My 10 Most Memorable Hotels of 2011

I stay in a lot of different hotels. A LOT of hotels. They range from 5-start luxury hotels to youth hostels. Some I pay for myself (aka the cheap ones) and others are provided by tourist boards (aka the nice ones). The majority of the places I stay at all sort of blur into one …

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Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyn

Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyn World Heritage Site, Ireland

From the World Heritage inscription: The monuments of the Bend of the Boyne display longevity of settlement whose origins are found in Neolithic settlements The various monuments, particularly the great passage tomb, represent important cultural, social, artistic and scientific developments over a considerable length of time. Nowhere else in the world is found the continuity …

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December 2011 Question and Answers

I hope that everyone is enjoying their holidays. Since I’ve arrived back in Wisconsin I’ve been spending my time editing photos and trying to catch up on work which has piled up over the last few months. I had over 4,500 from the last 2 months and I’m now down to 2,000. You can see …

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Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd

Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage inscription: The four castles of Beaumaris, Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech and the attendant fortified towns at Conwy and Caernarfon are the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe, as demonstrated through their completeness, pristine state, evidence …

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Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage inscription: The Pontcysyllte Canal is a remarkable example of the construction of a human-engineered waterway in a difficult geographical environment, at the end of the 18th century and the start of the 19th century. It required extensive and boldly conceived civil engineering works. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is …

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Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City

Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City World Heritage inscription: The city and port of Liverpool are an exceptional testimony to the development of maritime mercantile culture in the 18th and 19th centuries and played an important role in the growth of the British Empire. Liverpool is an outstanding example of a world mercantile port …

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Berlin Modernism Housing Estates

Berlin Modernism Housing Estates - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates World Heritage inscription: The set of housing estates in the Berlin Modern Style provides outstanding testimony to the implementation of housing policies during the period 1910 – 1933 and especially during the Weimar Republic, when the city of Berlin was characterized by its political, social, cultural and technical progressiveness. …

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Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin

Museumsinsel (Museum Island) UNESCO World Heritage Site, Berlin

From the Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin World Heritage inscription: The art museum is a social phenomenon that owes its origins to the Age of Enlightenment and its extension to all people to the French Revolution. The Museumsinsel is the most outstanding example of this concept given material form and a symbolic central urban setting, and …

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Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin

Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin World Heritage inscription: The ensemble of the chateaux and parks of Potsdam is an exceptional artistic achievement whose eclectic and evolutionary features reinforce its uniqueness: from Knobelsdorff to Schinkel and from Eyserbeck to Lenné, a series of architectural and landscaping masterpieces were built within a single …

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