French Polynesia

When you go to French Polynesia you will find a lot of different types of accommodation from world class, world famous resorts to small comfortable inns, and plenty of Bed and Breakfast places.
A lot depends on how you want to experience French Polynesia, and you must decide this before booking anything.
You will also need to bear in mind that in the more remote outer islands your hotel is bound to be the main focus of your activities.
Your choices will include beautiful thatched roof bungalows on stilts over an incredible blue lagoon, or located in a tropical garden setting amongst hibiscus and bougainvillea, right next to a beautiful white sand palm fringed beach, on the edge of a crystal clear lagoon. If you want to experience genuine Tahitian accommodation, then this is what you need to choose.

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South America

Are you confused to choose a place for your vacation? Do you want to explore the different side of the world? If you are feeling so, then plan your trip to South America. This place offers wide range of vacation spots, which give you a pleasing vacation.
The vacation spots in South America are very different and you have a world full of places to explore in S.A. You will never run out of places while exploring South America.

You can travel around and see different places such as the forest, beaches, mountains etc. South America has several world wonders in the country’s heritage. You can explore the country through different means, air, water and land.
Traveling freaks from all over the world come to South America in all possible seasons. There is no particular limitation for the travelers to visit the country.

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Lincoln Park Zoo neighborhood in Chicago

Lincoln Park Zoo is a free zoo located in Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, when the Lincoln Park Commissioners were given a gift of a pair of swans. In 1874, the swans were joined by a bear cub, the first animal purchased for the zoo. The bear became quite adept at escaping from its home and could frequently be found roaming Lincoln Park at night.^{[citation needed]} The first bison ever born in captivity was born in Lincoln Park. Marlin Perkins, who later gained fame as the host of the television program Wild Kingdom, was director of the zoo from 1944 until 1962. Now, Lincoln Park Zoo is home to a wide variety of animals. The zoo includes polar bears, penguins, gorillas, reptiles, monkeys, and other species totalling nearly 1,250 animals. Also located in Lincoln Park Zoo is a burr oak tree which dates to 1830, three years before the city was founded. Lincoln Park Zoo is one of four zoos in the Chicago area, the others being the large Brookfield Zoo, and the minor Phillips Park Zoo, and Cosley Zoo. Lincoln Park Zoo is the only one within the Chicago city limits.
Two sections of Lincoln Park Zoo have been set aside for children. The first is the Pritzker Family Children's Zoo. The Children's Zoo contains an indoor structure for children to play in. People used to be able to pet animals at the Children's Zoo, but in recent years, due to health concerns, Lincoln Park Zoo has stopped this at the Children's Zoo. Also, baby animals who are rejected by their parents are no longer kept in the Children's Zoo because the zoo has found that it is harder to reintroduce them into their habitats once they grow up if they are kept away from their own species. The second area of the zoo for children in the Farm-in-the-Zoo, presented by John Deere. This small farm contains pigs, cows, horses and other animals which can be found on farms. Children can feed and pet the animals. In addition, the cows are milked in public for children to see. Regenstein Center for African Apes is home to Keo, the oldest male chimpanzee in a North American zoo.
Near the southern end of Lincoln Park Zoo, one can rent a paddle boat for a spin around the Lincoln Park Lagoon. The Lagoon is surrounded by trees and offers a relaxing time (and, of course, paddling exercise). Kayakers and canoers also take to the lagoon and one can often see scullers as well.

List of animal houses and locations

• Antelope and Zebra Area
• Blum-Kovler Penguin/Seabird House
• Helen V. Brach Primate House
• Farm-in-the-Zoo (presented by John Deere)
• Kovler Lion House
• Kovler Sea Lion Pool
• McCormick Bird House
• Hope B. McCormick Swan Pond
• Robert R. McCormick Bear Habitat
• Pritzker Family Children's Zoo
• Regenstein African Journey
• Regenstein Birds of Prey Exhibit
• Regenstein Center for African Apes
• Regenstein Small Mammal/Reptile House

Lincoln Park
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Dubai Metro network in the United Arab Emirates city

The Dubai Metro (in Arabic: مترو دبي) is a driverless, fully automated metro network in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai. The Red Line is partly operational, the Green Line is still under construction, and further lines are planned. These first two lines run underground in the city centre and on elevated viaducts elsewhere. All trains and stations are air conditioned with platform edge doors to make this possible.
The first section of the Red Line, covering 10 stations, was ceremonially inaugurated at 9:09:09 PM on September 9, 2009, by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, with the line opening to the public at 6 AM on September 10. The Dubai Metro is the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula.^[5] More than 110,000 people, which is nearly 10 per cent of Dubai’s population, used the Metro in its first two days of operation. The Dubai Metro carried 10 million passengers from launch on 9 September 2009 to 9 February 2010 with 11 stations operational on the Red Line.

