January 27th, 2010
A city in central China has renamed a mountain after the US blockbuster movie “Avatar,” which set a Chinese box office record.
The majestic peak in Hunan province previously known as “Heaven and Earth Pillar” or “South Sky Pillar” has been officially renamed “Avatar Hallelujah Mountain,” the Zhangjiajie city government said in a statement.
The statement said the peak was believed to have inspired a floating mountain, one of the most dramatic images in the movie, set on fictional Pandora.
May 5th, 2009
La Reunión Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala’s first golf resort, opened last month.
Built on what used to be a coffee plantation outside the colonial town of Antigua (a Unesco World Heritage site), the property is lodged between four volcanoes, at 3,700 feet above sea level, with the Pacific Ocean about 30 minutes away.
Twenty-six golf casitas, each with personal infinity pools and indoor/outdoor showers, have been built, and there are plans for a boutique hotel and a spa.
January 16th, 2009
The mayor of Paris is blocking the Emir of Qatar’s plans for a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Hotel Lambert, an historic 17th century mansion in the Quai d’Anjou on the city’s Île Saint-Louis.
Bertrand Delanoe says that the alterations to the 17th century mansion on the exclusive Saint Louis island in the heart of Paris including an underground carpark, the addition of elevators and new rooms, will spoil the important heritage of the building.
He wants the owner to re-consider and look at more friendly way to renovate the three-storey Hotel which was built in 1639 by Louis Le Vau and is part of a Unesco World Heritage site.
October 16th, 2008
Cleopatra’s palace sank long ago into the Mediterranean, but visitors to Alexandria, Egypt, may eventually view the complex’s remnants via the world’s first underwater museum.
A site for the museum has been proposed near the New Library of Alexandria, where the famed queen of Egypt is believed to have sheltered herself with her lover Marc Antony before taking her own life.
In early September the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, announced it is funding a team to determine if such a museum would damage the submerged artifacts.
