Finest Italian Designer Furniture

June 21st, 2009

                    Decorating our home is an art which only a few people can master. We spend thousands even millions of dollars on buying a beautiful house that suits our taste and needs. If we also show some real interest in matching the furniture with the mood of each room, it will give us a feel of satisfaction. Usually the mistake we make is we choose furniture without considering the design and interior decoration of our house. If we can match them right, our house will be a heaven. Only a few companies offer furniture with a blend of Italian design and comfort. The modern platform beds from ERoomService redefine the meaning of platform beds. They have an elegant look and great finish which makes them completely unique in design, a good piece of work from the European modern furniture designers. The living room furniture design and color should suit the wall colors and lighting effects. The living room furniture collection offers us a wide range of designs to choose from. This will definitely give us an idea about how to decorate our house in a grand manner.

DROTTNINGHOLMS SLOTTSTEATER

June 19th, 2009

Slottsteater was completed in 1766 on the instructions of Queen Lovisa Ulrika. This extraordinary place was untouched from the time of Gustav III’s death until 1922. It’s the oldest theatre in the world still in its original state. Performances are held here in summer using 18th-century machinery, such as ropes, pulleys and wagons. Scenes can be changed in less than seven seconds. Illusion was the order of the day here, and accordingly the theatre makes use of fake marble, fake curtains and papier-mache viewing boxes. Even the stage was designed to create illusions regarding size. The interesting guided tour will also take us into other rooms in the same building. We can see hand-painted 18th-century wallpaper and an Italian-style room with fake three-dimensional wall effects and a ceiling that resembles the sky.

Looking for a web hosting service provider?

June 17th, 2009

Every person in this world has a hobby. With the tremendous development in the field of internet and computers, blogging has become one of the most common hobbies in the world. People have desires to express what they like, what they don’t like, etc to other. Blogging is one of the best ways to do that. To start writing a blog, we need a domain or sub-domain and a web hosting service provider to host our blog. Many web hosting service providers offer free blogs for people. But what we get is not the actual domain; it is just a sub domain. To have more control over what we can do in the website, we need to have our own domain. Before buying a domain, we need to find a good web hosting service provider. There are so many factors like the transmission speed, storage space, server downtime, technical support, cost of hosting, etc we need to consider before selecting the web hosting service provider. Since it is not the cup of tea for many people, we look up for the experts in the field who give us proper information about the best web hosting service providers. WebHostingGeeks.com is one of the best reviewers of web hosting service providers. They compare all the features and offers provided by various web hosting companies and rate them. They also provide information about the cost of web hosting and the quality of customer service offered by each web hosting company. The latest innovation in the field of web hosting is green web hosting. Green web hosting means, the web hosting service providers use renewable resources to power the servers and data centers. By hosting our website with green web hosting service provider, we not only have a good time expressing our thoughts but also at the same time save our planet Earth from global warming.

Drottningholm

June 15th, 2009

The royal residence and parks of Drottningholm on Lovon are popular attractions and easy to visit from the capital. Cycling is one of the best ways to reach to reach the palace. If you’re driving, there are few road signs for Drottningholm, so get hold of a decent map. Stromma Kanalbolaget will take you to the palace by boat. They have frequent boats departing from Stadshusbron daily between May and mid-September, and weekends between mid-September and the end of October.

DROTTNINGHOLMS SLOTT

 The Drottningholms Slott is the home of the royal family for a part of the year. The palace has beautiful geometric baroque gardens and it was designed by the great architect Nicodemius Tessin the Elder. The construction began in 1662 about the same time as Versailles. The wings are open to the public. We can also take a one-hour guided tour. Tours are recommended, especially for an insight into the cultural milieu that influenced some of the decorations. The Lower North Corps de Garde was originally a guard room but it’s now replete with gilt-leather wall hangings, which used to feature in many palace rooms during the 17thcentury. The Karl X Gustav Gallery, in baroque style, depicts the militaristic endeavours of this monarch, but the ceiling shows battle scenes from classical times. The highly ornamented State Bedchamber of Hedvig Eleonora is the most expensive baroque interior in Sweden and it’s decorated with paintings that feature the childhood of Karl XI. Although Lovisa Ulrika’s collection of more than 2000 books has been moved to the Royal Library in Stockholm, her library here is still a bright and impressive room, complete with most of its original 18th-century fittings. The elaborate staircase, withstatues at every turn, was the work of both Nicodemius Tessin the Elder and the Younger. Circular Drottningholms Slottskyrka, the palace chapel, wasn’t completed until the late 1720s.

