Europe Euphoria

Bafflement of the residents of Yorkshire has come to an end as the mystery of sculpted stone heads which were left outside their properties has been solved. CCTV footage in Braithwell helped police solve the riddle. They found the images of an unknown man dropping off the sculptures. The man was caught on CCTV when he was trying to drop three heads outside a village post office.

CCTV shows man carrying suspicious object.

This unknown man has left 13 carved stone heads at different locations in Yorkshire in the dead of night baffling the residents. All the sculptures are slightly different but have one thing in common. Each bears a carved symbol which appears to spell out the word paradox and comes with a note bearing the riddle: Twinkle twinkle like a star does love blaze less from afar?

Source: Daily Mail

Running out of options to visit places? Well, try visiting Stockholm over a long weekend vacation. Mostly popular as the Venice of North, Stockholm is built of 14 islands. You can go on 30 different sightseeing tours, try the regular sports or even take a night walk.

Global citizens chose the finest monuments when they voted for the new Seven Wonders of the World, the results of which were announced on July 7th, 2007. Preparations are on to celebrate and unveil each one of them over a period of two years. India’s Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Brazil’s Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru’s Machu Picchu, Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid, the Colosseum in Rome and Petra of Jordan are the new Seven Wonders of the World.

When faith can move mountains, can it not move the very source it originates from? Of course it can. A 750 year old church in eastern Germany is now being moved out of its town to make way for a coal pit.

The 660-ton church will now travel on wheels and will safely be restored in Borna, a place 12 kilometers away from its origin. Heuersdorf, a village in eastern Germany is sitting on massive coal mine with an estimated 52 million tons of lignite, or brown coal. With economy gaining prominence over faith, the only option was to move the church safely out of the town and restore it.

Of course, moving the church out will not be cheap, costing an estimated €3 million ($4.3 million). The church is wrapped in steel corsets with all cracks plugged, and with the help of hydraulic lifts, it will be transferred on to a multi-wheeled red transport bed. While sensors check the condition of the building as it moves, structural engineers will accompany the church through the holy journey to ensure that the building never tilts more than 2 degrees.

The church is expected to make a grand re-opening Easter Monday 2008 once it is rebuilt. Perfect example of ‘Faith shaken and restored!’

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Spain’s oldest and grandest art museum popularly known as Prado Museum is a place that offers a large and varied feast to art lovers. Good news is that it is undergoing extension giving a 21st century update to this 18th century museum.

When you think of cheese, do you visualize a stringy piece of mozzarella stretching from your lips to a freshly baked slice of pizza? Now imagine yourself rolling headlong down 300 yards in pursuit of a seven lb of cheese. If you find yourself falling into this category, I mean if you’re a cheese lover, read on.

Ever wondered where is the best place in the world to live in? Well, according to a survey by the Readers’ Digest Magazine, it’s Finland that tops the list as the world’s most comfortably habitable place. The study was conducted by environmental economist Matthew Kahn. He did the rankings on the basis of green indices like quality of air and drinking water as well as socioeconomic indicators like education,income and life expectancy. According to the study, Finland won high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters.

If you’re a ski fan and are unable to wait any longer for the start of the ski season, then here’s good news for you guys. Check out where you can ski now and where you should start queuing for the early freshies. The publication of top-ten spots for early-season ski action has made many of the ski resorts in Europe to start the skiing early this year.

French ski resort of Val Thorens topped the list of the top-ten spots as European resorts. Chamonix, Alps (Mont Blanc) are among the other listed resorts. Your wait is over now and the wait of ski regions of Europe is to begin soon. Plan your Europe trip and enjoy early-season skiing!

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Jules Verne restaurant, the much-famed restaurant in Eiffel Tower, opened on Saturday, after a four month closure for renovation work. The restaurant serve French food, headed by French top chef Alan Ducasse, and is situated on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, some 125 metres above ground level. Ducasse and Sodexho, the French catering-services giant, took over management of the Jules Verne and the tower’s other restaurants earlier this year.

The ambiance of the restaurant, along with the menu have been designed to offer locals and tourists a truly French experience. Ducasse, who heads a range of restaurants around the world, has garnered a record 14 Michelin stars, created an underground ‘cooking laboratory’ in this restaurant to prepare some of the dishes and keep a large wine cellar because the tower kitchen was only 45 square metres. This they felt was too small to serve 120 guests. Besides this, the furniture in the restaurant had to be weighed to meet the tower’s weight limits. Fearing fire risks, the kitchen does not even use flame-producing gas.

If Venice could be known for its glamour, Milan should be known for its canals. Yes the canals that made it a popular portcity holds no attraction now. Alternatives modes of transport being available waterways are no more an attraction.