četrtek, 17. december 2009

Visiting London, UK

London, United Kingdom

London is a cultural melting pot where people from around the world have found a home, a legacy of their colonialist past and a great contributor to its vibrant culture today: according to the 2001 census, over a quarter of the population of London was born outside the United Kingdom. Home to Big Ben, the Queen of the United Kingdom, the Tower of London and fish and chips in your local, London provides days of distraction for the first time tourist. For return visitors, London's size and diversity offer something new to see on every trip.

Neighbourhoods
London consists of the City of London, 32 boroughs and two liberties, which are informally divided into the following sub-regions.

City of London
How, you may be wondering, can there be a City of London within London itself? Because the modern municipality – the Greater London Authority – does not govern the actual City of London.
The City of London itself is located on the north bank of the Thames in the eastern part of the modern city centre. This was the Roman city of Londinium, and in its modern incarnation it is the world's largest international financial centre. It is a separate Ceremonial County from the Greater London and occupies a square mile, in comparison to the 609 square miles of Greater London. Its cathedral is St Paul's.

New York City

What about New York City - the Big Apple?

The "Big Apple," the "City That Never Sleeps"—New York is a city of superlatives: America's biggest; its most exciting; its business and cultural capitals; the nation's trendsetter. The city seems to pull in the best and the brightest from every corner of the country. The city's ethnic flavor has been nuanced by decades of immigrants whose first glimpse of America was the Statue of Liberty guarding New York Harbor and by large expatriate communities such as the United Nations headquartered there.

Places of interest in New York City:
- Time Square
- Broadway
- Central Park
- St. Patrick's Cathedral
- Statue of Liberty
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Chinatown
- Chrysler Building.

These are some of the places you might visit if traveling to NYC.

četrtek, 10. december 2009

Winter Olympics 2010 - Vancouver Canda

Vancouver 2010 - Winter Olympics host

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held February 12–28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the resort town of Whistler nearby. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC).

The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, Canada was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. These will also be the first games to be held in an NHL market since the league allowed its players to participate starting at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Following Olympic tradition, then Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan received the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. The flag was raised on February 28, 2006, in a special ceremony, and will be on display at Vancouver City Hall until the Olympic opening ceremony. The event will be officially opened by Governor General Michaëlle Jean.


The Canadian Olympic Association chose Vancouver as the Canadian candidate city over Calgary, which sought to re-host the games and Quebec City, which had lost the 2002 Olympic bid in 1995. On the first round of voting on November 21, 1998, Vancouver-Whistler had 26 votes, Quebec City with 25 and Calgary 21. On December 3, 1998, the second and final round of voting occurred between the two leading contenders, which saw Vancouver win with 40 votes compared to Quebec City's 32. The win allowed Vancouver to prepare its bid and begin lobbying efforts internationally.

After the bid bribing scandal that took place with the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City (which saw Quebec City asking for compensation (CDN$8 million) for their failed 2002 bid), 1999 saw many of the rules around the bidding process change. The IOC created the Evaluation Commission which was appointed on October 24, 2002. Prior to the bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympics, often host cities would fly members of the IOC to their city where they toured the city and were provided with gifts from the city. The lack of oversight and transparency often led to allegations of money for votes. Afterward, changes brought forth by the IOC bidding rules were tightened, and more focused on technical aspects of candidate cities. The team analysed the candidate city features and provided its input back to the IOC. The bid books from the three candidate cities were submitted in January 2003 and inspections occurred before May 2003, when the final report was submitted.

Vancouver won the bidding process to host the Olympics by a vote of the International Olympic Committee on July 2, 2003, at the 115th IOC Session held in Prague, Czech Republic. The result was announced by IOC President Jacques Rogge. Vancouver faced two other finalists shortlisted that same February: PyeongChang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria. Pyeongchang had the most votes of the three cities in the first round of voting, in which Salzburg was eliminated. In the run-off, all but two of the members who had voted for Salzburg voted for Vancouver. It was the closest vote by the IOC since Sydney, Australia beat Beijing for the 2000 Summer Olympics by 2 votes. Vancouver's victory came almost 2 years after Toronto's 2008 Summer Olympic bid was defeated by Beijing in a landslide vote.

ponedeljek, 7. december 2009

Travel to London

London, United Kingdom

What is so special about London, UK? Isn't it just another megacity like all other? Not realy.

Noisy, vibrant and truly multicultural, London is a megalopolis of people, ideas and energy. The capital and largest city of both the United Kingdom and of England, it is also the largest city in Western Europe and the European Union. Situated on the River Thames in South-East England, Greater London has an official population of nearly 8 million people — although the figure of over 14 million for the city's total metropolitan area more accurately reflects London's size and importance. London is one of the great "world cities," and remains a global capital of culture, fashion, finance, politics and trade. London will host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

World Cup 2010

Going to the World Cup 2010?

Join the multitudes in traveling to South Africa for the World Cup 2010.