Construction

Once the 20 km Green line opens, the Dubai Metro will overtake the title of longest automated metro network from the Vancouver Skytrain, surpassing it by 3 km.
Planning of the Dubai Metro began under the directive of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who expected other projects to attract 15 million visitors to Dubai by 2010. The combination of a rapidly-growing population (expected to reach 3 million by 2017) and severe traffic congestion necessitated the building of an urban rail system to provide additional public transportation capacity, relieve motor traffic, and provide infrastructure for additional development.
In May 2005 a AED 12.45 billion/US$ 3.4 billion design and build contract was awarded to the Dubai Rail Link (DURL) consortium made up of Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, Kajima Corporation and Turkish firm Yapı Merkezi. The first phase (worth AED 15.5 billion/US$ 4.2 billion) covers 35 kilometres (22 mi) of the proposed network, including the Red Line between Al Rashidiya and the Jebel Ali Free Zone set for completion by September 2009 and the Green Line from Al Qusais 2 to Al Jaddaf 1. This is to be completed by June 2010. A second phase contract was subsequently signed in July 2006 and includes extensions to the initial routes. The Red Line partially opened at 9 minutes and 9 seconds past 9 PM on September 9, 2009 (9/9/9 9:9:9), inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum. The construction cost of the Dubai Metro project has shot up by about 80 per cent from the original AED 15.5 billion/US$ 4.2 billion to AED 28 billion/US$ 7.6 billion. The authorities said the cost of the project did not overshoot. They attributed the increase in expenditure to the major changes in the scope and design of the project. The authorities also expect to generate AED 18 billion/US$ 4.9 billion in income over the next 10 years. But they speculate that the Metro would not be a profit-making enterprise since the fares would be subsidised.

Construction delays

Work officially commenced on the construction of the metro on March 21, 2006.
In February 2009, a top RTA Rail Agency official said the $ 4.2 billion Dubai Metro project would be completed on schedule despite global crisis.
However only 10 out of 29 metro stations of the red line opened on 9 september 2009.
Construction of the 18 stations on the red line and another 18 on the green line restarted on February 7, 2010, according to contractors, after a settlement was reached with a Japanese-led consortium over disputed payments of about $ 2 billion-$ 3 billion and there is optimism that the whole red line may be able to open in the second quarter of 2010. Construction of all 29 metro stations on the red line was declared complete on April 28, 2010 by the acting chief of the RTA Rail Agency.
Seven more stations on the Dubai Metro Red Line opened on April 30, 2010. Ten new trains were pressed into service, giving a total of 22 trains in service when the stations opened. The seven stations are, Emirates Station, Airport Terminal 1 Station, Dubai Internet City (TECOM) Station, Al Karama Station, Emirates Towers Station, Marina Station and Ibn Battuta Station. In addition to this, a further 3 stations will be opened on May 15, 2010, namely: Al Quoz Station, GGICO Station and World Trade Station, whilst the remaining stations on the Red Line will be opened in phases in the second half of 2010. The RTA announced that work on all 18 stations on the 23-km long Green Line that runs around the Dubai Creek through Deira and Bur Dubai will be completed in August 2011. On March 2010 the Dubai Metro chief resigned due to the construction delays.

Under construction

• Green Line: 20 kilometres (12 mi) line with 22 stations from Festival City, through the city centre, Dubai International Airport Terminal 2 and the Airport Free Zone. This line was proposed to open in March 2010, however the Dubai RTA confirmed at the end of August 2009 that the Green Line will not open until June 2010, completing the first phase of the Dubai Metro.

The line was originally slated at 17km was increased by 7km to 23.9km. The line will be further extended by 11km from Al Jaddaf to International City under the Green Line extension project

List of stations

Dubai Metro is composed of at-grade (G) elevated Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 (T1, T2 and T3, respectively) underground stations (U) and underground transfer station types (UT). Type 1 is the regular at-grade concourse station, Type 2 is a regular elevated concourse station, and Type 3 is an elevated special track station with an extra track to hold a non operational train. Underground transfer stations will be accommodating both the Red and Green lines for easy transfers.
Besides these differences, there are four themes used in the interiors of the stations: earth, water, fire and air. Earth stations have a tan-brown colour effects; water has blue-white colour effects; fire has orange-red colour effects; and the air has green colour effects.

