This is the historic city of Cambridge and Cambridge University in England, U.K.
By Mark on February 26, 2010
Cambridge is a university town which is the main administrative centre of the English county known as Cambridgeshire in England. This city is situated in East Anglia which traditionally is a region in the south-east of England. Cambridge is about 50 miles (80 km) north of the capital city, London. It is also known for being a major player in high-technology and the centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the city. But of course one of the main points about Cambridge is that it is the home of the University of Cambridge, one of the world’s premier universities. Including he renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King’s College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. But the thing that sticks out is when at night as well as during the day, when you look up, you will notice that the skyline happens to be dominated by the last two buildings, as well as the the chimney of Addenbrooke’s Hospital and St John’s College Chapel tower.
In 2001, the United Kingdom census, was saying that the population of Cambridge was 108,863, which unsurprisingly included 22,153 students and the outskirts of the city the population was 130,000. Because this city is a very popular place, you will not be surprised to see that there are quite a few smaller towns and villages surrounding the city, so that people could live close to Cambridge, but still have the luxury of the countryside, and of course having universities and colleges nearby is good for people.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of Cambridge University.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of another part of Cambridge University.
Know how many of you actually know that The University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in England and is also the fourth oldest in Europe. But did you know that in latin Cambridge is Cantabrigia and the university’s latin name is Cantab., which is a shortened form of Cantabrigiensis.
So how did the University of Cambridge come to exsist, well supposingly, back in the year of 1209 and group of scholars, that had come from Oxford, due to a dispute with townsfolk, got together and created the university. Now due to this it mean’t that the two “ancient universities” , ended up having quite alot in common and this is where the nickname of “Oxbridge” comes into association. But not only that, there is a rivalry, that dates back for years and sport happens to be a big thing in this rivalry, like the Oxford and Cambridge boat race, Oxford Universities versus Cambridge Universities at rugby and other events.
I get most of my information from Wikipedia and this is what it say’s about this university. Academically, Cambridge is consistently ranked in the world’s top five universities and as the leading university in Europe by numerous media and academic rankings. The University’s alumni include 87 Nobel Laureates as of 2010.
But there are always businesses that help to support the Universities such a the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group, the League of European Research Universities and the International Alliance of Research Universities. So it just goes to show that if you make it to one of these Universities, you will have an excellent education and should be well supported in your studies.
But you do not have to be a university student as there are many colleages in Cambridge just click on this link, List of colleges of the University of Cambridge on wikipedia.
This is a picture taken of a postcard of the colleges in Cambridge.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of a group on an Punt boat in Cambridge.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge.
This is a picture of the city of Cambridge on Flickr.
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Welcome to the historic english city of Oxford in Oxfordshire in South-East England.
By Mark on February 24, 2010
This is a post about the English city of Oxford in Oxfordshire, South-East England. The two main rivers that run through this city are the Cherwell and Thames and these two rivers actually meet up at the southern point of the city centre. But there is apart of the river Thames that happens to be known as the the Isis river which goes along side or even within relationship to the city. This river is 16 km or 10 miles.The population of this city is around 165,000, with 151, 000 living within the district boundary.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the Oxford University.
This is a picture of the city of Oxford, taken from Flickr.
Now one of the things that I like about our culture, is that we like to hold on to history and here in britain we are surrounded with history for such a small island. If you have ever been to Oxford, you will find many different types of building’s, that date back to the Saxon period, from the 5th century onwards. Some of the well known building’s in Oxford are the Radcliffe Camera and the oldest English-speaking university in the world, the University of Oxford
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the Radcliffe Camera building.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the river Isis.
We are so lucky living in a country like britain with it’s luscious greenary and wonderful looking forests, rivers, lakes and hills. When the sun comes out it can look so beautiful, so it is worth paying our taxes I suppose, just to keep our own history going. In my next post I will write about the friendly rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge another historic city. Brought on mainly by the Universities.
- Learn about Oxford on Wikipedia:
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Virtual-Tripping takes a sneak peak at the Winter Olympic’s host city, 2014.
By Mark on February 17, 2010
Welcome to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, Europe. This will be the next city to host the Winter Olympic’s in 2014. These Winter Olympic’s will be officially known as the XXII or 22 Games. It is an international winter sports event that includes competition from around the world, not just from colder nations. The competition this time around will be held from February 7 to February 23, 2014. It was on the 4th July, 2007, that Sochi became the winning.city, it took place in Guatemala City, Guatemala., during the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session. This will also be the first ever time that the Russian Federation, will be hosting the Winter Olympic’s, back in 1980, the then known Soviet Union, hosted the Summer Olympic Games, that were held in the capital city, Moscow. The games will be split into two different parts, the first part will be the coastal cluster in Sochi and the second part will host the games in a mountain cluster in Krasnaya Polyana.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the Winter Olympic, Flag from Sochi, but with a sad reminder to the war in Georgia against Russia.
When the selection for the Winter Games 2014, began, there were seven applicant cities and each of them presented their own bids presented bids to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Committee, then had to decided which were the three best cities to be hosts, so after some serious consideration the three cities that got through were Sochi, Russia; Salzburg, Austria; and PyeongChang, South Korea, the latter two were trying for a second time, but unbelievebly, Sochi found themselves in the final taking on PyeongChang, South Korea and knocking out Salzburg, Austria. Then going on to win the final by just 4 votes. Here are the 2014 Host City Election — ballot results:
City Country (NOC) Round 1 Round 2
Sochi Russia 34 51
PyeongChang South Korea 36 47
Salzburg Austria 25 —
This is a picture taken of the coastal city of Sochi on Flickr.
