Thet are far from complete, but at least it is a nice sample.

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Especially the older renovated part along the river is very pleasant to walk.

Trondheim has also a number of old buildings and churches worthwhile visiting.

Wikipedia writes about Trondheim :
The city of Trondheim was established as a municipality January 1, 1838.

The rural municipalities of Byneset, Leinstrand, Strinda and Tiller were merged with Trondheim on January 1, 1964.

Although the region had been inhabited for thousands of years, the city of Trondheim was founded in 997. It was frequently used as the seat of the king, and was capital of Norway until 1217. In the Middle Ages, Trondheim was the site of several battles, including the battle between King Sverre and Erling Skakke, in 1179. The city has experienced several major fires - the most devastating in 1651 and 1681. The 1651 fire destroyed 90% of the buildings in Trondheim, and the 1681 fire led to a total reconstruction of the city.

Trondheim is a Norwegian center of education, technical and medical research with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF located in the city. NTNU has about 25,000 students. With 161,730 inhabitants (as of 2006), Trondheim is Norway's third largest municipality, as well as the centre of the fourth largest urban area, with a population of approximately 152,800. As of 2006, the Trondheim Region, a statistical metropolitan area, has a population of 246,751.

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Pictures are from ie the building of John Lennon, Imagine, Strawberry fiels, a fashion model, statues, people sitting in the meadows, riksja, etc.

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How we did it ?

We took the subway untill the station at the opposite side of Manhattan. There we went on to the bridge.
If you cant see the path to the bridge, better ask it at someone if you come out of the subway

While walking at the bridge from that side, you allways have the Manhattan skyline in front of you.

At the other side of the bridge, in Manhattan, there is a small park and a couple of beautiful buildings in the early 19th century architecture.

The total trip takes in between 2 and 3 hours (strolling, sitting included).

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At the time of our visit, there was a special exhibition of the work of David Smith.

Next to the special exhibitions the permanent collection shows work from Kandinsky, Mondriaan, etc.

I have enjoyed the visit of the Guggenheilm musuem a lot.
Together with MOMA, this is my piece of cake.

And ... what an exceptional building.

So, my advise when visiting New York : certainly visit the Guggenheim museum

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It is the green lung of the city

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10 years earlier i was still on top of the WTC towers, even having lunch on the top restaurant.
Its so sad now to see that the old glory has gone away.

While i was in New York, they where building the fundaments of the new towers.

Destruction is easy - rebuilding it is the challenge

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During early immigration people arrived by boat from Europe and Ellis island was their first stop.
Ellis island was the place of happiness or absolute misery.
Here they where individually screened for papers but also for their medical health.
If the doctors found for example glaucoom or any other contagious disease, the immigrant was send back with the next boat to Europe.

Additionally to such a verdict, immigrants could almost touch the Manhattan skyscrapers.

All the different screening methods, archives and masses of pictures are present here.

Ellis island is a National Park in the us and the rangers are very helpful (as we allways know them in the parks)

It is strongly recommended to visit Ellis Island while visiting New York

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Be advised. On nice summer days the waiting cue maybe more than 3 hours !

Anyway it is certainly worth waiting that long.

The statue was designed by Fréderic Bartholdy.
It is 46,9 meters tall.

The statue of Liberty was a gift from the Frech to the United States.

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Tijdens ons verblijf in New York hebben we (uiteraard) een bezoek gebracht aan het Rockefeller Center. Deze skyscrapers zijn omringd door enkele tuinen. Ze zijn vooral bekend door de grote kerstboom en de ijspiste.

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The waiting cue was ONLY 2 hours. And ... you can't see it als the cue goes through 72 corridors. Each time you think, now it is my turn, another corner and another cue !

A visit to to the top is very commercialised (does anyone expect something else ?) with all kinds of memorobilia.

The view on top is really stunning on a clear day. New York is such a beautiful place !

I personally liked WTC better. ESB was a nice building at the time, but architecture these days has more possibilities bacause of stronger materials.

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To make a long story short - i did not liked the ship that much.
Why ? 2 main reasons - the ship has too many small not so cozy corners and some staterooms have their own restaurants (with probably a lot more expensive food).
This segregation policy (dont sit in the same restaurant than the rich and wealthy) is not from these era anymore.
It is also too English styled. Everybody knows that the English interior architechture is not the world finest, and accordingly to my own (humble) opinion. Sorry Cunard !

