
Florentine’s State army was conducted by Giampaolo Orsini and Micheletto Attendolo and Milan’s army by Niccolò Piccinino.
The victory of the Florence State was such as decisive as to consent them to stay over the control of central Italy.
According to Machiavelli’s writes, the battle was held in about 20 hours and, nevertheless the hard combating, only one soldier died, felling off his horse, as faithfully represented in the mural “The Battle of Anghiari” which Florence, many years later, entrusted to Leonardo da Vinci to commemorate the epic achievement.
Leonardo started the work on cartoons transferring them to an internal wall of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. While he was working on the mural several main artists were coming to the capital to watch the painting and to learn about Leonardo’s innovative technique.
Peter Paul Rubens made a copy of “The Battle of Anghiari” hosts in the Louvre and Biagio di Antonio, from Paolo Uccello’s school, made another one kept in Dublin, in the National Art Gallery of Ireland.
The mural was unfinished and definitively lost during the drying process in Florence. However, it was substituted in Palazzo Vecchio by a same object Giorgio Vasari’s mural.

What to visit in Anghiano:

- The Fortress: an imposing defensive structure completed in the 14th century, further destroyed and rebuilt in different periods. Together with the ancient castle the fortress is keeping the clock tower coming back from the 17th century.
- Palazzo Marzocco: built up in the 15th century, it was the residence of the aristocratic Angelieri family. Nowadays is hosting “The Battle of Anghiari Documentation Centre”.
- Palazzo Taglieschi: a beautiful Renaissance building with an elaborated façade, houses the National Museum of Arts and Popular Tradition hosting an interesting collection of paintings, frescoes, terracotta, statues, sacred furnishing and instruments coming back from different artistic periods. Its masterpiece is the wooden sculpture by Jacopo della Quercia representing “The Madonna and Child”.
- The Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie: it was built up between the 17th and the 18th century and hosts a wonderful glazed terracotta named “Madonna delle Grazie” by Della Robbia’s family.

Where to eat:

- Ristorante “La Nena”: a small popular restaurant located at the top of the town. It is well-known because of its fresh wild truffles and mushrooms. Its local cuisine is offering a very good hand made pasta, grilled meat, delicious hunting dishes and some unique vegetables or hunting homemade timbales.

Original post by Basil Gumming and software by Elliott Back

We’re still in Coral Bay, a wee town on the Ningaloo Reef. Today we had even better snorkelling and swimming with the fishies! We went on a 6-hour “nature tour” that was worth every penny.

First off, we went snorkelling with a giant manta ray (in the wild rather than in some aquarium!)…Iff reckons she was about 13 feet across. She was huge, gorgeous, so graceful and seemingly unconcerned about the 8 of us trailing her from a respectful distance. It was brilliant. Then we searched for humpback whales but couldn’t see any. We did see a lovely dolphin, though, so that’s ok. Next we snorkelled in some lovely, calm waters full of corals and fish. We spotted a starfish, and I looked out for eels and sea snakes but luckily didn’t see any! We then went to a shallow area known as a turtle sanctuary. We just watched from the boat to see what was around. Right away we saw two dugongs: a mother and baby! I squealed of course. Dugongs are basically manatees with whale tales rather than paddle tales. They’re big, fat vegetarians who eat sea grass (hence their common name, sea cows), and we were absolutely thrilled to see them in the wild like that. They surfaced several times to breathe, quite close to our boat, but then they decided to swim off. While in the turtle sanctuary, we also saw a big green turtle and a few rays. It was really lovely. Next up we snorkelled around a fish cleaning station, where there was a big reef shark (not huge, Iff reckons, but it sure looked like a big shark to me) and various other fish getting cleaned. It’s so amazing that these places exist where fish call a truce and help each other out rather than hunt each other! The water was really cold there, but it was thrilling to see all the colourful corals and fish and the shark. After that, we headed on back to dry land. Such a magical experience!

