Champs-Elysees

The Avenue des Champs-Elysees is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France and most beautiful avenue in the world. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Paris. With its cinemas, cafes, luxury specialty shops and clipped chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs- Elysees is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with rents as high as €1.1 million / USD1.5 million per 1,000 square feet of space, it remains the most expensive strip of real estate in Europe. The name is French for Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology.

The Champs- Elysees were originally fields and market gardens, until 1616, when Marie de Medici decided to extend the garden axis of the Palais des Tuileries with an avenue of trees. By the late 1700s, the Champs- Elysees had become a fashionable avenue; the bosquet plantings on either side had thickened enough to be given formal rectangular glades.

The Avenue des Champs- Elysees is known in France as La plus belle avenue du monde. The arrival of global chain stores in recent years has slightly changed its character, and in a first effort to stem these changes, the City of Paris which is called this trend as "banalisation" decided in 2007 to ban the Swedish clothing chain H&M from opening a store on the avenue. In 2008, however, American clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch was given permission to open a store.

The avenue runs for 2 kilometres / 1.25 miles through the 8th arrondissement in northwestern Paris, from the Place de la Concorde in the east, with the Obelisk of Luxor, to the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly the Place de l'Etoile) in the west, location of the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs-Elysees forms part of the Axe historique.

The lower part of the Champs- Elysees is bordered by greenery and by buildings such as the Theatre Marigny and the Grand Palais containing the Palais de la Decouverte. The Elysee Palace is slightly to the north, but not on the avenue itself. Further to the west, the avenue is lined with cinemas, cafes and restaurants most notably Fouquets and luxury specialty shops. The Champs- Elysees ends at the Arc de Triomphe, built by Napoleon Bonaparte to honour his victories.

The avenue is also one of the most famous streets in the world for upscale shopping. Adidas, Benetton, the Disney Store, Nike, Zara, Cartier, Bel Air Fashion, continental Europe's largest Gap, and Sephora occupy major spaces. Traditionally home to popular brands, as well as luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, the Avenue des Champs Elysees confirms its world-class appeal as a prime real estate location: it has lately seen the opening of new big upscale shops such as the biggest Adidas store in the world. Abercrombie & Fitch has received permission for a flagship store there, scheduled to open to the public in 2011.

Zygmunts Column

Zygmunts Column built in 1644 is one of Warsaws most famous landmarks and one of the oldest secular monuments in northern Europe. It is also called as Sigismunds Column. The column and statue commemorate King Zygmunt III Waza, who in 1596 had moved Poland capital from Krakow to Warsaw.

Built between 1643 and 1644, the column was constructed on the orders of Zygmunts son and successor, King Wladyslaw IV Vasa. It was designed by the Italian-born architect Constantino Tencalla and the sculptor Clemente Molli, and cast by Daniel Tym. The Zygmunts Column was modelled on the Italian columns in front of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Column of Phocas in Rome.

In 1681 the monument was surrounded with a wooden fence, which was later replaced with a permanent iron fence. The marble column itself was renovated many times in the next few centuries. In 1854 the monument was surrounded with a fountain featuring marble tritons sculpted by the German, August Kiss.

In 1863 the column was renovated somewhat again, but still needed work, and between 1885 and 1887 it was replaced with a new column of granite. Between 1927 and 1930, the monument was again renovated, and was restored to its original appearance when the fountain and the fence around it were removed.

On September 1, 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the monument was demolished by the Germans, and its bronze statue was badly damaged. After the war the statue was repaired, and in 1949 it was set up on a new column, made of granite form the Strzegom mine, a couple of meters from the original site. The original broken pieces of the column can still be seen lying next to the Royal Castle.

On the Corinthian column 8.5 m high, a sculpture of the King, 2.75-meter high, in archaistic armour is placed. Sigismund Column now stands at 22 meters and is adorned by four eagles. The king is dressed in armor and carries a cross in one hand and wields a sword in the other.

Kravanh Mountains

The Kravanh Mountains, or literally Cardamom Mountains is a mountain range in the south west of Cambodia. The highest elevation of the Cardamom Mountains is Phnom Aural at 1,813 metres or 5,948 ft high. This is also Cambodia's highest peak. The mountain range extends along a southeast-northwest axis, and is continued to the southeast by the Damrei Mountains and to the northwest by an extension into Thailand territory known as the Soi Dao Mountains. The southern boundary of the Cardamoms is in Koh Kong Province and the northern boundary is in Veal Veang District in Pursat Province.

This range of mountains formed one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge and many parts are largely inaccessible. The inaccessibility of the hills helped to preserve the area the mountains now form an endangered ecoregion. The mountains contain many jar sites scattered around the mountains. The jars are a unique feature to the mountain. They are 60 cm high and carry the bones of deceased Cambodians. Local legends suggest the bones are the remains of Cambodian royalty.

The mountain range is home to fourteen endangered and threatened mammal species including the Asian elephant, Indochinese Tiger, Malayan sun bear and Pileated gibbon, Irrawaddy and humpback dolphins, and half of Cambodia’s bird species. It is the last place on earth with Siamese crocodiles and is the only habitat remaining in Cambodia for the nearly extinct batagur baska or Royal turtle.