Stockholm - Entertainment point

June 12th, 2009

Stockholm is a theatre city, with outstanding dance, opera and music performances; for an overview, pick up the free Theatre Guide from tourist offices. Ticket sales are handled by the tourist office at Sweden House, or you can buy direct from Biljett-Direkt. Tickets generally aren’t cheap and they’re often sold out, especially for Saturday shows, but you can occasionally get good-value last-minute deals. Operas are usually performed in their original language, while theatre performances are invariably in Swedish. Konserthuset. This venue features classical concerts and other musical events, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Operan, The Royal Opera is the place to go for opera and classical ballet. It also has some bargain tickets in seats with poor views for as little as Skr40, and occasional lunchtime concerts for Skr140. Folkoperan stages unconventional productions of opera and modern ballet that bring the audience close to the stage. Dramaten, The Royal Theatre stages a range of plays in a fantastic Art Nouveau environment. Stockholms Stadsteatern: Regular performances are staged here, plus guest appearances by foreign theatre companies. Globen: This is the big white spherical building just south of Sodermalm. Globen’s arenas stage regular big-name pop and rock concerts, as well as sporting events and trade fairs.

Molokai

June 8th, 2009

Molokai is an island where you can experience true Hawaii. It is a good choice for some outdoor adventures.
Getting There:

There are only two ways to reach Molokai.
1. Local Air Carrier from Honolulu International airport.
2. Daily ferry from Maui. There are two ferries to Molokai daily. One in the morning and other in the late afternoon. Evening ferry gives you the spectacular view of the sunset. You can see some whales along the surface of the water, if you are traveling in winter.

Places to see:

1. BIG WIND KITE FACTORY: This place has wide variety of beautiful kites. They have kites resembling a hula dancer and high performance stunt kites. You can take a tour around this factory to learn the art of kite making. The owners conduct free kite flying lessons for the people who come to the factory.

2. HALAWA VALLEY: With lush flora and rare species of plants and animals, this valley is nature’s gift to mankind. This is a god place to go for hiking. The history goes back to the times of the Polynesians who are believed to have settled here and said to have had many hidden places of worships. This valley provides such a nice view which is really divine.

3. MOOULA FALLS: The trail to Halawa Valley ends at this Mooula falls. This place is said to give its hikers one of the world’s best hiking experience. You need to cross a patch of private land on the way to Mooula falls, so a guide is must when you go to this falls. If you are planning to swim, you need to make sure if the Mooula water is safe at the moment. Just drop a Ti leaf into the water, if it floats, Mooula is welcoming you to enter its water. If the Ti leaf sinks, then it means Mooula is in not in good mood for you to take a swim.

4. KAMAKOU PRESERVE: This is a place which is house for over 200 species of rare plants. This place is so pristine under the direct care of mother nature. You can take a tour around this rain-forest through the boarded walk that is built for tourists.

5. HOOLEHUA POST OFFICE, POST-A-NUT: This is funny place to visit. This post office as the name suggests gives you a dried to coconut to be mailed home. Just pay the postage charges, write your message, a dried coconut will be sent to the address provided by you.

6. ANCIENT HAWAIIAN FISHPONDS: These are fishponds dating back to 13th century. Hawaiians were very good at aquaculture. They built many fish ponds to grow fish for their members of the royal family. These fish ponds are proves their ancient Hawaiian people’s ingenuity. Keawa Nui is the largest fish pond covering 54 acres of land surrounded by 2000 feet wall, made of lava boulders and coral. Ualapue Pond is another pond near Mile Marker 13, it has been restored recently with two species of fish which were grown here in ancient times.

7. KALAUPAPA NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK: This is a 3 mile trail along the Kalaupapa Peninsula on a mule. The journey along the trail is usually very silent because of the nearness of the world’s highest sea cliff. This place has a story. In 1873, Father Damien treated and took care of the Hansen disease victims exiled to this part of the island.

8. KANEMITSU BAKERY: Are you a foodie? This is a place just for you. This bakery is very famous for its tasty breads hot from the oven. They make various flavors of bread like regular white, wheat, cheese, sweet, and onion-cheese breads, and special apricot-pineapple to mango breads. Even if you are not a foodie, this is a must visit place.

9. PURDY’S NATURAL MACADAMIA NUT FARM: This is a place where you can crack your own Macadamia nut and eat. Hawaii is the largest supplier of Macadamia Nuts. The farm offers lessons on how to properly crack the macadamia nuts and recipes using them. It also has a shop that sells products from this tree.

10. PAPOHAKU BEACH PARK: This is a three mile beach with lots of campsites. This beach has white sand that is very soft. The place has great ambiance and offers a beautiful view of the shores of Oahu. It is said that the people of Waikiki built their shore from the sand taken from this beach.

11. KAUNAKAKAI: This is situated at the heart of the island. Ala Malama Avenue has many boutiques and gift shops.

Northern Stockholm

June 6th, 2009

The areas just north of the city centre are full of green, open spaces. Several large parks, spanning from Djurgarden in the south, form Ekoparken, the first such protected city area in the world. The Hagaparken is less wild, more sculpted and particularly pleasant for walks and bicycle tours and contains some interesting attractions.

