TOP 10 CASTLES IN GERMANY

#10.Burg Eltz

#9.Hohenschwangau Castle

#8.Albrechtsburg Meissen

#7.Hohenzollern Castle

#6.Marksburg Castle

#5.Castle Liebenstein

#4.Lichtenstein Castle

#3.Löwenburg Castle

#2.Sanssouci Castle

.

.

.

#1.Neuschwanstein Castle

This castle is one of the most well known out of all the castles in the world, and is often called a castle right out of a fairytale. The castle was opened to the public in the year 1886, and visitors still marvel at the architecture involved today.

{Credits}

TOP 10 MOST INTERESTING MUSEUM IN GERMANY

#10.Übersee Museum, Bremen

#9.Museumshafen Oevelgönne, Hamburg

#8.Goethe House and Museum, Frankfurt

#7.Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

#6.Romano-Germanic Museum, Cologne

#5.Porsche-Museum, Stuttgart

#4.Grünes Gewölbe (Green vault), Dresden

#3.Aquazoo and Löbbecke Museum, Düsseldorf

#2.German Museum, Munich

.

.

.

#1.Pergamon Museum, Berlin

Pergamon Museum is situated on the Museum Island in Berlin. It was built between the years 1910 and 1930 and was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffman. Among other exhibits that are worth seeing, the museum houses original-sized, reconstructed buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate of Miletus. Both were transported from Turkey. The museum consists of three parts: Antiquity Collection, Islamic Art Museum and The Middle East Museum. The main display, the Ishtar Gate and the Procession Way of Babylon, is housed in The Middle East Museum.

{Credits}

TOP 10 SHOPPING PLACES IN GERMANY

#10.Ludgeristraße, Munster
#9.Mönckebergstraße, Hamburg

#8.Hohe Straße, Cologne

#7.Kirchgasse, Wiesbaden

#6.Karolinenstraße, Nuremberg

#5.Spitaler Straße, Hamburg

#4.Königstraße, Stuttgart

#3.Schildergasse, Cologne

#2.Zeil, Frankfurt

.

.

.

#1.Kaufingerstraße, Munich

The absolute record for the number of passers is-14,130 people – has put the Munich street Kaufingerstraße. In the west its borders head to the central square of the Bavarian capital Marienplatz, and ends at the intersection of Färbergraben and Augustinerstraße. So whether you want to admire the medieval architecture and all of its beauty, seeing the multi-storied department stores and shoppers with dozens of colorful bags in each hand, you’re bound to forget, too, about the sights and betray rampant shopping! This place is so unique that it gives you an opportunity to have all of the hot trends of Germany in one single location. Just enjoy the heaven for the shopaholics and remember that you are the one to get the best sales ever.

(Credits)

TOP 10 BEST CITIES IN GERMANY

( BEST SPOTS FOR CITY BREAKS IN GERMANY)

#10.Dusseldorf

#9.Trier

#8.Weimar

#7.Heidelberg

#6.Dresden

#5.Cologne

#4.Hamburg

#3.Frankfurt

#2.Munich

.

.

.

#1.Berlin

Berlin is both the German capital and the biggest city in Germany. After being separated into East and West during the Cold War, Berlin was reunited in 1990; it quickly emerged as the most cosmopolitan and exciting city in Germany for art, architecture, and nightlife.

{Credits}

Renaissance Architecture

Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance. It is in Florence that the new architectural style had its beginning, not slowly evolving in the way that Gothic grew out of Romanesque, but consciously brought to being by particular architects who sought to revive the order of a past "Golden Age". The scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about.

Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose. Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Bapistry and Pisa Cathedral.

Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. Apart from the Cathedral of Milan, largely the work of German builders, few Italian churches show the emphasis on vertically, the clustered shafts, ornate tracery and complex ribbed vaulting that characterise Gothic in other parts of Europe.


The presence, particularly in Rome, of ancient architectural remains showing the ordered Classical style provided an inspiration to artists at a time when philosophy was also turning towards the Classical.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Italy#Renaissance_architecture

Travel Etiquette

FRANCE:
Never, ever discuss money over dinner. And splitting the bill is considered the height of unsophistication.

READ MORE?