43 photos from Breda
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2020-05-29

Another visit to the Reptielenhuis De Aarde zoo.

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512 photos from Xiamen
(Fujian, China)

2013-12-26 - 2014-01-17

Xiamen (also known as Amoy) is a major city on the southeast (Taiwan Strait) coast of the People`s Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with a population of 3.67 million. Its built up area is now bigger than the old urban island area and covers all six districts of Xiamen (Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong`an, Haicang and recently Xiang`an). The Jinmen (Kinmen) Islands administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan) are less than 10 kilometres away. Xiamen and the surrounding southern Fujian countryside are the ancestral home to large communities of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. The city was a treaty port in the 19th century and one of the four original Special Economic Zones opened to foreign investment and trade when China began economic reforms in the early 1980s. It is endowed with educational and cultural institutions supported by the overseas Chinese diaspora. We visited Xiamen at the end of our China trip in 2014. Highlights included Gulangyu Island, Zhongshan Road and Nanputuo Temple.

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120 photos from Waterloo
(Walloon Brabant, Belgium)

2018-08-05

Waterloo is a Walloon municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium, which in 2011 had a population of 29,706 and an area of 21.03 km2. It is north of Braine-l`Alleud, which is the site of the Battle of Waterloo, where the resurgent Napoleon was defeated for the final time in 1815. There is a memorial in the form of a statue of a lion (looking towards France) on a hill, with 226 stairs, called the Lion`s Mound. It was erected on the famous 1815 battlefield located south of Waterloo, and was completed in 1826. A fee is no longer charged to climb the hill, which has become a major tourist attraction in the region. Other attractions related to the battle are the Battle Panorama Mural, Wellington Museum, and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph, where Wellington is said to have prayed before going into battle and where British and Dutch plaques commemorating the fallen are now to be seen. We visited the Lion`s Mound, the Mémorial 1815 museum and the Waterloo Panorama painting in the summer of 2018.

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79 photos from Haikou
(Hainan, China)

2007-10-22 - 2007-11-16

A second visit to the city of Miaomiao`s parents and sister. We visited some spots in the city center, and had a traditional Chinese Cupping massage.

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198 photos from Rhenen
(Utrecht, Netherlands)

2019-02-17

A second visit to the Ouwehands Dierenpark zoo, in the winter of 2019.

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36 photos from Jimbaran
(Bali, Indonesia)

2017-05-19 - 2017-05-26

Jimbaran is a fishing village and tourist resort in Bali, Indonesia. Located south of Ngurah Rai International Airport, the beach has seafood restaurants and luxury hotels. Tourism in Jimbaran has increased rapidly so that it has boosted the local economy, but was devastated by the 2005 Bali bombings when suicide bombers struck at two popular warungs (restaurants) along the beach. However, the tourism industry has recovered. Diners select the live seafood that they wish to eat, and it is immediately prepared, generally grilled over a fire of coconut husks rather than charcoal. It is administered under Kuta South District along with Nusa Dua peninsula. Jimbaran lies on the `neck` of the southern peninsula in Bali. We visited two restaurants and the beach in Jimbaran, and drove by Udayana University.

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70 photos from Shilin
(Yunnan, China)

2009-09-04

Shilin (literally `Stone Forest`) is a notable set of karst formations in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, in the Yunnan province of southwest China, approximately 85 km from the city of Kunming. The tall rocks seem to emanate from the ground in the manner of stalagmites, with many looking like trees made of stone, creating the illusion of a forest made of stone. We visited the city in September 2009.

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47 photos from Tilburg
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2018-04-01

Another visit to the Natuurmuseum Brabant in Tilburg.

