Interesting Tourist places and things

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The Mitchell Corn Palace - South Dakota




As the only corn palace in the world, the Mitchell Corn Palace attracts over 500,000 visitors every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in South Dakota.



The Mitchell Corn Palace is not a palace made of corn, as many assume when hearing its name, but it is almost completely covered with it. The Arab-looking structure is adorned with Crop Art, specifically murals made from corn and other cereal.

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Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany



Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the most popular palaces of Germany, situated in southwest Bavaria. It dates back to the 19th-century, when it was constructed on a rugged hill near Hohenschwangau and Füssen. It was built under the aegis of Ludwig II of Bavaria, who wanted it to serve as his retreat and as homage to Richard Wagner, the King's inspiring muse. Counted amongst the most visited tourist destinations of Germany, Neuschwanstein Castle opened to the general public only in the year 1886.





Interesting Facts About Neuschwanstein Castle

* The foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle was laid down on 5th September 1869.

* Christian Jank, a theatrical set designer and not an architect, was the designer of the castle.

* Public photography is not permitted inside the periphery of Neuschwanstein Castle. However, it is still the most photographed building in Germany.

* It is estimated that around 1.3 million people visit the caste annually, with the number of summer visitors being as high as 6,000 per day.

* Neuschwanstein Castle was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park.

* The castle is under the ownership of the state of Bavaria, which has spent more than €14.5 million on its maintenance, renovation and visitor services, since 1990.

* The conception of Neuschwanstein Castle was outlined by Ludwig II, in a letter to Richard Wagner, dated May 13, 1868.

* The castle was initially known as New Hohenschwangau Castle. It was only after the death of Ludwig II that it was re-named Neuschwanstein.

* Neuschwanstein Castle comprises of a gatehouse, a Bower, the Knight's House - with a square tower, and a Palas or citadel - with two towers to the Western end.

* The castle is featured on the cover of the Blur single "Country House".

* 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' and 'The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm' are amongst the movies in which the Neuschwanstein Castle has been featured.

* The castle has been heavily featured in the video game 'The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery'.

* Neuschwanstein Castle is all set to appear on a €2 commemorative coin, for the German Bundesländer series, in 2012.

* The castle was one of the finalists in the selection of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

* Neuschwanstein Castle is the most famous of three royal palaces built for Louis II of Bavaria.

* The Throne Room of the castle, created as the Grail-Hall of Parsifal, has been designed as per Byzantine style. Inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (now Istanbul), the throne room is 2-storied and is adorned with pillars of imitation porphyry and lapis lazuli.

* The towers and spires of Neuschwanstein Castle are reminiscent of the castles of medieval times.

* The Singer's Hall, a copy of the Minstrels Hall of the Wartburg Castle, occupies the entire 4th floor of the castle.

* Exquisite chandeliers can be seen adorning the interiors of Neuschwanstein Castle.

* The bedroom in the castle is carved in the Neo-Gothic style. It is said that it took 4.5 years to build this room.

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Maho Beach- Netherlands



Maho Beach is a beach situated in St Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles, on the Dutch side of the island. The location is known worldwide because of the Princess Juliana International Airport that is situated immediately adjacent to the beach.



Maho Beach is world famous and with good reason! Nowhere else can you get as close to aircraft landing on their final approach; not just small aircraft but 747 jumbos arriving on international routes. In fact, 'plane spotters' are drawn to Sint Maarten just for the thrill of being so close.



Incoming air traffic is known to have to touch down as close as possible to the beginning of runway 10 due to the short runway length of 2,180 metres/7,152 ft, resulting in low-flying aircraft on their final approach over the beach. Due to these low flying airplanes (including large passenger airliners such as the Boeing 747), the location is very popular with plane spotters.

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Freetown Christiania- Denmark



The Freetown of Christiania is a self-governing neighborhood in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital city, where the people actually live freely. Chritiania was created in 1971, and consists of the old Barracks and parts of the city ramparts.



After the barracks were abandoned by the military, the area was simply taken over by the locals in the surrounding neighborhoods, as a playground for their children. This was actually a protest against the Danish government of that time, started by the article of one Jacob
Ludvigsen.

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Beautiful Squares In Italy

Piazza del Popolo



Piazza della Repubblica



Piazza dei Miracoli



Spanish Steps

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Beautiful Squares In Italy

Piazza San Marco




Piazza del Duomo, Florence



Piazza della Signoria



Piazza Maggiore

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Beautiful Squares In Italy

Piazza Navona



Piazza del Campo



Piazza del Plebiscito



Piazza del Duomo, Milan