Switzerland - Bern

Berne is the capital of Switzerland, a diverse and beautiful city! It is a medieval city founded in 1191, on and around the River Aare and has quite a few attractions and historic sites, as well as an active cultural life. It is here that Albert Einstein worked, the Toblerone chocolate bar is made, and Emmental cheese, known as Swiss Cheese, reached out to the world.

With its stately sandstone buildings, historical towers and 11 magnificent fountains, Berne is one the most impressive examples of medieval town architecture in Europe. Over the centuries, the townscape has been preserved virtually intact, and in 1983 the UNESCO inscribed Berne as a World Heritage Site. The noble dome of the House of Parliament presides above the city, just a few steps from the main station, and also from the Aare River, the Prison Tower and all the other places of interest in Berne. On most days, the doors of the House of Parliament are open to the public with visitors permitted to watch the live proceedings of the parliament.

Switzerland - Aletsch

The Aletsch Glacier or Great Aletsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps. It has a length of about 23 km and covers more than 120 square kilometers (more than 45 square miles) in the eastern Bernese Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais. The Aletsch Glacier is composed by three smaller glaciers converging at Concordia, where its thickness is estimated to be near 1 km. It then continues towards the Rhone valley before giving birth to the Massa river.

The whole area, including other glaciers is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.

Ukraine - Traditional Costume

USA - Landscape

USA - Florida - Singing Tower at Lake Wales

The Singing Tower is the centerpiece of the Bok Tower Gardens. The tower was built at the highest elevation of the site, south of a reflection pool that allows the water to reflect its full image. A 60-bell carillon set within the 205-foot (62 m) tall, Gothic Revival and Art Deco tower that was designed by architect Milton B. Medary. Construction on the tower began in 1927 and was completed for the dedication of the gardens in 1929, when it was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge. The tower is 51 feet (16 m) square at its base, changing form at 150 feet (46 m) high to an octagon with 37 feet (11 m) sides that include sculptures designed by Lee Lawrie. The tower is surrounded by a 15-foot (4.6 m) moat that serves as a Koi pond. It is built of pink Etowah marble and gray Creole marble, mined in Tate, Georgia, and Florida native coquina stone, from Daytona Beach, Florida.

Although the tower's interior is not open to the public, it contains the Anton Brees Carillon Library, said to be the largest carillon library in the world.

Canada - Winter Olympics Vancouver 2010 - mascots

Expo Shanghai 2010

Canada - Alberta Cree Indian

The Cree are the largest group of First Nations in Canada, with over 200,000 members and 135 registered bands. This large population may be a result of the Crees' traditional openness to inter-tribal marriage. Together, their reserve lands are the largest of any First Nations group in the country. The largest Cree band and the second largest First Nations Band in Canada after the Six Nations Iroquois is the Lac La Ronge Band in northern Saskatchewan.

China - Qingdao - Old postcards

Qingdao (青岛; 青島; QīngDǎo; TsingTao) is a picturesque coastal city that lies on the southern tip of China's Shandong Peninsula, located in JiaoZhou Bay facing the Yellow Sea. Qingdao is also a well-known holiday resort in China.
Before troops were garrisoned here by the imperial court of Qing in 1891, Qingdao had been a small fishing village. It became a German concession in 1897 and was occupied by invading Japanese soldiers when the First World War broke out in 1914. The famous May 4th Movement was launched in 1919 and protesters, against the then Chinese government yielding to Japanese pressure, demanded the recommencement of sovereignty over Qingdao. The city reverted to Chinese rule in 1922, but was occupied by Japan again during the Second World War. After World War II Qingdao served as the headquarters of the Western Pacific Fleet of the US Navy. The USS Alaska, allowed by the KMT, occupied Tsingtao, China in October 1945. On June 2nd, 1949, the CCP's Red Army entered Qingdao City; Shandong and Qingdao's municipalities have been under PRC control since that time.
As one of China's most important independent coastal cities with state planning and budgeting powers including provincial power in economic management, the city has recently experienced rapid growth.
Qingdao is well known for its European architecture and attractive coastal landscape.
With its abundance of natural beauty and growing human resources, the year-round schedule of tourist attractions and events, coupled with numerous tourist facilities as well as an extensive public transportation network, make Qingdao an ideal tourist destination both at home and abroad.
In 2008, Qingdao hosted the Sailing Regattas of the 29th Olympic Games as well as the 13th Paralympic Games and in 2009 welcomed sailors from the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR 2008-2009). In February-March 2010 Qingdao will once again welcome the sailors of the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race.

Slovenia - Celje - Old postcards

Where the Voglajna joins the Savinja River as it turns abruptly south toward the Sava, we find Celje, the third largest city in Slovenia. Its cultural legacy testifies to rich and turbulent centuries.

Originally "Keleia", a Celtic settlement where Noricum coins were minted, in the period of Emperor Claudius it developed as "Celeia" into the most important Roman borough and a most important economic and military center. Celje became the capital of a principality when the Counts of Celje were elevated to the status of princes in 1436. Allied with the German Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg, they struggled ever more bitterly ther Hapsburgs for political supremacy in Central Europe. When Count Ulrik II was assassinated in Belgrade by his Hugarian rivals in 1456, the cry "the Counts of Celje today and never again" marked the end of their dynasty and the city came under Hapsburg rule.

Celje defied natural disasters and enemies such as floods and the Turks and continued to develop its flourishing trade and commerce to strengthen its position as one of the most important cities in Lower Styria. The railway brought industrialization in 1846, which marked the end of the old times and the transition into a new exciting century in which Celje became a city with a lively cultural and tourist beat, a highly developed social life, a commercial, trade and fair center, and attractive surroundings.