The Brixton Market in Brixton, South London is home to Europe’s biggest African and Caribbean market. Open from 10 am to sunset six days a week, being closed on Sunday the market is a multicultural celebration of food, music, art, clothing and bargains everywhere. The market is made up of several smaller markets and a few arcades, including the Electric Avenue, which was the first street market to be lit with electricity, you might remember the Eddie Grant reggae song in the 80’s called Electric Avenue, this is about the market. The market has some of London’s freshest and best produce with plenty of ethnic specialties including Halal meats, tropical vegetables and fruits and even Caribbean bakeries. The markets date back to the 1870’s but the Afro influences have developed after the second world war when thousands of immigrants came to London with the labor shortages. Make sure to bring plenty of change for bargains and plenty of time to browse you won’t be going home empty handed. Read the rest of this entry »
The classic BBC program Dr Who has made a bit of a comeback and is attracting a huge cult following, with huge names like Kylie Minogue appearing on the new series. Cardiff in Wales is getting in on the act, Cardiff is actually one of the main filming locations for the Touchwood series. They are home to the Doctor Who Exhibition which is a multimedia extravaganza at the Red Dragon Centre at Atlantic Wharf on the lovely Cardiff Bay. The exhibition is very popular and celebrates the 40 year linage of the series, with video, photography, costumes sets and of course those scary robot daleks. You don’t need to be a Dr Who fan to enjoy this attraction, there are some great displays for anyone interested in film and television with exhibits on scripts, writing, acting, and design and its all a bit of fun. Read the rest of this entry »
Minimundus is a fantastic miniature park in Carinthia, Austria and has over 150 miniature architectural models from all around the world at an amazing 1:25 scale. The park has been open for fifty years and has seen over 15 million people through its gates, raising money for the children’s organisation Rettet das Kind or Save a child who own the park. The park has become so popular another park located at Meckenbeuren on the lovely Lake Constance in Germany has opened giving visitors two choices. Some of the amazing buildings include the Sydney Opera House, Eiffel tower, the White House, Taj Mahal and the Suleiman Mosque. They even have model trains and a scale space shuttle. A treat for young and old. Read the rest of this entry »
The Galerie Rudolfinum is the home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra who are regarded as one of the world’s finest. Beautifully set on the banks of the Vltava amongst lovely manicured gardens the building was once home commercial operations but the Czech Savings Bank bought the site in 1874 and decided to utilize the building as a house of arts to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Located in-between the Old Town and Lesser Town the Rudolfinum is in short walking distance to other prominent Prague galleries and performing arts centres including the Academy of Decorative Arts, and Facility of Philosophy. The beautiful neo renaissance building also houses a art gallery which focuses on contemporary art and shows exhibitions from many new and emerging artists. The building was also home to the provisional seat of Parliament of the Czechoslovak Republic from the 1920’s but after the second World War the Czech Philharmonic were given the facility back again and in the 1990’s it was rebuilt and modernized to suit their purpose and restore many of the original features for many years to come. Read the rest of this entry »
Westminster Abbey or as it is really know the Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster is London’s most important churches. With a history dating back to 616 the abbey was built during the 1500’s with construction commissioned by Henry III in 1245. The church has become an important coronation and burial site for many English monarchs over the years. The abbey is today recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is still used as one of London’s most important churches. The beautiful gothic western towers as seen on our photograph were built between 1722 and 1745 and were constructed out of Portland stone which is the same limestone used on Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral it is mined from the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Inside the Abbey is some of England’s most beautiful treasures, artworks, sculptures and magnificent tile work and stained glass windows make this abbey astonishing. Over a million people visit the Abbey each year and thousands come each day to worship, details on guided tours and opening times can be found on the official website.
The Gendarmenmarkt in the heart of Berlin would have to be one of the most beautiful plazas in Europe. It is home to the Schauspielhas Theatre which is now a concert hall and the Franzosischer Dom and Deutscher Dom which are both cathedrals. The Deutscher Dom or German Cathedral was built in the 1700’s but was completely destroyed by fire in 1945 and was rebuilt in the 1990’s and now is a German history museum. The Franzosischer Dom or French Cathedral is nearly an identical copy of the Deutscher Dom and was built early in the 1700. The Dom now houses a Huguenot museum, a restaurant on the top floor and a viewing platform where spectacular views of the area can be seen. Recently luxury hotels and the Friedrichstadt Shopping Arcade have been built near the square which has only made the precinct more popular.
The Trocadero is a huge sandstone monument on across the river from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and is one of the best places to get some magnificent photographs of the tower. The Trocadero was originally built in 1867 for the World Fair, along with the Eiffel Tower, originally to commemorate the Battle of Trocadero which was in Southern Spain back in 1823. The building was replaced with what we have today in 1937 which was also built for an Expo, the Exposition Internationale of 1937. The building uses a modern classical style, with a hint of art deco it was designed by architects Louis Hippolyte Boileau, Leon Azema and Jacques carlu and features two wings which form a wide arc, which actually sit over the original foundations. The building is features some magnificent sculptures and artwork and inside is home to a naval museum (Musee national de la marine), the Musee de L’Homme which is a ethnology museum on the right wing while the left wing has the Musee national des monuments francisas and the Theatre national de Chaillot. One chilling piece of Paris’s history was the Trocadero was the place Adolf Hitler was photographed during his tour of the city after it fell to the German’s during the Second World War. Read the rest of this entry »
The Frauenkirche or the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady is one of Munich’s most recognisable and magnificent landmarks. The two monstrous red brick towers were built in 1525 and is the largest church in the Bavarian capital located right in the heart of the city at Frauenplatz 1. Visitors can climb the 100 metres of the south tower for magnificent views of the city and through to the alps on a fine day. The church received some very nasty damage during the Second World war with the roof collapsing and one of the towers very badly hurt but major restorations over the last 60 years has brought this building back to its former glory. Inside the cathedral there is room for over 20,000 people and it features an amazing collection of 14th to 18th century artwork including works by Jan Polac and Ignaz Gunther. One of the church’s highlights is the Teufelstritt or Devil’s footstep at the entrance, ledged has it that it is the place the Devil stood to ridicule the church and the builder. Read the rest of this entry »
Valencia in Spain is home to the world’s largest aquarium in Europe, it is home to 45,000 animals and over 500 different species including sharks, penguins, dolphins, seals, walruses and these amazing beluga whales. The beluga whale comes from Arctic regions and grows to about 5 metres long. As you will see from today’s You Tube video its not hard to see why they are the aquarium’s star attraction. They are extremely intelligent and from the the centre is part of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies which is a huge complex with some amazing architecture and also features an opera house, Imax, planetarium, laserium and a huge science museum all set out in beautiful parklands and waterways. Read the rest of this entry »
Located in Alexander Park in St Petersburg is Russia’s oldest zoo. It was founded in 1865 by Sophia and Julius Gerhardt and is today home to over 400 species of animals. The Zoo has had a bit of a sad past, in the early 1900’s the zoo was very run down and closed to visitors. But in 1918 the zoo was restored and hunting expeditions were sent out to capture animals from around the world. But the Second World War brought more problems the poor old hippos had to eat sawdust porridge to survive the city’s siege by the evil Nazis. And although the people of Leningrad were starving the treasured elephants were kept fed and happy until they were sadly killed by bombs in an air raid in 1944. The city’s people were devastated, and the zoo closed for a while before re opening with a new elephant and some other exotic animals. Today the zoo is back to its former glory and a favorite for young and old. Read the rest of this entry »
