479 photos from Sanya
(Hainan, China)

2023-08-03 - 2023-08-05

On our fourth trip to Sanya, we stayed at the Atlantis Sanya hotel and visited the Aquaventure Waterpark and the Lost Chambers Aquarium.

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81 photos from Malmo
(Scania, Sweden)

2011-04-25

Malmö, in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden. Malmö was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia, but it struggled with the adaptation to post-industrialism. Since the construction of the Öresund bridge, Malmö has begun a slow revival with impressive architectural developments, attracting new biotech and IT companies, and particularly students through Malmö University College. The city contains many historic buildings and parks, and is also a commercial centre for the western part of Scania. Tim and Miaomiao visited the city during a day trip from Copenhagen, in the spring of 2011.

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975 photos from Saint Petersburg
(Northwestern, Russia)

2013-06-20 - 2013-06-26

Saint Petersburg is a city in Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914 the name of the city was changed to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, and in 1991, back to Saint Petersburg. Saint Petersburg was founded by the Tsar Peter the Great in 1703. From 1713 to 1728 and from 1732 to 1918, Saint Petersburg was the Imperial capital of Russia. In 1918 the central government bodies moved from Saint Petersburg (then named Petrograd) to Moscow. It is Russia`s second largest city after Moscow with 5 million inhabitants. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and also an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Saint Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. It is the northernmost city in the world to have a population of over one million. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is also home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. We visited Saint Petersburg during our Russia trip in the summer of 2013.

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1027 photos from London
(England, United Kingdom)

2024-02-12 - 2024-02-18

On this trip to London, we visited Westminster, the London Eye, Shrek`s Adventure, the Shard, Madame Tussaud`s, Wembley Stadium, Sea Life and the football match Tottenham Hotspur vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers.

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90 photos from Lille
(Hauts-de-France, France)

2022-08-14

Lille (Dutch: Rijsel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France`s border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord department, and the main city of the European Metropolis of Lille. The city of Lille proper has a population of 234,475 in 2019 within its small municipal territory of 35 km2, but together with its French suburbs and exurbs the Lille metropolitan area (French part only), which extends over 1,666 km2, has a population of 1,510,079, the fourth most populated in France after Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. A garrison town (as evidenced by its Citadel), Lille has had an eventful history from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. Very often besieged during its history, it belonged successively to the Kingdom of France, the Burgundian State, the Holy Roman Empire of Germany and the Spanish Netherlands before being definitively attached to the France of Louis XIV following the War of Spanish Succession along with the entire territory making up the historic province of French Flanders. Lille was again under siege in 1792 during the Franco-Austrian War, and in 1914 and 1940. We visited Lille on our way to Paris in the summer of 2022.

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35 photos from Bertinoro
(Emilia-Romagna, Italy)

2006-03-18 - 2006-03-23

Bertinoro is a town and comune in the province of Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna (Italy). It is located on hill, Mount Cesubeo, in Romagna, a few kilometers from the Via Emilia. Miaomiao had a conference here in the spring of 2006.

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292 photos from Hastings Reef
(Queensland, Australia)

2014-09-03

Hastings Reef is one of the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. This is the second reef we snorkeled at as part of a Great Barrier Reef tour in September 2014.

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68 photos from Wanning
(Hainan, China)

2012-01-27 - 2012-01-29

Wanning is a county-level city in the southeast of Hainan Province, with an estimated population of 65,871 (2006). We visited the town on our way from Haikou to Sanya and back, and spend a few hours at the nearby Xinglong Tropical Garden.

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152 photos from Madrid
(Madrid, Spain)

2005-09-27 - 2005-10-02

Tim travelled to Madrid for the ECCB 2005 conference. He visited the Plaza Mayor, Royal Palace, Parque del Buen Retiro, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, and more.

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154 photos from Badaling
(Beijing, China)

2017-08-11

Tim`s second visit to the Great Wall at Badaling, on a day trip from Beijing.

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121 photos from Yantai
(Shandong, China)

2014-01-03 - 2014-01-07

Yantai is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, People`s Republic of China. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively. The largest fishing seaport in Shandong and a robust economic center today, Yantai used to be known to the West as Chefoo, a misnomer which refers, in Chinese, solely to Zhifu Island, which is historically governed by Yantai. The contemporary name of Yantai came from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi in 1398, during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (yan—smoke; tai—tower). The towers served to raise alarms against invasions of Japanese pirates. We visited Miaomiao`s uncle, aunt and grandmother in Yantai, as well as the ChangYu Wine Culture Museum.

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239 photos from Mechelen
(Antwerp, Belgium)

2018-09-07

We visited Zoo Planckendael in the summer of 2018.

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23 photos from Eyjafjallajokull
(Southern Region, Iceland)

2018-07-08

Our second trip to the visitor centre of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier, in the summer of 2018.

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180 photos from Singapore
(Singapore, Singapore)

2014-08-28 - 2014-08-30

Singapore is a sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. It lies off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and is 137 kilometres north of the equator. The country`s territory consists of the lozenge-shaped main island, commonly referred to as Singapore Island in English and Pulau Ujong in Malay, and more than 60 significantly smaller islets. Singapore is one of the world`s major commercial hubs, with the fourth-biggest financial centre and one of the five busiest ports. Its globalised and diversified economy depends heavily on trade, especially manufacturing, which represented 26 percent of Singapore`s GDP in 2005. In terms of purchasing power parity, Singapore has the third-highest per capita income in the world but one of the world`s highest income inequalities. Approximately 5.4 million people live in Singapore, of which approximately two million are foreign-born. Tim and Miaomiao visited the country briefly while travelling to Australia in the summer of 2014.

