Inside Sydney

       Sydney is one of the oldest, largest, most lively and most exciting cities in Australia. The city is home to the simply spectacular Sydney Harbor, an extremely mild climate, and stretches of heavenly beaches - which include Bondi Beach, Manly Beach and Coogee Beach

         The celebrated Sydney Opera House stands on the waterfront and has become known the world over for its dramatic roof, which was designed to resemble the sails of a ship. Also dominating the harbor side is the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge, which actually comes with unusual climbing tours, where intrepid sightseers can scale the bridge itself, or climb the south-eastern Pylon Lookout, and enjoy some of the most stunning views possible.

                      Map of Sydney 

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Inside Tokyo

      Tokyo is Japan's capital and the world's most populous metropolis. It 
is also one of Japan's 47 prefectures, consisting of
23 central city wards and multiple cities, towns and villages west of the city center.                       

         Prior to 1868, Tokyo was known as Edo. A small castle town in the 16th century, Edo became Japan's political center in 1603 when      Tokugawa Ieyasu established his feudal government there. A few decades later, Edo had grown into one of the world's most populous cities. With the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the emperor and capital moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo ("Eastern Capital"). Large parts of Tokyo were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and in the air raids of 1945.

            Today, Tokyo offers a seemingly unlimited choice
 of shopping, entertainment, culture and dining to its visitors. The city's history   can be appreciated in districts such as Asakusa, and in many excellentmuseums, historic temples and gardens. Contrary to common perception, Tokyo also offers a number of attractive green spaces in the city center and within relatively short train rides at its outskirts.

Map of Tokyo

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Inside Rome & Venice

       Rome is without doubt one the most beautiful cities in the world; every year millions of tourists come from around the world to admire the treasures and masterpieces of Roman art and architecture.

       But a trip to the Eternal City can be eternally confusing for first-time visitors. This guide will make it easier to uncover Rome, offering lots of practical advice that will 

help you discover and enjoy the city in all its glory.

        Because Rome is such a huge tourist draw, choose the date for your trip carefully. The best times of the year to visit are April, May, and late September through October. In the depths of summer, the heat and the crowds make the city nearly unbearable. August in particular should be avoided because this is the month that the entire country of Italy seems to go on vacation. Traveling too late or too early in the year can also be risky because the opening hours for many attractions are shorter, and some are closed completely.

Airfares typically drop quite a bit when "shoulder season" begins in the early autumn, making this the optimal time to visit in my book. The days are still warm, the nights are slightly cool, and the tour groups and student mobs have mostly disappeared.

          If you can plan to stay as long as a week, you won't run out of things to do and you'll still feel like you're leaving too soon. But if your time is limited, allow at least four days to see all of Rome's major attractions. If you try to cram the entire city into a two-day span and do nothing but run from place to place furiously snapping pictures, you'll only be cheating yourself. After all, Romewasn't built in a day and it can't be seen in one, either

Map of Rome 

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         Venice is a delightful place to visit for a short city break, or for an extended holiday.

       As you cross the long causeway by train or road, you enter a land of magic. You're going to be saying goodbye to traffic for as long as you remain on the main part of Venice. So no more fears of crossing busy roads. Just be careful you don't have too much wine and fall into one of the canals instead! Think of your local town and imagine all the roads turning into canals and the buses becoming boats and you will begin to imagine something of Venice.

             The old part of Venice covers an area which can easily be covered on foot. For example, you can walk from the station to St Mark's Square in about 45 minutes. But you'll probably want to travel on one of the 'vaporetti' and enjoy the trip up the Grand Canal - it's always the best way to arrive in Venice.

        What you do in Venice depends on what you like to do, and who you are, and, to some extent, on the season. You may wish to do very little but relax and soak up the atmosphere, taking the occasional vaporetto trip to relieve the boredom! Wander around St Mark's   Square taking in the live music offered to people sitting in the cafés, take a look at some of the art Galleries (the Guggenheim is our favourite), arrange to go to the Venice opera, take a stroll around the famous Jewish Ghetto, walk across the Rialto and take a look at the largest of street markets (besides catering for tourists, you'll discover so much local fish, fruit and vegetables that you'll plan to cook for yourselves every day!). Take the map and discover some of the back streets (or back canals!) and get a feel of the place from a Venetian's point of view. Take a vaporetto to the Lido (the island with a wonderful beach on the Adriatic) and take a swim - be warned there is traffic on this island, so don't let it spoil the magic of your visit. Take a vaporetto to Murano and enjoy watching the glass blowing.

