eXploreGuru - your travel guide…

About 70% of the Earth’s surface is permanently covered in water. Water shapes our coastlines and carves channels through countries and landscapes. Inevitably, water sometimes runs across a sudden drop in the level of the land, and a waterfall is born.
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Vienna’s complex and imposing Imperial Palace, the Hofburg was the first residence and grew with the family empire from the 13th century until 1913, when the new wing was opened. The winter abode of the Hapsburg rulers until 1918; it is till now the home of the Spanish Riding School (with the famous Lipizzaner stallions), the Vienna Boys’ Choir, the Austrian president’s office, 5,000 government workers, and several important museums. (more…)

Since the middle Ages, the Seine River is the backbone of the city of Paris. For centuries, the Parisian people have strived to embroider it and to make the best out of the river and its banks. The result is one of the most perfect urban landscapes in the world.

The Seine is crossed by many old and beautiful bridges. The oldest one, the Pont-Neuf near the Notre-Dame cathedral, inaugurated in 1607 is quite noticeable. (more…)

Vienna’s Belvedere Palace has a fine vista of the old city from a beautiful garden. Belvedere means ‘a place from which to see beauty’. The two magnificent palaces on the Belvedere grounds lie in the middle of a splendid park. They were constructed for Prince Eugene of Savoy by J.L. von Hildebrandt, a famous Baroque architect. At this time the Belvedere Palaces were still located outside Vienna’s defenses, but today they are a part of Vienna’s third district which is not far away from the very centre of Vienna. (more…)

Paris occupies a bowl hollowed out by the Seine, and the surrounding heights are considered to be the limits of the city. The river arches through the center of town, visiting 10 of the 20 districts. Entering the city at the southeast corner, it arcs northward and bends out of Paris at the southwest corner. As a result, what starts out as the east bank becomes the north bank and ends as the west bank, and the Parisians therefore adopted the simple, unchanging designation of Right and Left Bank. (more…)

The Tower of London was founded in 1078, by William the Conqueror.The massive White Tower is a typical example of Norman military architecture, whose influence was felt throughout the kingdom. To make room for his chief buildings he removed two bastions of the old wall of London, and encroached slightly upon the civic boundaries.The Yeoman Warders, dressed in Tudor period garb, run very informative tours of the Tower of London complex. (more…)

When one hear the words “Big Ben” immediately an image of the striking Victorian Gothic structure of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster comes into mind. However technically speaking, the name “Big Ben” does not refer to the famous tower, nor to the four huge clock faces of this London landmark but, it refers to the largest of the five bells inside the clock tower, whose chimes are such a familiar sound to listeners to BBC radio over the years. (more…)

The Donauturm is a 252 meter tower overlooking Donaupark, UNO City, and Vienna. It was built in 1964. An elevator will take one to the top where is a cafe, and a restaurant for a small fee and both of them revolve. Those are frequently full, especially in the evening, but one can still catch the view from a lower observation level. On a clear afternoon one stands a good chance of seeing from the Alps to Hungary. (more…)

The Pompidou Center (Centre Pompidou in French) is one of the most impressive buildings of Paris. It was designed by architects Renzo Piano (from Italy) and Richard Rodgers (from the UK). Its purpose was to bring art and culture to the man in the street. Its 1977 factory style architecture fiercely differ with the surrounding houses of Paris’ oldest district near the Hotel de Ville. Whether one likes the Pompidou Center or doesn’t, but one will not forget it with its glass facade, its external stairs and the red, blue and green external pipeson the rear facade. (more…)

The Stephansdom as the St Stephen’s Cathedral is known is an island of Gothic splendor in a sea of Baroque and 19th Century architecture. Almost main part of church dates back to the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries. However, the Romanesque “Giant’s Doorway” which is situated on the west façade dates back to the early 1200s. The Hochturm or south tower, at 450 feet, has almost the same height as that of a 45-story office building; the marvel is that it was built more than 600 years ago, half a millennium before the invention of the modern skyscraper. (more…)