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102 photos from Bruges
(West Flanders, Belgium)

2006-09-17

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country. The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is egg-shaped and about 430 hectares in size. The city`s total population is 117,073. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, it is sometimes referred to as `The Venice of the North`.

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40 photos from Bruhl
(North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

2012-08-05

Brühl is a town in the Rhineland of Germany. It is located in Rhein-Erft-Kreis, 20 km south of Cologne city center and at the edge of Naturpark Kottenforst-Ville Nature Reserve. The town of Brühl was the residence of the Prince Bishops of Cologne. In the 18th century the Prince Bishop Clemens August replaced a former ruined castle and built the Augustusburg and Falkenlust palaces near the city centre. Today both are listed as UNESCO - World Heritage Sites. Until 1990 Augustusburg Palace was used by the West German government to receive foreign heads of states visiting West Germany. We visited the Augustusburg and Falkenlust palaces during our Cologne trip.

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53 photos from Brussels
(Brussels, Belgium)

2007-04-06

Brussels is the capital of Belgium. It has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by Charlemagne`s grandson into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers a total area of 4,127 km2, covering the Capital-Region and 103 surrounding municipalities, and has a population of almost 2.7 million. We visited the Grand Place, the Town Hall, and Manneken Pis.

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249 photos from Valencia
(Valencia, Spain)

2006-08-13 - 2006-08-22

Valencia is the capital of the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia and its province. It is the third largest city in Spain and the 21st largest in the European Union. We visited the Cathedral, the beach, the Plaça de l`Ajuntament, the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, and much more.

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37 photos from Playa de las Americas
(Tenerife, Spain)

2019-01-05

Playa de las Américas is a purpose-built holiday resort in the southern and southern-west part of the Municipality of Arona, close to the adjoining Municipality of Adeje in the west of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. It was built in the 1960s beside the town of Los Cristianos and stretching west to the Costa Adeje. The resort area features bars, nightclubs, restaurants, attractions, and beaches, most of which are man-made with imported sand from Africa due to the darkness of the native volcanic sand. Playa de las Americas is a centre of nightlife in Tenerife. Nightlife is spread around the resort and includes the Veronicas Strip, Starco Commercial Centre and the Patch. We visited Playa de las Américas on the last day of our holidays in Tenerife in 2018/2019.

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257 photos from Qionghai
(Hainan, China)

2023-08-12 - 2023-08-13

On our second trip to Qionghai, we visited the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea, the beach and the water park of the Boao Asia Bay Resort.

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195 photos from Antwerp
(Antwerp, Belgium)

2023-02-19

On this fourteenth visit to Antwerp, we visited the Antwerp Zoo.

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41 photos from Thingvellir
(Southern Region, Iceland)

2013-02-28

Þingvellir (`Thing Fields`) is a place in Bláskógabyggð in southwestern Iceland, near the peninsula of Reykjanes and the Hengill volcanic area. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It is the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is also home to Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland. Parliament or Alþingi was established at Þingvellir in 930 and remained there until 1798. Þingvellir National Park was founded in 1930 to protect the remains of the parliament site and was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area. Þingvellir National Park was the first national park in Iceland and was decreed `a protected national shrine for all Icelanders, the perpetual property of the Icelandic nation under the preservation of parliament, never to be sold or mortgaged.` Tim and Miaomiao visited the site during their trip through Iceland in the winter of 2013.

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113 photos from Sounion
(Attica, Greece)

2009-03-13

Cape Sounion is a promontory located 69 km SSE of Athens, at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula in Greece. Cape Sounion is noted as the site of ruins of the ancient Greek temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea in classical mythology. The remains are perched on the headland, surrounded on three sides by the sea. The ruins bear the deeply engraved name of English Romantic poet Lord Byron (1788-1824). The site is a popular day excursion for tourists from Athens, with sunset over the Aegean Sea viewed from the ruins a sought-after spectacle. Tim and Miaomiao visited Cape Sounion on the last full day of their trip to Athens, in March 2009.

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53 photos from Siena
(Tuscany, Italy)

2006-03-25

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is best known for its Cathedral and its town square, the Piazza del Campo.

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50 photos from Bafang
(West, Cameroon)

2005-10-18 - 2005-10-19

Bafang is a town in Cameroon situated in the Haut-Nkam division of the West Province. It lies at the heart of the territory of the Bamiléké people, and has a population of roughly 80,500. Tim visited the city as part of his Cameroon trip.

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238 photos from Dinant
(Namur, Belgium)

2007-04-06 - 2007-04-09

Dinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur, Belgium. We visited the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, the Citadel, the city center, the river side, and the `La Merveilleuse` caves.

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95 photos from London
(England, United Kingdom)

2019-12-09

Tim visited Piccadilly Circus, the Horse Guards Parade, Parliament Square and some other spots in the city center of London in the autumn of 2019.

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1246 photos from Vienna
(Vienna, Austria)

2022-12-29 - 2023-01-05

Vienna is the capital, largest city, and one of nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria`s most populous city with about two million inhabitants. It is the 6th-largest city proper by population in the European Union and the largest of all cities on the Danube river. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations, OPEC and the OSCE. The city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. In 2001, the city center was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Additionally, Vienna is known as the `City of Music` due to its musical legacy, as many famous classical musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart called Vienna home. The historic center of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque palaces and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks. Vienna attracts over 6.8 million tourists a year. We visited the city on a holiday around new year 2023.

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