Tag Archives: history The Swiss city of Bern is indelibly associated with bears. The bear has featured on the city seal and coat of arms since at least the 1220s. Stories relating to the keeping of live bears in a Bärengraben (bear pit) in the centre of the city – in what is still called Bärenplatz (Bear Plaza) – date back to the 1440s (or 1513 – depending on your […]  Woods and water are the central features of Canada’s Sunshine Coast. This rugged, mountainous, landscape on the southern-mainland coast of British Columbia (BC) in Canada’s west is bounded by the Coast Mountains on one side and the Strait of Georgia on the other. Although it’s just a stone’s throw from Vancouver, no access roads have been built around the fjords or through the […]  Tennessee is in the middle of “The South”; Middle Tennessee is – as you’d expect – in the middle of the state; and the area south of Nashville is – more or less – “the middle” of the middle. Middle Tennessee is known for its farms, beautiful horses, rolling green landscape, and bluegrass-country music. Although it is defined by the serpentine curves of the Tennessee River, it […]  When travelling in search of natural phenomena, luck is everything. My husband and I visited Iceland last March for a three-day visit. We were already going to be in England during the northern winter, so when I saw the package “deals” to see the strong>Northern Lights and to go Whale Watching on the North Atlantic, […]  The term “black and white village” refers to several old English villages in the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. These villages are known for their timbered and half-timbered houses, some dating to medieval times. The framework of the houses was made from unseasoned green oak, which darkened over time; painting the beams black was a relatively recent innovation. The panels between the beams were covered with plaster – or […] |
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