             And then you'll discover such fabulous venues to eat that you'll forget about the food you purchased at the market and eat out anyway, ending up with a final trip home in a vaporetto - it feels very different from taking the last train home 

Map of Venice

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Inside New York

      The "Big Apple," the "City That Never Sleeps"—New York is a city of superlatives: America's biggest; its most exciting; its business and cultural capitals; the nation's trendsetter. The city seems to pull in the best and the brightest from every corner of the country. The city's ethnic flavor has been nuanced by decades of immigrants whose first glimpse of America was the Statue of Liberty  guarding New York Harbor and by large expatriate communities such as the United Nations headquartered there. Just minutes from the multimillion-dollar two-bedroom co-op apartments of Park Avenue, though, lies some of the most dire urban poverty in America. But the attendant crime that affects New Yorkers and visitors alike has seen a continued dramatic reduction from 1993 to 2004—NYC has a murder rate half that of cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago, in part as the result of a concerted effort by local agencies. But for all its eight million residents, New York remains a city of neighborhoods, whether it's avant-garde Greenwich Village, bustling Harlem, the ultra-sophisticated TriBeCa, or one of the ethnic enclaves such as Little Italy or Chinatown. And a cleaner, brighter, safer New York is attracting people from around the world who are coming to enjoy the city's renaissance.

Map of  New York 

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Inside London

          London is the capital of Britain, and has something to offer everyone - majestic stately houses, tranquil green parks and a zoo, engrossing museums and art galleries and bustling shopping centres with all the major stores, specialist shops and markets.

          The Royal Family have their main residence in London, at Buckingham Palace, but there are many other interesting houses to visit within London with Royal connections - Hampton Court Palace, The Tower of London, and Regents Park, an ancient Royal hunting park.

             The Tower of London has a whole day’s worth of things to see just in itself - there are 

the White, Bloody and Martin Towers, where prisoners were held and often tortured, there are the Crown Jewels, displayed in a specially built jewel house, and don’t forget the Ravens, without whom the White Tower would supposedly fall, and a great disaster befall the Kingdom.

       The dome of St Paul's Cathedral is an excellent place from which to view the rooftops of London. The climb to the top is well worth the effort - on your way, you pass through the whispering gallery, where your whisper on one side can be heard at the other of the dome.

London boasts a large selection of museums and art galleries. The British Museum, The Science       Museum and The Natural History Museum are all close to each other in South Kensington, but you’ll need to allow more than a day to see them all! The National Gallery and the Tate Gallery have splendid art collections, and there are many more of all size and type all over London.
There’s no shortage of things to entertain in the evening in London - with the West End for popular shows and musicals, a wide selection of restaurants of all types, classical music at the Barbican or The LondonColiseum, ballet at Sadler’s Wells or the cinemas in Leicester Square to choose.

      London has a strong maritime tradition, and the docklands on the Thames are undergoing a transformation from empty warehouses to smart city offices and homes. You can learn all about London’s Naval history at The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and aboard the Cutty Sark and HMS Belfast. Greenwich is also home to the Old Royal Observatory, which lies on the meridian line that divide the world into East and West, and where Greenwich Mean Time originates.

         There are hundreds of hotels in London - some more conveniently located than others.

Map of London 

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Inside Paris

              Paris had always been a destination for traders, students and those on religious pilgrimages, but its 'tourism' in the proper sense of the term began on a large scale only with the appearance of rail travel, namely from state organisation of France's rail network from 1848. One of Paris' first 'mass' attractions drawing international interest were, from 1855, the above-mentioned Expositions Universelles that would bring Paris many new monuments, namely the Eiffel from 1889. 

These, in addition to the Capital's 2nd Empire embellishments, did much to make the city itself the attraction it is today.

       Paris' museums and monuments are by far its highest-esteemed attractions, and tourist interest has been nothing but a benefit to these; tourism has even motivated both city and State to create new ones. The city's most prized museum, the Louvre, sees over 8 million visitors a year, being by far the world's most visited art museum. Paris' cathedrals are another main attraction: its Notre-Dame cathedral and Basilique du Sacré-Cœur receive 12 million and 8 million visitors respectively. The Eiffel Tower, by far Paris' most famous monument, averages over 6 million visitors per year and more than 200 millions since its construction. Disneyland Resort Paris is a major tourist attraction not only for visitors to Paris, but to Europe as well, with 12.4 million visitors in 2004.

        The Louvre is one of the largest and most famous museums, housing many works of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue. Works by Pablo Picasso and Auguste Rodin are found in Musée Picasso and Musée Rodin respectively, while the artistic community of Montparnasse is chronicled at the Musée du Montparnasse. Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior, the Centre Georges Pompidou, also known as Beaubourg, houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne. Lastly, art and artefacts from the Middle Ages and Impressionist eras are kept in Musée Cluny and Musée d'Orsay respectively, the former with the prized tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn.

          Many of Paris' once-popular local establishments have metamorphised into a parody of French culture, in a form catering to the tastes and expectations of tourist capital. Le Lido, The Moulin Rouge cabaret-dancehall, for example, are a staged dinner theatre spectacle, a dance display that was once but one aspect of the cabaret's former atmosphere. All of the establishment's former social or cultural elements, such as its ballrooms and gardens, are gone today. Much of Paris' hotel, restaurant and night entertainment trades have become heavily dependent on tourism, with results not always positive for Parisian culture.

Map of Paris 

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