Europe

Human-Like Sculptures Cause Controversy Around the World

Mark Jenkins Installation / Pictoplasma 2011 ©MatiasR Artist Mark Jenkins has spent the last few years travelling the world and installing his controversial life-like sculptures. Civilians have been so shocked by his sculptures that they’ve called the ambulance and police to help what they thought were real struggling or dead people. Perhaps the most controversal [...]

Photo of the Moment: Finding Our Path, Austria

Spanish Museum Reveals Mona Lisa Copy

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci ©Oh Paris Spain’s Prado Museum has a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa that was most likely painted alongside the master in the same studio. The Mona Lisa immitation has been part of the Prado collection for years and has been displayed occasionally to the public but it [...]

Untie the Knot With a Stay at the “Divorce Hotel”

Wedding Cake ©Kim Marius Flakstad In the Netherlands you can pair your next weekend getaway with a divorce. Entrepreneur Jim Halfens is the mastermind behind the dutch “Divorce Hotel.” The idea came to Halfens when he recognized a gap in the market in the Netherlands, where the average divorce can easily run into five figures [...]

Beer Helps Ultra-Marathoner Run Around the World

Heineken beer bottle ©Creative Tools Irish ultra-marathon runner Richard Donovan has become the first man on the planet to run seven marathons on seven continents in less than five days–thanks to a bottle of beer. In just four days, 22 hours and three minutes, Donovan completed marathons at the Russian Novo science base in Antarctica, [...]

Rowdy Kiwi Expats Spark Complaints to High Commission

NZ flag ©michaeljohnbutton The behavior of participants in the 13th annual Waitangi Day pub crawl in London, England has sparked a complaint to the New Zealand High Commission. Waitangi Day is a New Zealand public holiday held each year on the 6th of Febuary to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s [...]

Spanish Town Residents Win Lottery, Except for One Man

Better luck next year Costis © doncav The town of Sodeto, Spain became $950 million dollars richer after 70 households heard the news that they won the famed “El Gordo”, Christmas lottery. That is, except for one man. Sodeto residents and people from 17 nearby villages bought tickets with the same winning number from the [...]

Londoners Recycling With “Smart” Bins

Renew bins in London © architizer.com Throwing your next soda can into a recycling bin is a win-win for many Londoners, with the installation of new “Renew” bins. The bins display data from stock quotes to weather and transit details. Twenty-five are already in place around London. While the bins don’t come cheap, the developers have [...]

Poll Reveals Most Reassuring Airline Pilot Accent

Cockpit ©kudumomo A recent poll conducted for the Business Travel Show in London found that a pilot with a Home Counties accent to be the most reassuring accent for passengers. A Cockney accent was chosen as the least trustworthy accent, followed by a Midlands accent. Given the results of the poll, airline expert and travel [...]

Cute Pandas Send Edinburgh Zoo’s Numbers Soaring

Panda ©Chi King Since the arrival of two very cute giant pandas, visitor numbers at the Edinburgh Zoo are up 200 percent. Around 70,000 people have visited the new zoo residents since December–more than three times the number who visited the zoo during the same period in 2010. The two pandas, named Tian Tian and [...]

Cold Temperatures Stop Noted Belgian Statue From Peeing

All dried up © julie-n-clarke The famed “peeing” Manneken Pis statue in Brussels is having a bit of a dry spell. Thanks to sub zero temperatures in Brussels this week, the flow of water to the statue has been temporarily shut off to prevent damage to the internal fountain mechanism. The Manneken Pis is one [...]

Germany Returns Ancient Afghan Sculpture

And you think it’s bad when a friend forgets to return one of your books © Reuters.com A pre-Islamic sculpture traced back to the second century AD, was returned to its native Afghanistan this week. The sculpture was looted during the Afghan civil war in the late 1970s and eventually traced to Munich, Germany last [...]

Rio Statue Replica Causes Uproar in London

Christ the Redeemer ©David Berkowitz The statue of Christ the Redeemer with open arms in Rio is seen around the world as a symbol of peace and friendship. But residents of a posh north London neighborhood are up in arms at the possibility of the Brazilian national tourist board erecting a temporary replica on the [...]

Finnish Flight Attendants Take Off to Bollywood

Finn Air ©Joi To celebration of India’s Republic Day, flight crew on the January 17th Finnair flight AY201 from Helsinki to Dehli donned Indian attire and danced down the airplane aisles to “Deewangi Deewangi” from the Bollywood blockbuster “Om Shanti Om.” The idea for the tribute came from Helena Kaartinen, who has worked for Finnair [...]

“Tartan Butler” Assisting Tourists With Ancestral Quests

Tartan kilt © ericjowett Based out of the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, the “Tartan Butler” is a newly appointed concierge helping visitors discover their Scottish heritage. Andy Fraser, otherwise known as the Butler, is a long time fan of Scottish and clan history. Fraser’s interest in genealogy began with the research of his own Scottish ancestors, [...]