MILLESGARDEN

The beautiful Milles garden was the home and studio of sculptor Carl Milles, an interesting personality whose sleek, delicate water sprites and other distinctive sculptures can be seen all over Stockholm. They include a modern gallery for changing exhibitions of contemporary artwork, Milles’ elaborately Pompeiian house, and a beautiful outdoor sculpture garden where items from ancient Greece, Rome, medieval times and the Renaissance intermingle with Milles’ own work. There’s also a museum shop and a cafe.

COSMONOVA

The extensive Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet was founded by Carl Von Linne in 1739. It’s now Sweden’s largest museum, packed with hands-on displays about nature as well as whole forests’ worth of taxidermied wildlife, dinosaurs, marine life and the hardy fauna of the Polar Regions.
Adjoining Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet is Cosmonova, a combined planetarium and IMAX theatre. The diverse topics covered include Everest, Alaska, the oceans and outer space. This planetarium also screens movies.

HAGAPARKEN

HagaPark is the amazing, brightly colored Koppartalten, built in 1787 as a stable and barracks for Gustav III’s personal guard. It now contains a café, restaurant and Haga Park museum, with displays about the park, its pavilions and the royal palace, Haga slott. Gustav III:s Paviljong is a superb example of late neoclassical style; the furnishings and décor reflect Gustav III’s interest in all things Roman after his Italian tour in 1782. The charming Fjarilshuset has an artificial tropical environment with free-flying birds and butterflies. It’s a wonderfully incongruous place to visit on a cold winter day.

ULRIKSDALS SLOTT

Further north is the yellow-painted royal palace Ulriksdal Slott. This large, early 17th-century building was home to King Gustaf VI Adolf and his family until 1973. Several of their attractive apartments, including the drawing room, which dates from 1923, are open to the public. The Orangery contains Swedish sculpture and Mediterranean plants. Queen Kristina’s coronation carriage is also on show here.

Oahu

June 3rd, 2009

Oahu is the third largest island in Hawaii. It is very stylish town and known for it diverse population.

Getting there:
Honolulu International Airport (HNL) on Oahu is the major airport in Hawaii. All domestic carriers and sixteen international carriers serve Oahu.

Once you reach the mainland, getting around is very easy. Many shuttle bus and taxis are available.

Where to stay:

You can find an accommodation in Oahu with effortless ease. There are all types of accommodations available in Oahu, and in all ranges.

Places of Interest:

1. HANAUMA BAY NATURE PRESERVE : This bay was originally a volcanic crater, which eventually became a bay due to wave erosion.

Hanauma bay

This is a exotic place with clear blue water, colorful fishes and beautiful reefs. It can be called the best spot for snorkeling.
This is a Marine life conservation zone in Hawaii and so please take care to preserve the marine ecosystem. The preserve is closed only on Tuesdays.

2. THE HAWAII STATE ART MUSEUM : This museum is just opposite to the Lolani Palace. It is one of the new museums, built in the year 2002.
This museum houses variety of art created exclusively by Hawaii artists. This museum is free to visitors and is a lovely place to know about Hawaii,
the people and culture of the land.

3. PEARL HARBOR: Everyone must be aware of this place. On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked pearl Harbor, when the attack was least expected by the Americans.
History apart, Pearl Harbor is one of the largest natural harbor in Hawaii. It got its name from the once famous pearl oysters once harvested there.
This place has many museums and memorials that were constructed in remembrance of the 2390 people who died during the Japan’s aerial attack.

4. KAENA POINT : This point is on the western tip of Oahu. It is believed that the soul of the dead would jump of this point to reach the spirit world meet
their ancestors. Hence it is considered very sacred by the locals. This shoreline is formed by lava rocks and the only way to reach here is by hiking.
There are two trails leading to Kaena Point. The Scenic view from Kaena point is so divine. Makes us say “No wonder the locals consider it very sacred”

5. THE HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SHANGRI-LA : This is a large museum which gives you an ultimate experience about art. This place was opened in the year
1927. It has nearly 38,000 art pieces from various parts of the world. The rooms are designed in an awesome fashion that they almost take you to the place
where the art belongs to. Get ready to travel to Egypt, Morocco and many other places when you enter Shangri-La.

6. Chinatown : This place gives a perfect flavor of China. There are many exquisite shops that deals with Chinese merchandise, antiques and jewelery.
The restaurants here offer excellent Chinese cuisine. Enjoy the art of noodle making live here in Chinatown. Chinatown has a temple dedicated to Buddhist Goddess of Mercy.
There is also a museum that is a nice place to visit. This place is the right choice for nightlife lovers. It has many bars and clubs that are open at night.