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161 photos from Durbuy
(Luxembourg, Belgium)

2017-10-13 - 2017-10-16

Durbuy is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. On 1 January 2007 the municipality had 10,633 inhabitants. The total area is 156.61 km2. In medieval times Durbuy was an important centre of commerce and industry. In 1331, the town was elevated to the rank of city by John I, Count of Luxemburg, and King of Bohemia. In 1628 Anthonie II Schetz obtains the Seigneurie of Durbuy, by permission of Felipe IV of Spain. One of the people connected to the city was the son of Lancelot II: Charles Hubert Augustin Schetz (1662-1726), Count of Durbuy. In 1756 the decendants of the House of Schetz obtain the Castle. Since then the House of Ursel resides in the Castle. The current castle was built in 1880. The Ourthe river flows through the municipality. Tourism and recreation are its main activities nowadays. Durbuy is often presented and promoted as `the smallest town of the world` - but it is not. The smallest town of the world is Hum, Croatia. We visited Durbuy in the autumn of 2017.

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265 photos from Avignon
(Provence-Alpes-Côte d`Azur, France)

2007-08-02 - 2007-08-06

Avignon is a commune in the Vaucluse département in southeastern France with a population of 90,000 in the city itself and a population of 290,000 in the metropolitan area. The city is well known for its Palais des Papes, where several popes and antipopes lived from the early 14th to early 15th centuries. We visited the Notre Dame des Doms, the Palais des Papes, the Pont d`Avignon, and much more in and around the city center.

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33 photos from Kleve
(North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

2007-08-11

Kleve is a city in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. Today it belongs to and is capital of the district of Kleve. Together with Tim`s parents, we visited the city center and the Castle Schwanenburg.

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215 photos from Houffalize
(Luxembourg, Belgium)

2020-07-20 - 2020-07-24

Houffalize is a Walloon municipality of Belgium in the province of Luxembourg with around 5,000 inhabitants. Houffalize was a strategic location during the Battle of the Bulge of World War II. Specifically, Generals Montgomery and Patton met up here, Montgomery coming from the north and Patton from the south, in their counter-attack against the German forces remaining in the area. The town was flattened on the night of 5–6 January 1945 by ninety RAF Lancasters of Bomber Command to block the key crossroads for German supply columns and the escape route for German forces. Patton was driven to writing a poem in his diary about the bombing. We staid in Houffalize for five days in the summer of 2020.

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35 photos from Lorne
(Victoria, Australia)

2014-09-12

Lorne is a seaside town on Louttit Bay in Victoria, Australia. It is situated about the Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road tourist route. Lorne is in the Surf Coast Shire and at the 2006 Census in Australia had a population of 967, but this figure grows during the holiday season. We visited Lorne, the nearby Memorial Arch at Eastern View and a viewing point at the Cumberland River Holiday Park during our day trip on the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne.

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724 photos from Malta
(Malta, Malta)

2011-06-11 - 2011-06-18

Malta island is the largest of the three major islands that constitute the Maltese archipelago and Republic of Malta. Malta is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea directly south of Italy and north of Libya. The area is 246 km2. The capital is Valletta, largest city is Qormi and the largest locality is Birkirkara. The island is made up of many small towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone with a population of 368,250 (the majority of the population of the country). The landscape is characterised by low hills with terraced fields. Although small, Malta has a long and rich history, with evidence for habitation going back to the Neolithic era (4th millennium B.C.). The country boasts some of the world's most ancient standing buildings (the Neolithic temples), and its strategic location and good harbors in the middle of the Mediterannean have attracted Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Crusaders, the French and finally the British, with the colonial period lasting until 1964. Tim and Miaomiao visited Malta for one week in June 2011.

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64 photos from Breda
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2018-12-14

Another visit to the Reptielenhuis De Aarde zoo.

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76 photos from Amersfoort
(Utrecht, Netherlands)

2015-11-04

Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands, with 150,000 inhabitants. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre. Remains of settlements in the Amersfoort area from around 1000 BC have been found, but the name Amersfoort, after a ford in the Amer River, today called the Eem, did not appear until the 11th century. It was granted city rights in 1259 by the bishop of Utrecht, Henry I van Vianden. Tim visited the Koppelpoort gate, the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren tower and the Sint-Joriskerk church, as well as other parts of the city center, in the autumn of 2015.

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26 photos from Bruinisse
(Zeeland, Netherlands)

2019-06-01

A sixth visit to Bruinisse, where we went crab fishing.

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55 photos from Bruinisse
(Zeeland, Netherlands)

2018-05-20

A third visit to Bruinisse, where we went crab fishing.