This is a picture of some palm trees in Sochi, taken from Flickr.
This is a picture taken of the mountain in Sochi, taken from Flickr.
So I hope you enjoy the Winter Olympic’s 2010 in Vancouver, Canada and look forward to the Winter Olympic’s 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
- Learn about the Winter Olympic’s in 2014 on Wikipedia:
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Vancouver, the home of the winter olympic’s 2010.
By Mark on February 15, 2010
So the Winter Olympic’s has finally arrived and this year it is being held in the Canadian city of Vancouver. It is a bit of a pain for us in the United Kingdom, as this city is eight hours, behind, us meaning that most of the events take place when we are sleeping, at least we do have replay nowadays, thank goodness, but that’s life.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the 2010 Winter Olympic Torch, flag.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, designed in ice and snow.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the Olympic Torch, designed in ice and snow.
So what events will be taking place in this year’s games, lets see. First of all a slight informative chapter. Well first of all the bid took place on the 2nd July, 2003 at the 115th IOC Session held in Prague, Czech Republic. The final results were announced by the IOC President Jacques Rogge. Vancouver were up against two other cities they were PyeongChang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria.
Here are the results: 2010 Winter Olympics bidding results
NOC NOC Round 1 Round 2
Vancouver Canada 40 56
PyeongChang South Korea 51 53
Salzburg Austria 16 -
So has you can see it was very close between the three cities, but it was more between PyeongChang, South Korea and Vancouver Canada. Has you can also see within these results, PyeongChang, actually won the first, with Vancouver in second place and Salzburg in last place. But round two went to Vancouver, by three votes.
Here are some of the venues that will be hosting events in Vancouver, they are the Richmond Olympic Oval, BC Place Stadium, the Pacific Coliseum, the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, the UBC Winter Sports Centre and Cypress Mountain.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the BC Palace in Vancouver, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of Cypress Mountain resort.
GM Place, but due to Olympic arrangements it will be known as Canada Hockey Place for the duration of the games. Other venues in the some town of Whistler, the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, the Whistler Olympic Park and the Whistler Sliding Centre.
This is a picture taken from Flickr of the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort.
These are the main events that will be taking place in Vancouver, there will of course be different stages of these events, but they will all be within the Winter Olympic rules. Here they are:
Figure skating
Speed skating
Short track speed skating
Ice hockey
Curling
Cross country skiing
Alpine skiing
Ski jumping
Nordic combined
Freestyle skiing
Snowboarding
Biathlon
Luge
Bobsleigh
Skeleton.
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The 2010 Winter and Paralympics in the Canadian city of Vancouver.
By Mark on February 14, 2010
As the Winter Olympic’s begins in Vancouve, we get ready to write a post about this city. Vancouver is a coastal city which is located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia in Canada, North America. It was actually named from the British explorerer, Captain George Vancouver, who arrived in the area of Canada back in the 1790’s. But the actual original name for this city comes from the Dutch “van Coevorden,” denoting somebody from Coevorden, a city in the Netherlands. It is also the third largest city in Western Canada and the city ranks eight in the country, with an 2006 census of just over 578,000 people, and the metropolitan area exceeds 2.1 million people. But one thing that I have found interesting is that the majority of residents that live in this city are mainly, ethnically and linguistically diverse and 52% of these people do not even speak English as their first language.
This is a picture of Captain George Vancouver on Flickr.
The city began as a small group of logging sawmills, which were created in 1867, back then in an area known as Gastown, this then was the start of the city and it began to grow around these sawmills in Gastown, and by 1886, the city of Vancouver arrived. Then in 1887, the transcontinental railway, was extended to a point, so that the city could then take advantage of it’s seaport, after time the route was then increased so that people could trade between Orient, Eastern Canada, and London.
This is a old map picture of the Sawmills taken from Flickr.
The Port Metro Vancouver, has now become one of the busiest and largest ports in Canada, and it is also the fourth largest port (by tonnage) in North America. Even though today you will find forest areas in Vancouver, making forestry, still the largest of industries in the city, it has now become more well known for it’s urban centre, which is surrounded by nature, and because of this it makes tourism the second largest industry. Some of you may or may not know, that Vancouver is actually the third largest film production centre in North America behind the American cities of Los Angeles and New York, earning it the nickname Hollywood North.
This is a picture taken of the Winter Olympic Flag, 2010 taken from Flickr.
If you ever get the chance to visit this city, you may find it is comfortable and entertaining place to stay, it has been awarded to be a worldwide “livable city”, for many many years according to business magazine assessments. But it seems to also be a very popular place for hosting, international conferences and events, which includeds, the 1976 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements and the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication. Plus it is also hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics are being held in Vancouver and nearby Whistler, a resort community 125 km (78 miles) north of the city starting February 12, 2010.
This is a picture of the Ski Resort at Vancouver taken from Flickr.
This is a picture taken of False Creek in Vancouver, taken from Flickr.
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Nick Ramsay, exploring the world from a zabuton in Japan.