If you are looking for gifts for girlfriend then these beads are a great choice as you can add to her collection again and again which means you need never be stuck for an idea of what to buy on any occasion such as birthdays, christmas, anniversaries. They make wonderful gifts to be worn by women as matching symbols of their friendship or as a sweet but stylish present for your girlfriend, fiancé or wife. Any girl would love a...more
Christmas hampers used to be popular as a convenient way to spread the cost of Christmas food over a year. Each week a small amount of money was paid to a company towards the cost of your hamper, which would contain lots of festive extras such as a Christmas cake, tinned ham and fruit along with wine or spirits.Over the last thirty years or so, the hampers are still a popular choice for Christmas with a lot of people still paying...more
After having learned so much about architecture during my morning walking tour of downtown Detroit, we embarked on another urban discovery: a walking tour through Brush Park, one of Detroit's historic residential areas with a location very close to downtown. Bob Goldsmith, our local expert from Detroit Tour Connections, met us at 97 Winder Street, location of a recently restored bed and breakfast, and started explaining the history of the area to us.In its Victorian heydays, Brush Park was an affluent neighbourhoood with numerous mansions for upper-class families. The area's beginnings date back to the 1850s when local entrepreneur Edmund Brush started subdividing his family's property. Construction activity peaked in the 1870s and 1880s, and in 1906 one of the last mansions to be built was renowned Detroit architect Albert Kahn's personal residence. The neighbourhood stretches for 24 city blocks and originally included about 300 homes of which 70 were Victorian mansions. As transportation and the use of the automobile expanded in the early 20th century, people started moving further afield, and the Brush Park area started on a long road of decline. Many of the...more
After my explorations in Windsor, I had about an hour and a half to explore Detroit on my own before my scheduled driving tour of the city. With its impressive 20th century architectural heritage, Detroit had long fascinated me and I was going to take the next four days to explore this city up close. One of the buildings making up...more
My abode for my last two days in Detroit was the Inn on Ferry Street, a beautifully renovated complex of six historic buildings in the Midtown area of Detroit. It encompasses four mansions as well as two carriage houses that were each built for prominent Detroit families. After many years of languishing, these buildings have been...more
One of the main reasons I had come to Detroit was the fantastic architecture that this city has to offer. Detroit celebrated its heyday in the early 20th century when the automobile industry took off, and car ownership became available to everyday people. Witnesses to this boom are the many stunning historic skyscrapers in Detroit, particularly from the 1920s, buildings that still define one of the most recognizable skylines in the world.Of course the Great Depression of the 1930s put an end to this exuberant construction activity, but to this day Detroit features a great collection of architectural treasures. One of the most well-known landmarks is the former Book Cadillac Hotel, which at its opening in 1924, was the tallest building in Detroit and the tallest hotel in the world.The Book Cadillac was developed by three brothers who intended to turn Washington Boulevard into the "Fifth Avenue of the West". They commissioned prominent Detroit architect Louis Kamper to design their hotel property which was to be built on the location of the earlier Cadillac Hotel, a property dating back to 1885. With big fanfare this grand hotel opened in 1924, featuring 1,136...more
Finally it was time for another excursion. As a true architecture buff, Detroit had been on my radar for a long time, and I definitely wanted to explore this unique city in detail. So for the last few weeks I had been working with...more
It was barely mid-day by now and we had already seen so much. Our ride on the Number 11 bus had introduced us to some of the city's main sights from the comfort of the upper level of a double-decker bus. And our subsequent walking...more
Regardless of what city I travel to, I always try to build in some sorts of a sports activity, whether it is bicycling, hiking, rollerblading, or - in this case – kayaking! I had tried whitewater kayaking once before in the Canadian...more
Our second day in London greeted us with brilliant sunshine, and even though it was still early May, temperatures in the mid twenties (Celsius, of course) were in store for us. Andrea and I started our day with a nice breakfast at the...more
It's amazing what you can pack into a day: our sightseeing tour on the Number 11 bus had introduced us to some of London's most important sights. During our walking tour we explored Buckingham Palace, the Mall, Trafalgar Square and...more
After five great days in my temporary home in the Western Bay of Palma it was now time to relocate and have a closer look at the eastern side of island. I needed to check out today and move into my next apartment in Port d'Alcudia. I...more