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553 photos from New York
(New York, USA)

2008-07-05 - 2008-07-12

We visited New York as part of our USA/Canada trip in the summer of 2008. New York City is the most populous city in the United States, in a metropolitan area that ranks among the world`s most-populous urban areas. It is a leading global city, exerting a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, and entertainment. The city consists of five distinct boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. It is the most densely populated major city in the United States, with an estimated 8,3 million people occupying just under 790 km2. We stayed in New York for one week and visited amongst others Liberty Island, Ellis Island, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Empire Statue Building, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero and Central Park.

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52 photos from Breda
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2019-09-11

Another visit to the Reptielenhuis De Aarde zoo.

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46 photos from Stavenisse
(Zeeland, Netherlands)

2020-06-27

During this fourth trip to Stavenisse, we visited the Camping Stavenisse and the nearby beach.

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237 photos from Amersfoort
(Utrecht, Netherlands)

2019-06-21

A third trip to DierenPark and DinoPark Amersfoort in the summer of 2019.

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200 photos from Harderwijk
(Gelderland, Netherlands)

2018-10-06

Harderwijk is a municipality and city almost at the exact geographical centre of the Netherlands. Harderwijk received city rights from Count Otto II of Guelders in 1231. A defensive wall surrounding the city was completed by the end of that century. The oldest part of the city is near where the streets Hoogstraat and Grote Poortstraat now are. Around 1315 the city was expanded southwards, which included the construction of what is now called the Grote Kerk (Great Church). A second, northward expansion took place around 1425. Harderwijk was a member of the Hanseatic League. It lies on what used to be the Zuiderzee shore (Southern Sea, now the IJsselmeer) and consequently its economy was strongly based on fishing and seafaring in general. That dramatically changed after 1932, when the Zuiderzee was cut off from the North Sea for safety reasons. Today, Harderwijk is probably known best for the Dolfinarium Harderwijk, a marine mammal park where dolphin shows are held and various other marine mammals and fish are kept. We visited the Dolfinarium in the autumn of 2018.

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37 photos from Playa de las Americas
(Tenerife, Spain)

2019-01-05

Playa de las Américas is a purpose-built holiday resort in the southern and southern-west part of the Municipality of Arona, close to the adjoining Municipality of Adeje in the west of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. It was built in the 1960s beside the town of Los Cristianos and stretching west to the Costa Adeje. The resort area features bars, nightclubs, restaurants, attractions, and beaches, most of which are man-made with imported sand from Africa due to the darkness of the native volcanic sand. Playa de las Americas is a centre of nightlife in Tenerife. Nightlife is spread around the resort and includes the Veronicas Strip, Starco Commercial Centre and the Patch. We visited Playa de las Américas on the last day of our holidays in Tenerife in 2018/2019.

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421 photos from Athens
(Attica, Greece)

2009-03-07 - 2009-03-14

Athens, the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world`s oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. The Greek capital has a population of 750,000 within its administrative limits. The Athens Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) is the 7th most populated LUZ in the EU with a population of over 4 million. A bustling and cosmopolitan metropolis, Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato`s Academy and Aristotle`s Lyceum, Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles and its many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy. The heritage of the classical era is still evident in the city, represented by a number of ancient monuments and works of art, the most famous of all being the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Tim and Miaomiao visited Athens and the nearby harbor city Piraeus, together with other Greek places, in March 2009.

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93 photos from Boxtel
(North-Brabant, Netherlands)

2018-06-29

A third visit to the Oertijdmuseum, in the summer of 2018.

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60 photos from Glasgow
(Scotland, United Kingdom)

2004-07-31 - 2004-08-04

Tim visited Glasgow for the ISMB/ECCB Conference of 2004. Glasgow is the largest city of Scotland and the third most populous city in the United Kingdom.

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35 photos from Bertinoro
(Emilia-Romagna, Italy)

2006-03-18 - 2006-03-23

Bertinoro is a town and comune in the province of Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna (Italy). It is located on hill, Mount Cesubeo, in Romagna, a few kilometers from the Via Emilia. Miaomiao had a conference here in the spring of 2006.

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