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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the centre of Christianity and the most sacred site of Christendom, is a church within the Christian Quarter of Old City, Jerusalem. It is also called the Church of the Resurrection but was formerly known by its original Greek name: the Church of the Anastasis. The church contains the two holiest sites in Christendom: the site where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified known as Calvary in Latin and Golgotha in Greek, and Jesus’s empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected. Within the church proper are the last four (or, by some definitions, five) stations of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of Jesus’s…
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Ahoy Czechia!
I stayed in the Ibis Hotel during the first few nights in Prague but decided to extend my stay, hoping to do an extra day trip to a town called Karlovy Vary. I was interested to see the place featured in the movie Last Holiday where the actress Queen Latifah’s character Georgia decided to spend her remaining days on Earth. This was after being mistakenly diagnosed with having a rare brain condition and only having a few weeks left to live. She decided to spend her last funds on a luxury holiday in the Grandhotel Pupp to meet her favourite famous celebrity chef Didier. However, unlike Georgia, my ending was…
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The Greatest Traveler
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, better known as Ibn Battuta, was born in Tangier, Morocco in 1304. He is a Muslim Berber Moroccan scholar, writer, geographer, at times a Qadi or judge and best known as an explorer and traveller. Ibn Battuta is considered as the World’s Greatest Traveler in History. He was twenty years of age when he left his home town in Morocco in 1325, to go on a Hajj, or a pilgrimage to Mecca to fulfill the Fifth Pillar of Islam. He finally returned home from travelling in 1354. According to some scholars, during his twenty-nine years of traveling, he was able to widely traverse a distance…
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Moscow, Russia
Moscow is the capital and the largest city of the Russian Federation. It is the seat of the government, as well as the political, scientific, historical, architectural, and business centre of the country. It displays the country’s contrasts at their most extreme. Its distinguishable symbols of great and terrible past, as well as ancient and modern architecture, are visible side by side. Today, imposing Soviet buildings, the Seven Sisters, or Stalinist skyscrapers representing Stalin’s empire and other impressive architectures spread all over in this intimidating city. You may love or hate Moscow. You may probably be visiting monumental and palatial areas at one point. Then all of a sudden, you…
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Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, Russia
One of the things I did during my visit to Moscow was to visit the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. With the help of my Russian roommate – Julia, I was able to organize my visit. Travelling by train from the Red Square area via Kitay-gorod to VDNKh station, I conveniently reached the museum after approximately thirteen minutes. VDNKh is the closest station to the complex, should you wish to travel by train. Services depart every ten minutes and it operates every day. Monument to the Conquerors of Space – Russia The Monument to the Conquerors of Space is a stunning 110-metre-high titanium spire erected in Moscow in 1964. It soars…
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Norwich City Football Club – The underdogs bite back
English Premier League is back after the European games. Some of the awaited games were those of the big teams such as Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc… Like me, their respective fans were extremely excited wondering who’s going to score among their best players and how many goals they would get, especially when they are playing against the ‘not-so-good’ teams in the League. As if they were already banking their scores at the expense of the underdogs. It’s a no-brainer that the objective is to strive and win every game and accumulate more points and goals to compete among each other to secure the…
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My Book’s First Review
I would like to, once again, say special thanks to Jan Schwetzingen who posted his insightful review about my book entitled INSPIRED TO TRAVEL, TRAVEL TO INSPIRE – A TRAVEL MEMOIR. He is the first person to completely read my book and post his review after it was published on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com websites. To all those others who have kindly got a copy of my book, I would also love to receive your honest comments about it. For your information, I share with you below Jan’s appraisal: “My review on Amazon: This is not your ordinary travel guide. What you will find in your hands is an essay…
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GUM Department Store, Red Square
Moscow Gum Department store in Kitai-gorod facing the Red Square is the most glamorous and expensive shopping mall in Russia. Gum literally mean “main universal store“, was originally built in 1893. With its sky-high prices, to me it’s an excellent place to window shop and its collections of hundreds of exclusive boutiques and have a feel of being in this lavish shop for the rich and fortunate beings. This three-level glass-roofed state of the art building is quite exquisite and is well worth exploring even if you’re not literally buying anything. All the while, I had the impression that everything inside this enormous shopping mall was expensive until our eloquent…
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Immense Peterhof Palace in Saint Petersburg
Peterhof Palace, also called the “Russian Versailles” is famous for its series of palaces, beautiful gardens, fountains and museums. Laid out on the orders of Tsar Peter the Great, it was officially opened on August 14, 1723. The palace-ensemble along with the city center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Peterhof is a Dutch/German word meaning “Peter’s Court”. Peterhof Palace is a product of one man’s fascination with beauty and an obsession with greatness and grandeur apparently intensified after visiting and getting inspired by Versailles in France on 1717. More exquisite statues and fountains are along the axis from the palace to the pier. The truly imposing view of…
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Experiencing the excitement of being at the “Top of Europe” – Jungfraujoch Switzerland
One of the highlights of visiting the Swiss Alps was to be able to reach the top of the Jungfrau mountain which is called the ” Top of Europe”. Standing on the Jungfraujoch 3,454 metres above sea level. I remember after suffering from a lack of breath at such a high altitude I had to rush to the covered area to breath normally again. Aside from that, my outfit that day wasn’t appropriate enough for such extreme cold weather. Next time, I will make sure that I will be fully geared up with proper winter clothing to fully enjoy the experience.