We’re getting the hang of snorkelling and are working up to whale sharks (first small fish, then bigger fish, a shark and a giant manta ray). One of the girls on our tour today did a whale shark snorkelling tour recently and saw 10 whale sharks, 8 of which she snorkelled with! Here’s hoping we have an experience like that, but then again I’ll be happy if we see just 1 whale shark. We shall see…

Original post by Trace and software by Elliott Back

We arrived in Coral Bay before dawn was even thinking of cracking - 3am! Luckily we’d booked a room ahead and had told them we would be arriving late - one poor unfortunate was stuck sleeping outside on a poolside lounge chair - and it’s not warm here at night I can tell you… Despite all our good planning, they hadn’t seen fit to grant us a blanket, so we had to fall back on the sleeping bags we picked up for the overland track. We’re not supposed to be using them in here, but we figure that they can stop us using a sleeping bag by giving us a blanket when we check in. We found out the next morning that we can get one if we leave them a small deposit. Problem solved.

Today we had a quick look around Coral Bay and have found that it’s a lovely little place. The whole town seems to consist of a few hotels, camp grounds and little shops huddled up against a beautiful shallow, coral filled bay (hence the name I guess…) with crystal clear water, teeming with little (and some quite big) fish. We managed to get ourselves onto a glass-bottomed boat tour of the bay with some snorkelling thrown in too. It was my first shot at snorkelling, but I figured I’d need some practice for when we get to Exmouth and those whale sharks. Anyway, snorkelling around the bay was wonderful. We got to see plenty of the bay’s inhabitants up close - both the coral and the fish. The fish were amazing! There were scoals of tiny silvery fish shimmering through the coral all synchronised together as though they were all part of the same animal. We also encountered all manner of muti-coloured fish, blue, yellow, black & white striped - the variety is incredible. Tomorrow we hope to snorkel with manta rays - some of whom can reach 7 metres long and weigh up to 2 tonnes (so I’m told…).

There have been rumours flying around here that there aren’t many whale sharks in the region and that we may not be able to see any… Depending on who you speak to there may/may not be humpback whales, should (or not) be dugongs and there is (or is not) the possibility of seeing “Old Greg” or even a kraken. I guess it’s all about who you believe… but we’ve booked the whale shark tour anyway so we’ll see.

Original post by Iff and software by Elliott Back

Since gambling is generally barred in Switzerland, Swiss casino regulators must know that they have to conform to the Social Awareness Plan so they can run the casinos smoothly. The Social Awareness Plan is a law for casinos on how they can oppose the detrimental consequences of gambling.

There are four essential requirements for both small and exalted Swiss casinos. Firstly, casinos must consider the identification cards of casino patrons and bar people under 18 years. If you belong to this age group, you should not even try to barge in a Swiss casino; or else, you will be barred in other casinos around the country. Secondly, Swiss casinos must bestow their guests with prerequisite details about gambling consequences and should be ready to help these patrons with regard to problem gambling. Thirdly, the casino personnel must be trained enough to spot and approach possible problem gamblers and bestow them with prerequisite assistance. Lastly, casinos must bar patrons who gamble carelessly beyond limits, which also mean that Swiss casinos don’t allow gamblers who don’’t have adequate money.

Those are light requirements for casinos to freely operate everywhere in Switzerland. But whether you are the casino operator or a patron, you are downright obligated to conform to these rules.

Original post by Traveler and software by Elliott Back

Sightseers can do varying things in Spain, from beach resort hopping to Spanish church exploring. But teaching is another incomparable and meaningful way to spend your summer expedition in this beautiful European region. If your English is good and you want some extra cash, you can join the varying summer camps everywhere in the country. Parents ordinarily send their kids to summer camps because they want to go abroad alone without the hassle of taking care of their children. This act is utterly selfish, but parents deserve a good breather, right?

Teaching the English language in summer camps is not utterly demanding because summer camps bestow free lodging and meals for two months. Aside from teaching, teachers can also enjoy doing multifarious pastimes with the kids like games and sports; that is, if the summer camp is complete with facilities.