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Een bezoek aan de Queen Mary in Rotterdam, 's werelds grootste cruiseschip.
Om een lang verhaal kort te houden - ik hou niet meteen van dit schip.
2 belangrijke redenen : er zijn te veel kleine ongezellige hoekjes in het schip en bovendien zijn er een aantal restaurants die voor het plebs niet toegankelijk zijn (alleen voor de betere  (lees veel duurdere) cabine's van het schip). Dit soort aprtheid vermoed men vandaag niet meer.
Ik hou evenmin van de overmatig engelse stijl. De engelsen staan nu niet meteen bekend als de meest getalenteerde binnenj-huisarchitecten en ook deze creatie ademt vervlogen (en vergankelijke) grootsheid uit.
Sorry rederij - Queen Mary is niet mijn 'piece of cake'

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Enkele beelden van de zeer goed bewaakte Wall Street gebouwen.
We zien de New Yorkse beurs, the befaamde stier bij het binnenkomen van de straat, het tot de tanden bewapende beveiligingspersoneel en uitrustingen, beurshandelaren, etc

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The city has also a few temples and a red light district.

Suzhou has a weel known Imperial garden with a collection of Bonsai trees.

Population in Suzhou grows every year as the city belt is completely filled up with offices and manufacturing companies.
Everything is so clean here and perfect manicures gardens one should think dring in Silicon Valley.

Suzhou was certainly not my favourite. The gardens are not my piece of cake and i did not liked the canal ride at all.

The city lies about 2 hours driving from Shangai.

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The city itself is rather small and can be easily visited in 2 days.
Just like in the Blue Lagoon, there is also a geothermal swimming pool in Reykjavik itself.

Nightlife in Reykjavik must be amongst the best in the world.
The crowd visiting bars and pubs embraces the happy world with a lot of Joy.

Also very special in Reykjavik is the cathedral. Special architecture and interior.

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The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal area with a lot of undeep pools and made ready for bathing.
Depending on the place where you are in the pool the temperature can dip or go up very steeply as the bottom is in real contact met the geothermal surface.

Very romantic and beautiful spot, especially in the winter time when the snow borders the pool.

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Secluded in a narrow see arm and bordered by high cliffs, this port is simply a jewel.

Whenever you go to Corsico or Sardinia, please visit the port of Bonifacio. A ****** star location.

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We did rent a car in the port and drove criscross through the Island. Elba was very peacefull with cute small villages near the sea or in the hillside areas.

I liked it very much

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It is like a runaway from an artist pallet. Only rich people live in this luxury resort area. The Agnellis, Benetton's, etc have a mansion here.

I loved it (and so many others also)

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Although the rooms in the sailship where more functional than comfortable, i enjoyed the warm and friendly atmosphere.

Every time we left the port and mounted the sails, this happened with the beautiful music of Vangelis in the background.
The ropes , copper and wood all around you do give a special flavour to such a trip.

The food in the restaurant was among the finest ever.

Entertainment is organised and executed by all the staff members. So it can happen that the restaurant server or the room cleaner suddenly takes part in a show. The staff enjoys participating in these shows. They have almost more pleasure from it than the guests.

The cozy open bar brengs most of the passengers chatting with each other.

The sailling itself is smoot with good weather but can be shaky with stormy weather. With 7 beaufort only the hardliners still go to the restaurant. I was among them.

On this trip the route was : Rome, Calvi, Elba, Monte Carlo, Portofino, Pisa, Rome

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The very imposant construction was in past times the barrier against many different agressors.

On some days newly married people are arriving at the wall in their colorful tribe clothes. One time we saw at least 30 couples, all with diferent regional dresse. This happening was almost as impressive as the wall itself.

The lenght of the wall is more than 6000 kms from east to west of China. It is not everywhere intact, but specific portions in the Beijing area are well renovated or still in a good state.

The Great Wall is an Unesco World Heritage Site.

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A hald day was dedicated to the Forbidden City, the former Palace of the Emperor.

An impressing place, nicely renovated, but (unfortunately) not living anymore.

It is a pity that the hotels dont show The Last Emperor movie from Bertolucci. It would bring the just visited temples and palace again alive.

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Especially the Huangpu river dividing the city in 2 pieces and the illuminated buildings after dark are really impressing. The Bund is here the place where couples in love and tourists meet each other along the faschinating river banks.

Do not miss the Shangai museum, the Chinese masterpieces in every scoop of the art are overwhemingly beautiful.

Another not to forget place is the Yu-garden. These medieval wooden buildings carry you back in the old Chinese history and has (in the immediate area) the most tourist souvenirs shops of Shangai.

We have also visited the Acrobatic Shangai show. Very spectacular with acts without comparison in the world.

My advise is, whenever you go to China, don't miss Shangai.

And ... the Chinese became very Ecologic sensitive, as they are cutting off the outside lighting of the buildings at 11 PM !
So if you want to see it at The Bund, be there in time !

We stayed at the Pacific Bridge Hotel - Shanghai

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