German Prostitutes Taxed Via “Sex Meters”

Vintage parking meters © scottamus Last August, the city of Bonn started taxing the city’s prostitutes with street meters. Over the last six months, the city has reaped the benefits of the meters, collecting around $20,000 in taxes. A spokesman for the German Association of Cities and Municipalities, told The New York Times he expects other German [...]

The Museum of Celebrity Leftovers

leftovers ©jenny downing On the coastal city of Kingsand, England there is a seafront cafe that has garnered a reputation for more than its locally sourced seafood and vegetarian fare. The Old Boatstore, a cafe owned by Michael and Francesca Bennett has been visited by a few celebrities, including Libertines co-frontman Pete Doherty and royal [...]

A Chilling Winter Tour of London’s Dark Side

People make a big deal about Halloween but for me winter is the right time for ghost stories and the macabre, particularly in a city like London. When the wind whistles through the city streets and there’s mist on the lake in St James’s Park – when it’s dark at three o’clock in the evening [...]

Sinking Cruise Liner Couture

zazzle.com.au ©zazzle.com.au Australian company zazzle.com.au is capitalizing on the now (in)famous tirade again the captain of the sunken Costa Concordia by selling t-shirts quoting harbor master Gregorio De Falco. The shirts–which apparently are already all the rage in Italy–carry the phrase “Vada a bordo, cazzo!” which translates to “Get back on board, dick!” De Falco [...]

Oscar Nominated Films That Inspire Travel

waipio valley ©paul (dex) Unless you’ve managed to avoid tv, internet and newspapers over the past couple of days, you’ve probably heard that the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday. And while all the award buzz may be about the actors, directors, writers and producers of the nominated movies, travelers may [...]

Video of Planes Landing in Strong Crosswinds Goes Viral

Landing © ianmunroe Warning; if you are a nervous flyer, you probably shouldn’t click through on the link and watch this video. A video taken of airplanes landing (or attempting to land) at Dusseldorf International Airport with winds of 35 knots, and gusts of up to 55 knots is creating quite a stir online. The [...]

Photo of the Moment: Ruins of Igreja do Carmo, Lisbon

Poland Hopes to Lure Tourists By Revamping Hitler’s WWII Lair

Wolfsschanze ©vmario The Polish forestry office is inviting new management to take over the 250 hectare site of Hitler’s former command headquarters in northern Poland. The Wolfsschanze (Wolf Bunker) served as Hitler’s command complex for much of the war, and is best known as the site of the failed July 1944 bomb plot against him [...]

Big Ben is Leaning and the UK Parliament is Sinking

Big Ben ©apdk Rumors about the architectural stability of the famous UK parliament building and it’s iconic tower have been making the rounds this week. The 96-meter tall clock tower, which houses the bell nicknamed Big Ben, leans about 46 cm to the left of its peak. In response to concerns, a spokesman for the [...]

Napoleonland Theme Park Planned in France

Napoleon’s hat © quinet For those who want a heaping serving of chintz with their French history, soon there may be an epic rival to Euro Disney. “Napoleonland”, the brainchild of former French minister and history buff Yves Jégo, is being touted as a rival to Disneyland…The plan is to build the unlikely amusement park [...]

France Proposing Napoleon Bonaparte Theme Park

Napoleon Bonaparte © huffingtonpost.com A uniquely French theme park has been proposed, with hopes of competing with Disneyland Paris–a park that celebrates the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Yves Jégo, a former French minister and history buff is the brainchild behind the park, assuming the funds can be raised (approximately $280 million). If the funds are [...]

Failed Inventions Museum Opens in Austria

Vintage Toys, Mint Museum of Toys, Singapore ©yeowatzup It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and when Austrian Fritz Gall failed to invent anything of importance, he decided to create a museum dedicated just to failed inventions. Gall’s Museum of Nonsense is located in his hometown of Herrnbaumgarten, Austria about an hour [...]

To Make Ends Meet, Greece Renting Out Ancient Mouments

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens ©christine zenino In an attempt to save its ancient heritage, Greece is putting plans in motion to allow for the rental of its most iconic archaeological treasures to advertising firms and other business. Previously, requests to use the Acropolis–Greece’s most popular site–for advertising have been refused, and very few [...]

Tour the Real “Downton Abbey”

The cast of “Downton Abbey” © guardian.co.uk Fans of Masterpiece Classics’ “Downton Abbey”, a PBS series detailing the lives of the Crawley family in Yorkshire, England, will delight in the news that they can now visit the Abbey…to the tune of $12,000. Visitors will tour Highclere Castle (the Abbey’s setting in Newbury, England), the gardens, [...]

Cupid’s Arrow Strikes Panda Pair at French Zoo

Pandas Huan Huan and Yuan Zi © Reuters A few days into their new home at the ZooParc de Beauval in the Loire Valley, pandas Huan Huan and Yuan Zi, are creating quite a stir. The pair is already showing interest in each other and giving hope to zookeepers that cubs could be in their future. [...]

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