2009 December travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Uig Sands is one of Britain‘s most remote but beautiful bays, and there are twenty other beaches within walking distance. Just next to this remote beauty a hotel stands with a maximum of sixteen guests. This is a chance to escape to your own beach. However, rather than sunbathing and swimming in the waves, you also will be walking, picnicking, spotting birds and wildflowers, fishing, photographing, exploring and just breathing the fresh air of the Atlantic. Photo by: 58-north
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The Enchantment Resort is located in Sedona’s legendary Boynton Canyon, a place of bluffs, buttes, and boldly shaped red-rock formations. At 4,600 feet, resort sits at an ideal altitude, offering the raw beauty of a desert environment without the searing heat. Located in one of the most spectacular natural settings on Earth, Enchantment Resort is the premier destination resort in Northern Arizona, U.S.A. The Resort, in Sedona, is 110 miles north of Phoenix.
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Every winter the world’s biggest snow castle has been built at Kemi in northern Finland, and every springs it melts away to nothing. Each year it is slightly different. Sometimes it stands 20 m or three stories high, or even 1,000 m long. Whatever is built, the castle attracts tens of thousands of daytime visitors. Many include it in the package of winter activities, such as a trip on an ice-breaking ship or a husky-sled safari.
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The Castel del Monte is a remarkable octagonal structure erected for the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the southernmost reaches of the empire, in Puglia, southern Italy. It is thought that the building’s distinctive design may be the result of the emperor’s direct involvement. The design is rigorously geometrical and the eight corners of the exterior are marked by bastions, which are also octagonal in form, as is the internal courtyard. Photo by: fmarmo
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Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and Australia. Tuvalu consists of nine small islands scattered over 500,000 sq mi of the western Pacific, just south of the equator. The islands include Niulakita, Nukulaelae, Funafuti, Nukufetau, Vaitupu, Nui, Niutao, Nanumaga (Nanumanga), and Nanumea. The capital and largest city is Fongafale, on Funafuti Funafuti.
Area: 9.9 sq mi (25.6 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 9,700. Tuvalu is a constitutional monarchy with one legislative house; its chief of state is the British monarch represented by the governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister.
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The  Cape  Schanck  House, Melbourne  is  situated  near  rugged  coastline  subject  to  strong  prevailing  winds  and  sits  within  an  expanse  of  native  tea  trees. The  flows  through  the  site  inform  the  linear  site  nature  of  the  east  and  west  decks  that  extend  into  the  landscape. The  pattering  of  the  pavers  was  based  on  the  nearby  rock  platform, where  fast-cooling  lava  forms  into  sequential  patterns  of  pentagons  and  hexagons.

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A  bright  green  object  sitting  on  top  of  the  elevator  shaft  of  the  former  warehouse  building  Las  Palmas  acted  in  2001  as  a  widely  visible, three  dimensional  logo  for  its  host  building  whose  large, industrial  spaces  were  temporarily  used  for  various  exhibitions  during  Rotterdam’s  year  as  European  cultural  capital. One  of  the  exhibitions  was  called  Parasites  and  presented  designs  of  small-scale   objects  for  unused  urban  sites  making  “parasitic”  use  of  the  existing  infrastructure. The  exhibition  was  curated  and  organized  by  Mechthild  Stuhlmacher  and  Rien  Korteknie, involving  an international  group  of  architects.
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Artist: Stefan  Eberstadt, Munich
Structural  Engineering: Thomas Beck, Munich
Steel   Construction: Alfred  Mayrhofer
Total  Surface:  9m2
Construction  Cost:  approx € 25.000
Perched  between  art  and  architecture, form  and  function, private  and  public  property, the  Rucksack  House  is  a  hovering  illuminated  space  that  looks  like  a  cross  between  temporary  scaffolding  and  minimal  sculpture.
Its  design  is  the  result  of  fundamental  artistic  questions: How  can  sculpture  function  outside  the  context  of  art? What  claim   does the  sculpture  has  today? Where  does  sculpture  apply  in  today’s  world?

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The Trullo houses are extraordinary landmark, which sits in Alberobello, Apulia, Italy. The whole range is a dry-wall construction made from local stone called chiancarelle. A trullo is erected on a square or round base with thick stone walls to keep the rooms warm in winter and cool in summer. The roofs are raised in concentric circles of hand-cut limestone covered by weathered slabs. Photo by: gianluca.giacalone
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The Cathedral of Notre Dame at Chartres, France is one of the foremost examples of High Gothic architecture. The cathedral displayed innovations in building techniques, sculpture and stained glass that set the standard for thirteenth-century architecture. Construction on the Romanesque foundations was begun in 1145, and the body of the cathedral was rebuilt between 1194 and 1220. Photo by: Navin Michael
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