19 photos from Ravenna
(Emilia-Romagna, Italy)

2006-03-21

Ravenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until 476. It was later the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna until 751. From that year until the invasion of Franks, it was the seat of the king of the Lombards and equalled to Pavia by Aistulf. It is presently the capital of the Province of Ravenna. At 652.89 km2, Ravenna is the second-largest comune in land area in Italy, although it is only a little more than half the size of the largest, Rome. Miaomiao visited Ravenna in March 2006.

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107 photos from Kempervennen
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2015-12-28 - 2015-12-31

De Kempervennen is a Center Parcs holiday village situated in Westerhoven, North-Brabant, Netherlands. Activities include the sub-tropical swimming paradise, various outdoor and indoor adventure activities, a sports hall, `kids klub`, children`s farm, watersports, a `real snow` indoor ski slope, evening shows and forest surroundings. Outdoor activities include water sports, high climb, and bike riding. Indoor activities include sports, wall climbing, live shows, shopping, swimming, rapids, slides, indoor play zone, arcade, and bowling. The site`s restaurants include `Pizza and Pasta`, Family Grill, and The Pancake House. Onsite shops encompass a supermarket, clothes, and toys. Tim, Miaomiao and Max visited the Kempervennen during the last days of 2015.

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90 photos from Kutna Hora
(Central Bohemia, Czech Republic)

2008-12-26

A day trip to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kutna Hora, with visits to the Bone Church, the town center and the Church of St. Barbara.

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484 photos from Stockholm
(Uppland, Sweden)

2010-05-12 - 2010-05-16

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag (parliament), and the official residence of the Swedish monarch as well as the prime minister. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden with a population of 829,417 in the municipality (2009), 1.25 million in the urban area (2005), and 2 million in the metropolitan area (2009). Founded circa 1250, Stockholm has long been one of Sweden`s cultural, media, political, and economic centres. Its strategic location on 14 islands on the south-central east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, has been historically important. Stockholm is known for its beauty, its buildings and architecture, its abundant clean and open water, and its many parks. It is sometimes referred to as Venice of the North. Tim and Miaomiao visited the city in May 2010.

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151 photos from Amsterdam
(North-Holland, Netherlands)

2014-11-01

During this trip to Amsterdam in the autumn of 2014, we visited the Hermitage Amsterdam, the Dam square and Madame Tussauds.

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142 photos from Amsterdam
(North-Holland, Netherlands)

2019-07-24

A second visit to the NEMO Science Museum in the summer of 2019.

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44 photos from Wageningen
(Gelderland, Netherlands)

2018-09-05

A third trip to Wageningen in the summer of 2018.

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97 photos from Oosterhout
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2017-06-06 - 2017-06-09

Oosterhout is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands, with a population of 54,000 in 2017. We visited the Roompot De Katjeskelder holiday park and the city center.

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90 photos from Maastricht
(Limburg, Netherlands)

2015-09-17

During this third visit to Maastricht, Tim visited the Central Railway Station, the Markt square with the City Hall, the Basiliek van Onze Lieve Vrouwe church, the Bisschopsmolen water mill, the City Wall, the Helpoort gate and several other places in the city center.

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92 photos from Efteling
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2016-08-06

On this third trip to the Efteling, we visited the Sprookjesbos and some other parts of this theme park.

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59 photos from Vilaflor
(Tenerife, Spain)

2019-01-02

Vilaflor is a municipality and a village in the south-central part of the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, and part of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province), Spain. Vilaflor, with an altitude of 1,400 m, is the highest village of Tenerife, situated south the Teide volcano. The population is 1,800. We visited Vilaflor, as well as the nearby El Piño Gordo pine tree, on our way to the Teide volcano.

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709 photos from Dalian
(Liaoning, China)

2017-08-02 - 2017-08-10

Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning Province, China. It is the southernmost city of Northeast China and at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. Dalian is the province`s second largest city and has sub-provincial administrative status; only the provincial capital (Shenyang) is larger. The Shandong Peninsula lies southwest across the Bohai Strait; Korea lies across the Yellow Sea to the east. Today, a financial, shipping and logistics centre for Northeast Asia, Dalian has a significant history of being used by foreign powers for its ports. Dalian was previously known as both Dalniy and Dairen. However the city was better known as Port Arthur and Ryojun from the original Port Arthur, now the city`s Lüshunkou district. We visited the beach at Binhai Road, Tongniuling Hill, the Dalian Coastal National Geopark, the Dalian Jinshitan Mystery of Life Museum, the Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park, Xinghai Square, and some other spots in the city.

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42 photos from Jonquieres
(Provence-Alpes-Côte d`Azur, France)

2014-08-19 - 2014-08-20

Jonquières is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d`Azur region in southeastern France. We visited the town and the Château de Beauregard castle in the summer of 2014 for a wedding.

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48 photos from Granadilla
(Tenerife, Spain)

2018-12-29 - 2019-01-05

Granadilla de Abona is a municipality of Tenerife, located in the south of the island, occupying an area of 155 square kilometers. Its population in 2013 was 43,608. In recent years, the population has greatly increased due to an influx of immigrants, many of them illegal, from Western Sahara, Colombia, Cuba, and other African and Latin American countries. The municipality extends from the altitudinous center of the island -Mount Guajara (2,718 m, the second-highest mountain on the island, after Teide) is situated in this municipality- to the Atlantic Ocean. Reina Sofía Airport is located in this municipality, as well as the beachside town of El Médano (`The Sand Dune`), where many important windsurfing competitions are held. La Montaña Roja (`The Red Mountain`), a volcanic cone located in El Médano, is a protected natural preserve, along with five other `espacios naturales`, which comprise 25% of the municipality`s total area. We visited the airport and the surrounding area in the winter of 2018/2019.

