December 31, 2008 – 2:54 am
As so often in Australia’s history, Melbourne was founded through fraud when explorer John Batman, an Australian who spoke in several aboriginal dialects, made a “deal” with aborigines to lease land on behalf of investors.
While offering the Aborigines any compensation at all was progressive in a colonial culture that preferred to simply run them [...]
December 30, 2008 – 10:04 pm
After climbing 508 metres up the Taipei 101 tower, the highest structure in the world, it can be seen easily from anywhere in the city, one can look down on the genuine Taipei amidst all the modern buildings: temples, markets, the National Palace Museum and in between them, the many old streets and lanes where [...]
December 29, 2008 – 11:11 pm
The Lithuanian city of Vilnius exudes southern charm under the northern sun. Nestled in the natural amphitheatre of the surrounding Lithuanian hills, Vilnilus has much to offer Australian adventurers interested in classical architecture.
Vilnius, which can look back on a thousand years of Lithuanian history, can boast one of the largest historical town centres in Eastern [...]
December 28, 2008 – 6:44 am
Located in the centre of Europe, Vienna is both a bustling city and a destination famous for its cafes, historic areas, lovely parks, elegant squares and romantic courtyards.
Vienna means cafe culture, music and wine. Where else can one so contentedly spend all day sitting in a cafe, reading a magazine, sipping a Viennese coffee [...]
December 27, 2008 – 5:43 am
Almost everyone who comes to Copenhagen visits the little mermaid harbour. Hans Christian Andersen’s popular fairy tale is about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.
Love is capricious. In the end, [...]
December 15, 2008 – 5:33 am
One of the world’s most beautiful squares, Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) is the heart of Venice, a vast open space bordered by an orderly procession of arcades marching toward the fairy tale cupolas and marble lacework of the Basilica di San Marco.
Alwyas packed by day with people and fluttering pigeons, it can be [...]