7. KAPAHULU : To get the local flavor of Hawaii, you should visit Kapahulu avenue. This place has good restaurants that serve the native Hawaii food that is mouth watering.
The avenue has few specialty shops that sell aloha shirts, antique Hawaiian furniture and many other Hawaii’s specialties. Food is the major attraction here.
Feel like eating Mediterranean, Japanese,Chinese or Hawaiian cuisine? Your destination should be Kapahulu Avenue.

8. WAIKIKI : This is a world famous place and most preferred destinations for international gathering. The Kalakaua Avenue here in Waikiki has world-class shopping malls, hotels and entertainment centers.
There is the statue of the Duke Kahanamoku who is greatest of the Hawaiian Heroes. He is considered as the father of modern surfing. The Kuhio Beach is perfect choice to learn sea surfing.

9. DIAMOND HEAD STATE MONUMENT (Leahi) : This is a crater that is 760 foot high. It gives the panoramic view of Oahu and Waikiki shoreline. The place got its name from the British sailors who came by this place.
They thought the calcite crystals found on the slopes to be diamonds and named the place to be Diamond Head. Hiking to the top is real fun and adventurous too. You can also take a bus to the top.

Kauai

May 31st, 2009

Getting there:

Lihue Airport (LIH) on Kauai is the island’s main airport. Many airlines offer direct service to Kauai. Else you can fly to Honolulu International Airport (HNL) first, and then from there to Kauai.

1. FERN GROTTO: The grotto is a natural lava-rock lush with hanging ferns. This is a lovely place that is accessible via the Wailua River. This place is like an amphitheater. The musicians play beautiful Hawaiian music in this serene setting for the visitors. It is a popular place for wedding ceremonies.

2. KILAUEA LIGHTHOUSE: Kilauea Lighthouse located at the northern tip of Hawaii, is a 52 - feet structure, built in 1913 as a beacon for traveling ships. This serves as the perfect point for taking photos. This is also the national wildlife sanctuary for Hawaii’s unique seabirds.

3. NAPALI COAST: This place offers a spectacular view of the coastline and is known for its scenic beauty. The only land access is through the Kalalau Trail, which is a 11-mile trail that crosses five different valleys and leads us to the secluded Kalalau Beach. But this is a very dangerous because of the rough terrain.

4. WAIMEA CANYON: Waimea Canyon, is on the west side of the island. It is more than 3,000 feet deep and provides breath taking panoramic views of deep valley gorges. Waimea is nicknamed “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” There are many trails to traverse for beginners and seasoned hikers. Trail maps can be availed at the Ranger’s Station, located at the Kokee Museum.

5. WAILUA FALLS: The falls is located at the southeastern part of the island. Located at the southern end of the Wailua River, falling from a height of 80 feet, it is very thrilling. The falls is easily accessible from the roadside.

6. MENEHUNE FISHPOND: This was built 500 years ago, and is one of the historic places since 1973. There is a myth that it was built over night by magical people called menehune. There is a great wall that is 900 feet long and five feet high, dividing the pond from Huleia Stream. It has been built by meticulously arranging lava rock.

7. KAUAI BEACHES: Poipu beach is in the southern side of the Kauai. It is a best spot for swimming and snorkeling. Along Highway 560 on the north coast of Kauai are some exotic beaches. Anini Beach is known for snorkeling. Tranquil Hanalei Bay is place where you can experience a romantic sunset. Tunnels Beach is also an excellent spot for snorkeling and swimming in the calm summer months. Kee Beach at the very end of Highway is where the trail head to the Kalalau trail overlooking the Napali Coast.

8. HANALEI : It is a small town in Kauai. This place has many stylish galleries that has many hand made art pieces. It has the wonderful Lumahai Beach that is an ideal picnic spot. KA ULU O LAKA HEIAU is an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess of the hula. This place still has the remnants of the temple. This place is considered very sacred by the Hula dancers, that they come here to test their skill.

Hawaii

May 30th, 2009

Hawaii islands once known as Sandwich Islands are situated in the North Pacific ocean. It is an archipelago consisting of 19 islands, many islets and undersea mountains. There is a great undersea mountain range that can be seen above water. This was formed by volcanic activity in the region. There are six main islands to visit in Hawaii.

Getting there:

Honolulu international airport is the largest airport in the Hawaii islands. It can be reached from almost all parts of the world. Apart from this, there are many small airports for domestic purpose, that is to travel between the islands. Ferry and cruise services are also available.

Climate:

Climate depends on the altitude of the place and the weather. Most of the rainfall occur during the winter i.e. October to April. It is generally dry during summer (may - september) Storms are very common here in Hawaii from June till November. Storms are frequent during winter, bringing in lot of rain in this season.