I'm a real rambler -- I travel wherever and whenever I can. On my travels, I have seen so many wonders and treasures and I've learned to love and respect the cultural and natural heritage of the places I visit.
Because of this, I also have a lot of admiration for the work UNESCO does protecting and promoting our world heritage:
"The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and
preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world
considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in
an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972."
UNESCO also works to promote sustainable tourism.
Here's a list of World Heritage sites I've visited. I haven't blogged about more than two of them, but I promise to add more posts on this soon.
- Historic Centre of Vienna (Austria)
- La Grand-Place, Brussels (Belgium)
- Historic Centre of Prague (Czech Republic) [My Vox post]
- Chartres Cathedral (France)
- Palace and Park of Versailles (France)
- Vézelay, Church and Hill (France)
- Paris, Banks of the Seine (France)
- Hanseatic City of Lübeck (Germany)
- Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (Germany)
- Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin (Germany)
- Acropolis, Athens (Greece)
- Delos (Greece)
- Old Town of Corfu (Greece)
- Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (Vatican State)
- Vatican City (Vatican State)
- Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue (Hungary)
- Þingvellir National Park (Iceland)
- Historic Centre of Florence (Italy)
- Piazza del Duomo, Pisa (Italy)
- Archaeological Areas of Pompei (Italy)
- Vilnius Historic Centre (Lithuania)
- City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications (Luxembourg)
- Urnes Stave Church (Norway)
- Røros Mining Town (Norway)
- Rock Art of Alta (Norway)
- Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon (Portugal)
- Laurisilva of Madeira (Portugal)
- Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments (Russia)
- Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow (Russia)
- Western Caucasus (Russia)
- Robben Island (South Africa)
- Cape Floral Region Protected Areas (South Africa)
- Works of Antoni Gaudí (Spain/Catalonia) [My Vox post 1 & 2]
- Laponian Area (Sweden)
- Historic City of Ayutthaya (Thailand)
- Amphitheatre of El Jem (Tunisia)
- Kairouan (Tunisia)
- Medina of Sousse (Tunisia)
- Historic Areas of Istanbul (Turkey)
- Tower of London (United Kingdom)
- Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville (United States)
These are sites I plan to visit this year:
Washington DC is better than its reputation: It is said to be a cold city populated with politicians and all kinds of parasites that come to live off them. That's not necessarily a bad thing: To visit White House and Capitol Hill, to see where the decisions are made that shape so much of international politics, that's very educating.
Also, I met plenty of regular people and experienced a vibrant city, for example charming old houses, excellent shopping and all kinds of exotic restaurants. Why not try Brasilian cooking at the charming The Grill from Ipanema high up in the hills of Adams Morgan or Vietnamese at trendy Bangkok Joe's in Georgetown?
And another thing: What's wrong with museums and monuments? The monuments in Washington commemorate people and events that have not only shaped the USA, but most of the word -- for better or for worse. And the museums are world class. The museums of The Smithsonian Institution have a prominent place at the foot of Capitol Hill and house wonderful collections of art and history. They store objects of beauty, symbolic value, religious significance, and historic reference. If you love museums, you have to spend time in the Smithsonian.
I'm catching up on my blogging: Here are my impressions from a long weekend in Prague in August of 2007. To state it bluntly, Prague is everything it's cranked up to be :)
People come to Prague for the history, the architecture, the beer. And these are all good reasons to make the journey. The Old town was my favorite. The narrow streets are basically unchanged for centuries. Whenever you come around a corner, there's a fascinating facade, an ancient church, a hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Granted you can find a more affordable meal elsewhere and many of the shops are tourist traps. So what -- just walk past them and marvel in the beauty and charm of the Old Town.
Another thing to enjoy in Prague is the food. There are plenty of excellent restaurants and compared to prices in Western Europe, they are still quite affordable. We had both dinner and lunch at the strangely named Cowboy Restaurant. This excellent restaurant inhabits several buildings that climb the hill beneath Prague's ancient castle. The view is great and so is the food. I was especially impressed by the tuna tartare.
If you drink beer, make sure to sample the Czeck variety. You get good beer all over town, but why not try a micro brewery? U Medvidku and Klasterny Pivovar are both in or close to the Old Town.
What do you think of my brand new Jango jukebox? I'm beta testing the social music service Jango and they just launched this new jukebox widget which lets you embed a player with your favorite tunes on your blog. And it works nicely here on Vox. Click any picture to play the artist pictured:
I'm testing Pictobrowser, a cool tool that lets me add photos from flickr to my Vox blog (the flickr badges don't work on accord of a CSS conflict). Here are more of my best Berlin photos:
I visited Berlin during the last days of November. The weather was cold and clear and even though I was there to attend a conference, I had the chance to take a day off and see some of Berlin's sites.
Some of the highlights were lunch in the cool new dome of the Reichstag, people watching in Prenzlauer Berg and strolling in the Christmas market in the Gedänknis Kirche square at night
Today, when I was out for my Saturday walk, there was ice on the fjord for the first time this year. That means it's time to brace for winter by delighting in summer memories.
This summer we visited Thailand for the first time. It was one of my best holidays ever:
- Thai people are friendly and mostly laidback and cool.
- The culture isvery much influenced by Buddhism and there are fantastic temples virtually everywhere.
- Thai history is interesting: Thailand is the only country in the region that never was colonized. In fact, Thailand was quite an empire at one time.
- And of course the food! Thai food isn't just spicy -- you can have ti any way you want: Flaming hot curries or mild and gentle noodle dishes like pad thai, crispy salads and some great soups.
Here are some highlights in a short yet colorful video:
I have more photos online here.
A friend sent me the link to some fantastic photos: Two lads, Paul and Kian from Australia, have been touring Afghanistan with a camera.
The web site has 40 photos: Amasing landscapes, burkhas, mosques and more. But most of all faces -- the rugged face of an old farmer, the shy smile of a young girl... Some of them have the same intensity and relevance as the famous National Geographic cover photo of a young Afghan girl from the days of the Soviet invasion.
These portraits provide a much needed alterantive source of information about Afghanistan. Even though it is clear fron the photos that this is a country severely marked by war, it is not all about tanks, bombs and evil mullahs. These are real people, not unlike me and you, trying to live ordinary lives under extraordinary circumstances. Have a look for yourself!
These days I find myself spending a lot of time on Fanpop, a network of user-generated fansites for different topics of interest created and maintained by the community of fans. Fanpop is a charming community and I find the interaction on the fan spots and between the fans truly addictive.
The first fan spot I created -- way back in the summer of 2006, is dedicated to heavy metal. The poll below is part of that spot.
As a teenager in the 80's I was a fan of the British synth pop band Japan. I even bought the two first solo albums of Japan's lead figure, David Sylvian. As the years went by, I forgot about him and when a friend invited be to his concert here in Oslo, I was quite surprised to hear that he is still touring and recording.
Sylvian is still very much a synth artist although now he is definitely a jazz artist and not in the pop or rock genre. Some of the songs were more than a little experimental. Not being much of a jazz fan myself, I still enjoyed the concert a lot. Here's why:
The mesmerizing voice
David Sylvian has an absolutely wonderful voice. It is like dark velvet -- soft and smooth and brilliant. I could
The mood
David Sylvian is melancholic. This is no secret, no surprise. Most of his songs are blue. He carries this mood without apology or ironiy and without self pity. He lyrics are mostly meditative, introspective, and he performs them with a lot of heart. I repect that and I cherished the pensive, tender mood that I brought with me from the concert.