The population of the Cardamom Mountain Range is extremely poor, and threats to the biological diversity of the region include habitat loss due to illegal logging, wildlife poaching, and forest fires caused by slash-and-burn agriculture. Among the international conservation organizations working in the area are Wildlife Alliance, Conservation International, Fauna and Flora International and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature).

Dense tropical rain forest prevails on their western slopes, which annually receive from 150 to 200 inches or 3,800–5,000 mm of rainfall. By contrast only 40 to 60 inches or 1,000 to 1,500 mm fall on the wooded eastern slopes in the rain shadow facing the interior Cambodian plain. On their slopes cardamom and pepper are still grown commercially.

Tourism is relatively new to the area. In 2008, Wildlife Alliance launched a community-based ecotourism program in the village of Chi Phat, marketed as the gateway to the Cardamoms. However the number of international visitors remains very small in comparison to the tourism development of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, or Phnom Penh.

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's biggest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres / 1,600 miles over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres / 133,000 sq miles. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef supports a wide diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN has labeled it one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The Queensland National Trust has named it a state icon of Queensland.

A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as overfishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures to the reef and its ecosystem include water quality from runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish.

The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and utilised by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsundays and Cairns regions. Tourism is also an important economic activity for the region. Fishing also occurs in the region, generating Australia 1 billion dollar per year.

The Great Barrier Reef reaches from Torres Strait in the north to the unnamed passage between Lady Elliot Island and Fraser Island in the south. Lady Elliot Island is located 1,915 km / 1,190 miles southeast of Bramble Cay as the crow flies.The Great Barrier Reef supports a diversity of life, including many vulnerable or endangered species, some of which may be endemic to the reef system. Thirty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises have been recorded in the Great Barrier Reef, including the dwarf minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, and the humpback whale. Large populations of dugongs live there.

Six species of sea turtles come to the reef to breed – the green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, flatback turtle, and the olive ridley. Fifteen species of seagrass in beds attract the dugongs and turtles, and provide a habitat for fish. The most common genera of seagrasses are Halophila and Halodule. Saltwater crocodiles live in mangrove and salt marshes on the coast near the reef. Nearly 125 species of shark, stingray, skates or chimera live on the reef.

215 species of birds including 22 species of seabirds and 32 species of shorebirds are attracted to the reef or nest or roost on the islands, including the white-bellied sea eagle and roseate tern. Most nesting sites are on islands in the northern and southern regions of the Great Barrier Reef, with 1.4-1.7 million birds using the sites to breed. Seventeen species of sea snake live on the Great Barrier Reef.

More than 1,500 species of fish live on the reef, including the clownfish, red bass, red-throat emperor, and several species of snapper and coral trout. Forty-nine species are known to mass spawn, with eighty-four other species found on the reef spawning elsewhere in their range. Four hundred species of corals, both hard corals and soft corals are found on the reef. The majority of these spawn gametes, breeding in mass spawning events that are controlled by the rising sea temperatures of spring and summer, the lunar cycle, and the diurnal cycle.

Casa Loma

Casa Loma is now a museum and landmark in uptown Toronto, constructed in the Gothic Revival style. It was originally a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. Casa Loma was constructed over a three-year period from 1911-1914. The architect of the mansion was E. J. Lennox, who was responsible for the designs of several other city landmarks.

In 1903 Sir Henry Pellatt purchased 25 lots from developers Kertland and Rolf. Sir Henry commissioned Canadian architect E.J. Lennox to design Casa Loma with construction beginning in 1911, starting with the massive stables, potting shed and Hunting Lodge a few hundred feet north of the main building. The Hunting Lodge is a two storey 4,380 square foot house. The house cost approximately 3.5 million dollars and took a team of 300 workers three years to build from start to finish. At 98 rooms, it was the largest private residence in Canada. Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages for pipe organs, central vacuum, two secret passages in Sir Henry's ground-floor office and three bowling alleys.

Most of the third floor was left unfinished, and today serve as the Regimental Museum for The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. Pellatt joined the Regiment as a Rifleman and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the Commanding Officer. He was knighted for his dedication to the Regiment. Later, Pellatt served as the Honorary Colonel and was promoted to Major-General upon retirement.

Casa Loma has five acres of gardens. An underground tunnel connects Casa Loma to the Hunting Lodge and to the Stables Garage, Potting Shed, Stalls, Carriage Room and Tack Rooms. Sir Henry imported artisans from Europe to design much of the furniture and other features of the castle.

Casa Loma is on Austin Terrace, at the north end of Spadina Road on an escarpment above Davenport Road. Davenport runs along the bottom of the escarpment which was the shoreline of Lake Iroquois, the predecessor of Lake Ontario. Casa Loma affords views down the escarpment and Spadina Avenue into the heart of Toronto. Stables located at 330 Walmer road and Hunting Lodge at 328 Walmer road.

Due to its unique architectural character in Toronto, Casa Loma has been a popular location for movies and TV. For example, it has served as a location for movies such as X-Men, Strange Brew, Chicago, The Tuxedo, and The Pacifier.