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117 photos from Barcelona
(Catalonia, Spain)

2006-08-17 - 2006-08-18

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081. We visited the Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, the Ramblas, and Camp Nou.

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964 photos from Moscow
(Central, Russia)

2013-06-26 - 2013-07-02

Moscow is the capital city and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in Russia and in Eurasia. According to Forbes 2012, Moscow has the second largest community of billionaires in the world. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe, and the 5th largest city proper in the world. It is the largest city in Russia with a population of 11.5 million. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, a medieval city-fortress that is today the residence of the Russian president. The Moscow Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow. We visited Moscow during our Russia trip in the summer of 2013.

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84 photos from Keukenhof
(South-Holland, Netherlands)

2007-04-21

Keukenhof, also known as the Garden of Europe is situated near Lisse, Netherlands, and is the world`s largest flower garden. There are approximately seven million flower bulbs planted annually at the park. We visited the park with Chinese friends in April 2007.

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187 photos from Amsterdam
(North-Holland, Netherlands)

2019-09-08

A second visit to the Artis Royal Zoo in the summer of 2019.

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121 photos from Yantai
(Shandong, China)

2014-01-03 - 2014-01-07

Yantai is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, People`s Republic of China. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively. The largest fishing seaport in Shandong and a robust economic center today, Yantai used to be known to the West as Chefoo, a misnomer which refers, in Chinese, solely to Zhifu Island, which is historically governed by Yantai. The contemporary name of Yantai came from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi in 1398, during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (yan—smoke; tai—tower). The towers served to raise alarms against invasions of Japanese pirates. We visited Miaomiao`s uncle, aunt and grandmother in Yantai, as well as the ChangYu Wine Culture Museum.

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55 photos from Hveragerthi
(Southern Region, Iceland)

2013-03-03

Hveragerði is a town and municipality in the south of Iceland located 45 km to the east of Reykjavík on Iceland`s main ringroad, Route 1. The river Varmá runs through the town. The population was 2,316 on 1 January 2011. The surrounding area is part of the Hengill central volcano, and is geothermally active and experiences very frequent (usually minor) earthquakes. The town is known for its greenhouses, which are heated by hot water from volcanic hot springs. Tim and Miaomiao visited the town and its surroundings during their trip through Iceland in the winter of 2013.

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79 photos from Amsterdam
(North-Holland, Netherlands)

2013-05-23

Tim visited `Game of Thrones: The Exhibition` in the Posthoornkerk church in Amsterdam in the spring of 2013.

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30 photos from Bronkhorst
(Gelderland, Netherlands)

2016-04-10

Bronkhorst is a village in the municipality of Bronckhorst, Gelderland, the Netherlands. Technically, it is a city and with only 171 inhabitants, it is one of the smallest cities in the Netherlands. Bronkhorst used to be a lordship. The earliest known lord of Bronkhorst was Gijsbert of Bronkhorst, first mentioned in 1140. In the Middle Ages, a castle was erected on the hill nearby the town. It is first mentioned in a 14th-century document. It consisted of a keep and associated buildings and was surrounded by a thick wall and a wide moat. It was sieged several times, most notably in 1582, when after nine months Dutch troops captured the castle, which was occupied by the Spanish. The castle changed hands many times, until its last owner, a merchant, had it demolished in 1828. Bronkhorst is known for its picturesque buildings, and houses a museum dedicated to Charles Dickens which also contains items purchased from the former Dickens museum at Rochester. We visited Bronkhorst in the spring of 2016.

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90 photos from Born
(Limburg, Netherlands)

2018-10-13

Born is a town of approximately 6,000 inhabitants in the Dutch municipality of Sittard-Geleen. It has a port on the Juliana Canal. Born is also the site of the car factory Nedcar and the Kasteelpark Born zoo. We visited the zoo in the autumn of 2018.

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27 photos from Utrecht
(Utrecht, Netherlands)

2009-09-26

Utrecht is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern end of the Randstad, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands, with a population of 300,030 in 2007. The smaller Utrecht agglomeration including adjacent suburbs and annexed towns is home to some 640,000 registered inhabitants, while the larger region contains up to 820,000 inhabitants. Utrecht`s ancient city-centre features many buildings and structures from its earliest origins onwards. It has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the eighth century. We visited the Dom Church and some other buildings in the city center in the autumn of 2009.

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148 photos from Rotterdam
(South-Holland, Netherlands)

2019-07-14

Another visit to the Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo.

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129 photos from Delphi
(Central Greece, Greece)

2009-03-09

Delphi is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python, a deity who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth. His sacred precinct in Delphi was a panhellenic sanctuary, where every four years athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the Pythian Games, one of the four panhellenic (or stephanitic) games, precursors to the Modern Olympics. Delphi was revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the earth and the universe. In the inner hestia (`hearth`) of the Temple of Apollo, an eternal flame burned. After the battle of Plataea, the Greek cities extinguished their fires and brought new fire from the hearth of Greece, at Delphi; in the foundation stories of several Greek colonies, the founding colonists were first dedicated at Delphi. Tim and Miaomiao visited the ancient site of Delphi and the nearby town of Arachova as a day trip from Athens in March 2009.

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161 photos from Antwerp
(Antwerp, Belgium)

2019-10-26

On this tenth visit to Antwerp, we visited the Antwerp Zoo.

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221 photos from Nijmegen
(Gelderland, Netherlands)

2007-08-26

In Nijmegen, each summer the Gebroeders van Limburg Festival is celebrated, in which people let medieval times come back to life. We visited the festival in the summer of 2017.

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