Hints Archives ⋆ Page 2 of 240 ⋆ The Passenger

September 7, 2024September 28, 2024

Tate Britain

Staying at a capital city like London gives you the chance to have a look at the works of many international artists. But what about the local ones? If you want to see works of British artists the Tate Gallery of British Art (or short: Tate Britain) is your place to be. It contains the largest collection of British art since 1500. Sugar farmer Sir Henry Tate offered his 60 artworks to the British government as the foundation of a new museum at the end of the 19th century. Tate Britain opened in 1897 in a Neoclassicism-style building on the grounds of a former jail in Millbank.

September 7, 2024September 28, 2024

Bushy

It was a Saturday morning when I was walking through massive fields of high fern in the west of London when a white stag appeared in front of me on the path. What sounds like the beginning of some fairy-tale is daily routine at Bushy Park: the vast park is roamed by many deer that are pretty much used to visitors. Every now and then you will see one pass or you can see a group of horns peaking out of high grass. They are in this place because of king Henry VIII who was a passionate hunter.

September 7, 2024September 28, 2024

Wetlands

Wetlands at todays London, is that even possibly? Well it is, but of course the Walthamstow Wetlands aren’t natural. A city like London needs to do water management and that is how these artificial lakes between Walthamstow and Hale were created between 1863 and 1904. The first reservoirs protecting the city from droughts were even dug by hand. Today the wetlands are a protected nature conservation zone which is especially used by birds passing through the metropolitain area.

September 4, 2024September 29, 2024

Abbey Road

In 1969 The Beatles published their 11th album, one of the most successful albums of all times with still today well known songs like Come Together, Octopus’s Garden and Here Comes the Sun. It was the last studio album of the band and recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in the city quarter St. John’s Wood of London. The band initially wanted to name the album Everest and fly to the Himalaya to shoot the cover picture, but then found it more convenient to just walk out the door and take the picture directly in front of the recording studio.

August 10, 2024September 1, 2024

Face à la gare

It is maybe just another nice hotel of the ibis chain, but it is definitely in a prime location: the ibis Gare Matabiau. From there the main railway station (Gare Matabiau) and the main bus terminal (Gare Routière) are just across the road or better said just across the Canal du Midi. That’s of course especially great if you arrive or leave early in the morning. With that you’re having fast access to places like Andorra or the rest beautiful French cities surrounding Toulouse. You might have to figure out the right road, but it is also only just 15 minutes on foot to the city center and already around the hotel you’ll find good bars and restaurants.

July 28, 2024July 28, 2024

Corvey

When scrolling through the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany you’ll discover the Cloister Corvey near the smalltown Höxter in Germanys North Rhine-Westphalia. In fact it is not the entire monastery that is inscribed on the list, it is only one part of its church (the Westwerk) and something invisible today: the city once surrounding it (the Civitas). What’s that all about? Corvey was a Carolingian monastery founded in 822 CE. Charlemagne wanted to drive Christianisation in Saxony after he conquered it.

July 20, 2024July 24, 2024

Rhumequelle

A lake with clear blue water within a forest – that is the main spring of river Rhume close to the village Rhumspringe. In many other cases people have framed the source of a river, but here it is untouched: there is just a swimming pontoon for better views and some tables for a picnic. It is said to be the third-largest spring in Germany and one of the most productive Karst springs (with up to 5,000 liter per second).

July 20, 2024July 24, 2024

Scharzfels

A massive staircase in the forest close to Scharzfeld easily shows that something big was once standing here. It is leading onto a 20 meters high dolomite rock which was the location of the Burg Scharzfeld from the 10th century CE. There is not much left of the once massive fortification – just some remains of walls, arches and gates; but you can have an amazing view from up there. The staircase is in such good shape is king George V (the last king of Hannover) had it restored in 1856 and today it looks a bit alien in this landscape.

July 20, 2024July 24, 2024

Einhornhöhle

Are you in the mood to search for unicorns? Then the Einhornhöhle near Scharzfeld might be the perfect destination for you. Researchers have come here for a very long time as the 700 meters long cave is filled to large extent with sediment that contains the bones of extinct animals like mammoths, cave bears and cave lions. In 1672 the physicist Otto von Guericke reported that he had found a unicorn there which motivated the famous mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to get there and to construct a unicorn from bones. It were in facht mammoth bones, but his reconstruction is now the logo of the cave and the name ‘unicorn cave‘ attracts a lot of visitors.

July 14, 2024July 27, 2024

YYC

The international airport of Calgary (YYC) is a middle-size airport located in the north of the city. It is a convenient airport with many seating options, good coffee bars and restaurants and the fastest security check I’ve ever experienced. YYC has four runways and transports 18 million passengers per year. Initially used for military purposes the first civilians were starting their flights here in 1946. Today not only Air Canada and North-American airlines use the airport; also KLM, Condor and Edelweiss Air are landing here.