Hammerfest: The Northermost Town in the World

Hammerfest

Dad and I made sure we got our certificate of Membership at the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society which can only be found in the northermost town in the world, Hammerfest.

The city lies 70° 39' 48" north and achieved its town status on the 7th of July 1789, making it the oldest town in northern Norway. The town was founded because of its natural harbour, something which is equally important today for Hammerfests economic foundation. Despite its geographical position, Hammerfest has maintained its international connections. As early as 1852, the first international measurement of the earths circumference was completed in Hammerfest, and in 1891 Hammerfest was the first town in northern Europe with electric street lighting.


Today Hammerfest is a modern town with an open and unique town atmosphere, where the town square and harbour are its natural meeting places. Hammerfest is an important communication centre in the county of Finnmark, and this makes it an ideal starting point for coastal and other scenic excursions in the county

My favorite city in Germany's Romantic Route

Rothenburg ob de Tauber, Germany

One of our most memorable trips in Germany was the romantic road tour. I think we started in Wurzburg and ended in Munich. The most picturesque among the places along the route was Rothernburg ob de Tauber thats why we chose to stay here overnight.

In English, the city's name is translated as Red castle on the Tauber and its renowned as the finest example of an authentic medieval town in all of Germany.

The old Town Square is adorned with fountains and flowers, and watchtowers built to keep a lookout for marauding enemies punctuate formidable walls. Half-timbered houses lean against one another along narrow cobbled lanes.

Even the old McDonalds eatery was built with medieval decors. The photo shows me with a german actor who was right outside the play house.

One day I would like to spend christmas in this city they also call 'christmas town'.

Iloilo City

Century Bell, Iloilo

Iloilo, a province rich in historical and cultural attractions, home of the famous Dinagyang festival (every4th weekend of January), stately mansions, majestic century-old churches, unspoiled countrysides and exotic delicacies.

Changing of the guards, East Berlin 

Cafe Gambrinus, Naples

Gambrinus, Naples

Naples is a city that prides itself on coffee—believes itself to be the sole arbiter of what sets a magnificent brew apart from the swill they serve in the rest of the world.

The Caffè Gambrinus is on the ground floor of the large building that houses the Naples Prefecture at Piazza Plebiscito. One entrance is on that large square, itself; the main entrance is on Piazza Trieste e Trento (still known to many as Piazza San Ferdinando, named for the church on that square).

Gambrinus is a few yards away from the Royal Palace, the San Carlo opera house, and the Galleria Umberto. It is at the beginning of two of the most famous streets in Naples: via Toledo (also known as via Roma) and via Chiaia, the main street that joined the downtown area of 1900 to the western part of the city. Gambrinus, thus, was the crossroads where music, art, and politics came together in the late 1800s to sit together and have a coffee and maybe a brandy or two. In other words, a watering-hole for intellectuals.


Gambrinus was born as, simply, il Gran Caffè on its current premises in the 1860s. By the 1890s, with the great rebuilding of Naples, it turned into the Caffè Gambrinus, using the name of the "patron saint of beer," that name deriving from Jan Primus (John I), a 13th–century Burgundy prince. Thus, Gambrinus, like other establishments of its kind was and remains a place where you do more than just drink coffee.

Monet's Garden, Giverny

Monet's Garden

Part of Claude Monet's famous garden in Giverny, France.

Monet's Garden is actually composed of two parts - one is the orchard and the other the Water Garden.

The land is divided into flowerbeds where flower clumps of different heights create volume. Fruit trees or ornamental trees dominate the climbing roses, the long -stemmed hollyhocks and the coloured banks of annuals. Monet mixed the simplest flowers (daisies and poppies) with the most rare varieties.

The water garden is full of asymmetries and curves. It is inspired by the Japanese gardens that Monet knew from the prints he collected avidly.

Floriade 1992

Floriade


Floriade, the grand horticulture show is held only every ten years. We were able to witness the beautiful grand parade held each September in Amsterdam prior to visiting the Floriade and we also marvelled at the awesome flowers displayed at Keukenhof gardens that was why we were determined to see the grandest display of all which showed hundreds of hectares of all varieties of flowers and plants.

I sacrificed bringing my two heavy SLR cameras just to capture the beauty of all the flowers.

The 1992 Floriade held in 1992 in Zoetermeer, Netherlands.

Fontainebleau Castle

Fontainbleau Castle, France

Fontainbleau is a small village just south of Paris surrounded by forests. Its main attraction is the 16th century castle which is actually the first renaissance building outside Italy.

The castle was built from 16th until the 18th century. In the 16th century, Francois I transformed the castle into a Renaissance palace decorated by Florentine artists. The castle was made into a national museum since 1870.

Hidden nook at Sonia's Garden 

Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde, Paris

At 8 hectares, the octagonal Place de la Concorde is the largest square in Paris. It is situated between the Tuileries and the Champs-Elysées.

A guillotine was installed at the center of the square and in a time span of only a couple of years, 1119 people were beheaded here. Amongst them many famous people like King Louis XVI, Marie-Antionette, and revolutionary Robespierre, just to name a few.

After the revolution the square was renamed several times until 1830, when it was given the current name 'Place de la Concorde'.

In the 19th century the 3200 years old obelisk from the temple of Ramses II at Thebes was installed at the center of the Place de la Concorde. It is a 23 meters tall monolith in pink granite and weighs approximately 230 tons.

At each corner of the octagonal square is a statue representing a French city: Bordeaux, Brest, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Rouen and Strasbourg.

From the Place de la Concorde you can see the Arc de Triomphe (west), the Madeleine (north), the Tuileries (east) and, across the Seine, the Assemblée Nationale (south).

mom and I in Paris