• Red Line:
  
  • Rashidiya Station (Depot)
  • Emirates Airlines Station
  • Airport Terminal 3 Station - For all Emirates Flights
  • Airport Terminal 1 Station - For all Non-Emirates Flights
  • Al Garhoud Station (GGICO station)
  • Deira City Centre Station
  • Al Rigga Station
  • Union Station (Interchange, connecting with Green Line)
  • Khalid bin Al Waleed Station (Interchange, connecting with Green Line)
  • Al Karama Station
  • Al Jafiliya Station
  • World Trade Centre Station
  • Emirates Towers Station
  • Financial Centre Station
  • Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall Station
  • Business Bay Station
  • Al Quoz Station
  • First Gulf Bank Station
  • Mall of the Emirates Station
  • Sharaf DG Station
  • Dubai Internet City Station — interchange to Palm Jumeirah Monorail
  • Nakheel Station
  • Dubai Marina Station
  • Jumeirah Lake Towers Station
  • Nakheel Harbor and Towers Station
  • Ibn Battuta Station
  • Energy Station
  • Jebel Ali Industrial Station
  • Jebel Ali / Jafza Station

Main Depot for the trains will be at Rashidiya just before the Rashidiya Station, while an auxiliary depot is located at Jebel Ali Port.

• Green Line:
  
  • Al Qusais 2 Station (T3)
  • Al Qusais 1 Station (T2)
  • Dubai Airport Free Zone Station (T2)
  • Al Nahda Station (T2)
  • Stadium Station (T2)
  • Al Quiadah Station (T2)
  • Abu Hail Station (T2)
  • Abu Baker Al Siddique Station (T2)
  • Salah Al Din Station (U)
  • Union Station (UT, connecting to Red Line)
  • Baniyas Square Station (U)
  • Palm Deira Station (U)
  • Al Ras Station (U)
  • Al Ghubaiba Station (U)
  • Saeediya Station (U)
  • Khalid Bin Al Waleed Station (UT, connecting to Red Line)
  • Oud Metha Station (T2)
  • Health Care City Station (T2)
  • Al Jedaf 1 Station (T2)
  • Creek Station (T2)

The train depot is located at Al Qusais just before the Al Qusais 2 Station.
Dubai Metro
Dubai Metro
Dubai Metro
Dubai Metro map

Dubai Metro
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Dubai Metro
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After Switzerland...

It looks like we left off in Leukerbad, Switzerland! We're back home now, but I'm going to get you all up to speed on the remainder of our trip, as promised!

Next Destination: The French Riviera

We were so ready for some warm weather (both caught some flu-like symptoms) and more relaxation. We found Antibes to be the most relaxation-friendly coastal village with it's beautiful public beaches and quaint cobblestone pedestrian streets.

The Picasso museum impressive remodel really blew us away. Beautiful daylighting throughout the space enhanced the artist's work and provided unique vantage points from which to view the village and sea.

Entrance framing the sculpture garden at the picasso museum.

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Ajman United Arab Emirates pictures

Ajmān (or Ujman; Arabic: عجمان‎ ‘ajmān) is one of the seven emirates constituting the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With an area of just 260 square kilometres, Ajman is the smallest emirate by area. Its seat of government is Ajmān, which is bordered on its north, south, and east by Sharjah.^[1]
Located along the Arab Gulf, Ajman also controls Masfut and Manama, two small, inland enclaves that are primarily agricultural. Approximately 95% of the population of the emirate resides in the city of Ajman. The population was only 36,100 in 1980 but grew considerably in recent years, due to an influx of people from the neighbouring emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, and other countries. Ajman is ruled by Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi of the Al Nuaimi tribe. The Crown Prince of the Emirate is Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi. Ajmān has experienced massive development and a construction boom in recent years.^[2]

On 8 January 1820, Sheikh Rashid ibn Humayd Al Nuaimi signed the General Maritime Treaty with Britain, accepting a protectorate to keep the Ottoman Turks out. Like four of Ajmān's neighbors, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Umm al-Qaiwain, its position on the route to India made it important enough to be recognized as a salute state (albeit of the lowest class: 3 guns).