Foreign teachers who have no working visas are also welcome to partake in the camps, but their profits are limited. Anyway, foreign teachers should not worry about the locals because they are quite amicable, especially to sightseers. So if you think your summer expedition is uninteresting and useless, make it more meaningful and profitable by teaching a universal language in Spanish summer camps.

Original post by Traveler and software by Elliott Back

Fresh news said that every year, Russia loses nearly 750,000 citizens due to severe harsh diseases and poor health; consequently, the population of Russia dropped by almost 6 million. This reduction in population can also be viewed as the result of the fluctuation of the country’s birth rate as well as the surge of its death rate.

News also added that incomplete diet, exceptionally characterized by too much drinking, smoking, and chronic diseases such as heart ailment and cancer, is the most common cause of death among Russian people. Aside from incomplete diet, lack of significant minerals and vitamins during the winter season is another reason for Russians to suffer from ill health. Russians lack vitamins throughout the winter months because of their scarce source of fruits as well as vegetables.

Accordingly, the Russian government researched for supplements that can help its people oppose incomplete health. In 2003, the creation of vitamins raised by 17.5% and low fat foods also surged by 17%, which clearly show that Russia is making full effort to save its countrymen from a poor health lifestyle. But aside from the efforts of the government, doctors still endorse Russians to personally take care of their health because these efforts are ineffective if people themselves won’t do anything.

Original post by Traveler and software by Elliott Back

Since several of immigrants flood the French region and the country’s culture is becoming more diverse at present, it is quite difficult to define what a typical Frenchman is. But if you’re a standard visitor of France, you surely know the traits that best describe Frenchmen or French people.

Contrary to the standard understanding that French locals are rude to those who can’t clearly pronounce their language, the French, in fact, appreciate people who make effort to speak in their native tongue. Generally, the French are amicable and light-hearted and specially love to accommodate foreign sightseers. Frenchmen also luxuriate laughing and relaxing in street cafes, where they often go alone or with their cohorts. French people also have a passion for useful conversation; a good example of this quality is seen in the movie “After Sunset,” which presents nothing but a long conversation between a French girl and her lover. The French also have fun food, exceptionally delectable local and foreign cuisines, and wine.

Now that you know the everyday qualities of Frenchmen, forget about that man with a moustache in a striped shirt and a beret on his head, carrying baguettes and wine cheese; certainly, as mentioned above, there is more to the characteristics of Frenchmen than these common notions.

Original post by Traveler and software by Elliott Back

Since numerous of immigrants flood the French region and the country’s culture is becoming more diverse these days, it is quite difficult to define what a typical Frenchman is. But if you’re a natural visitor of France, you surely know the attributes that best describe Frenchmen or French people.

Contrary to the natural thinking that French locals are rude to those who can’t clearly pronounce their language, the French, in fact, appreciate people who make effort to speak in their native tongue. Generally, the French are amiable and light-hearted and specially love to accommodate foreign voyagers. Frenchmen also adore laughing and relaxing in street cafes, where they often go alone or with their pals. French people also have a passion for important conversation; a good example of this attribute is seen in the movie “After Sunset,” which presents nothing but a long conversation between a French girl and her lover. The French also delight in food, especially delectable local and foreign cuisines, and wine.

Now that you know the usual) attributes of Frenchmen, forget about that man with a moustache in a striped shirt and a beret on his head, carrying baguettes and wine cheese; certainly, as mentioned above, there is more to the characteristics of Frenchmen than these common notions.

Original post by Traveler and software by Elliott Back

Paris will be swinging along to the sound of music next Thursday (21st June) when the F&#234te de la Musique takes place. Hundreds of amateur and professional musicians will perform impromptu gigs in train stations, parks, on street corners and in other public places. Big-name artists are also expected to perform at some of the larger venues such as the Place de la Republique and the Palais Royal. This annual event, which is completely free to the public, aims to enourage the expression of a range of musical styles - including jazz, classical, rock and pop – all within a carnival atmosphere. For more information visit fetedelamusique.culture.fr.

Original post by Andy Pettefer and software by Elliott Back