History

On 2 December 1971, Sheikh Rashid ibn Humayd Al Nuaimi joined the United Arab Emirates.
Its rulers were:

• 17.. – 17.. Sheikh Rashid ibn Hamid Al Nuaimi
• 17.. – 1816 Sheikh Humayd ibn Rashid Al Nuaimi
• 1816 – 1838 Sheikh Rashid II ibn Humayd Al Nuaimi (d. 1838)
• 1838 – 1841 Sheikh Humayd II ibn Rashid Al Nuaimi (1st time) (d. 1873)
• 1841 – 1848 Sheikh `Abd al–`Aziz I ibn Rashid Al Nuaimi (d. 1848)
• 1848 – 1873 Sheikh Humayd II ibn Rashid Al Nuaimi (2nd time)
• 1873 – April 1891 Sheikh Rashid III ibn Humaid Al Nuaimi (d. 1891)
• April 1891 – 8 July 1900 Sheikh Humaid III ibn Rashid Al Nuaimi (d. 1900)
• 8 July 1900 – February 1910 Sheikh `Abd al–`Aziz II ibn Humayd Al Nuaimi (b. 18.. – d. 1910)
• February 1910 – January 1928 Sheikh Humayd IV ibn `Abd al–`Aziz Al Nuaimi
• January 1928 – 6 September 1981 Sheikh Rashid IV ibn Humayd Al Nuaimi (b. 1904 – d. 1981)
• 6 September 1981 – 20.. Sheikh Humayd ibn Rashid Al Nuaimi (b. 1931)

Higher Education in Ajman

• The Gulf Medical University (GMU), previously a college, became a university in July 2008 after an order issued by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. This is the only institution with its own teaching hospital. Its Hospital Group is the largest healthcare provider in the UAE.^[3]

Ajman development boom

After the success of freehold property in Dubai, Ajman was the second emirate to offer freehold property.^[4] Ajman is currently the only emirate in the UAE offering investors of any nationality fully transparent true 100% freehold ownership on real estate, which in turn has attracted a huge number of investors (local and international) to this emirate. This in turn has prompted the Ajman government to initiate a number of development projects.
New Ajman is the name given to the area being developed outside of the current Ajman city, located by the Emirates Road. New Ajman will consist of many new developments and projects envisioned by Chief of Municipality Sheikh Rashid Al Nuaimi. One of the first developments of New Ajman is called "The Emirates City", a brand new city located directly on the Emirates Road to be built from scratch and consisting of more than 100 mid- and high-rise buildings. A number of shopping malls, hotels and residential villas are also planned to eventually extend all the way to the 'Al Zoura' area, where beachside developments are planned.^[5]
The construction of Ajman International Airport began in the second half of 2008 in the Al Manama area of the Ajman. Airport operations are scheduled to begin by 2011, and the airport is expected to host about two million passengers per year.^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]}

[edit] List of planned developments

Following is a list of planned freehold developments in Ajman, although some real estate projects may be delayed or cancelled, due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} That has also caused property prices to fall considerably throughout the United Arab Emirates, including in Ajman.^[20]

• Ajman Green City
• Ajman One
• Ajman Marina
• Ajman Pearl
• Ajman Uptown
• Al Ameera Village
• Al Humaid City
• Al Ittihad Village
• Al Zorah
• Amber Islands^[21]
• Aqua City
• Awali City
• Emirates City
• Emirates Lake Towers
• Escape Equestrian Community
• Eye of Ajman (Ain Ajman)
• Marmooka City
• Park View

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Emirates City model
vision of ajman the emirates city
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Emirates City Ajman Gol
ajman city view

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Beautiful deserts of China pictures

A desert is a landscape or region that receives almost no precipitation. Deserts are defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres (10 in) per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation.deserts of China picturesdeserts of China picturesdeserts of China picturesdeserts of China picturesdeserts of China picturesdeserts of China picturesdeserts of China picturesdeserts of China pictures

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Sardinia Beaches

Sardinia Beaches:
The coastline of Sardinia, not unlike neighbouring French Corsica, is pocked with gorgeous little white sand bays lapped by crystal turquoise waters, not only the pricey bit of the island, north-east Costa Smeralda. Recently the Sardinian President prohibited any further building within two kms [1.25m] of the sea, so hopefully this glorious coastline will continue unspoilt for a long time [or at least until a more corrupt politician gets into power].

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