They build ice hotels and carve ice fountains pouring white wine, make samovars and even kerosene lamps. Photographers went even far and got the hand to use dry ice to create the effect of smoke and fog in picture. In the spirit of holidays, OUTLOOK prepared for you a selection of the world most popular ice arenas.
Thanks to romantic Hollywood movies New York rinks became the most familiar for ordinary cinema-lover. Admittedly, the most well-known is the famous Wollman Skating Rink located in the Central Park. First time it welcomed comers in 1950. Arena is weather-independent and therefore one can safely visit it from October to April. By the way, here was filmed a romantic scene of the popular Christmas movie Serendipity. Curiously, while filming, how many takes were there before Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack managed scenes where they fall and final touching moments with flying gloves? Apart from actors, athletes also drop to the park. Theirs is the second rink located nearby – the Lasker Rink. This dual-purpose recreational site serves as both a pool during the summer and an ice field for hockey teams during the winter. Photo getyourguide.ru
Another favourite spot of Manhattan inhabitants is an ice rink at Rockefeller Center. City residents had it opened by Christmas in 1936, and still it is annually visited by a quarter of a million of skaters. The main star attraction of the arena is the giant Christmas tree in the centre, so be careful otherwise you risk to bang into fence while gapping in wonder at garlands. And not only that! Shops and cafes along the perimeter are so numerous and bright that one may think the rink was constructed not for a flock of skaters, but for the army of gourmands and shopaholics.Photo rockefellercenter.com
No less remarkable is a Parisian tiny rink at the Eiffel Tower. Though up to 100 skaters at a time can enjoy this unusual skating experience, but it remains extremely popular. Entrance fee is included into the tower entrance ticket... But even without such privilege, very few people would have the strength to overcome the temptation to skate at the 57-meter height.Photo pinterest.com
Big fans of a healthy lifestyle, the Canadians also love to tinker with lacing and sharpening blades. The Rideau Canal Skateway is a scenic canal that connects the cities of Kingston and Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. Once it is covered with ice everyone goes there. Fortunately, there is enough space. For comfort of the visitors, along the canal there are dozens of skates rentals... And it's no wonder since the length of the site is about eight miles! Photo by Matthew Perry, 500px.com
Perhaps the most stunning scenery while skating can be observed in the Dutch village of Kinderdijk. From November to February ponds not far from Rotterdam are transferred into great ice arenas. Special machines polishes surface of the site so skilfully that even first-class skater can enjoy a full workout. Photo jacadatravel.com
And for dessert, please meet our frosty cherry – Swiss mountain lake Lej da San Murezzan, lake St. Moritz. It is located at an altitude of 1800 meters above sea level, so none would have a chance to complain about air quality or lack of incredible view. To tell the truth, it freezes just for two weeks in January. But even this is more than enough for tourists to enjoy the incredible state of balancing on the thin blades.Photo twitter.com
What is it that characterizes any nation without much words and long explanations? Dances, of course, because it is these movements, refined over centuries, that can tell a foreigner about other peoples much more than thick history books. If you carefully watch and feel the way people dance in different countries, their mind set will become much more comprehensible. And these aren’t mere words.
There’s hardly anything that compares to bright-starred sky and silence. It is the stars that OUTLOOK want to tell you about or more precisely about the places with the best view on them. In Europe it is recommended to go stargazing not to some place but to… Slovenia. Point is, this small country is one of the cleanest in the world and consequently isn’t that polluted with smog.
Each state has its own official symbols: flag, coat of arms and anthem. But in addition to the traditional "identification mark" there are symbols chosen by people, for instance, a favourite bird. It is about them OUTLOOK expands below. To register the people's love by document, in 1960 in Tokyo at the International Conference on the Protection of Birds was created the concept of "national bird".
Probably, every person on Earth knows the myth about the famous Babylon Tower that different peoples were destined never to build. Surprisingly, what failed in fiction occurs before our eyes: tens of various peoples peacefully reside in Belleville, neighborhood in Paris, and erect Tolerance Tower, for everyone to see.
Each of us wants to escape rush of a city from time to time and lie low somewhere far from everything and anything. And it better be a place where one can listen to whisper of waves, feel light breeze and forever make friends with inimitably loud silence that muffles every disturbing thought…
Treehouses, dug-outs and secret shelters – all the things we used to build when children. Unfortunately, as we grow older, fantasy fades and most of us now live in uncomfortable grey “boxes”. However, there are people who have created dwellings of their dreams by themselves.
Even being adults, sometimes we are able to bring to life the children’s fantasies, see the stories from childish dreams, and embody what has seemed to be the fairytale. Have you ever dreamt of being in the whale’s chaps? Just imagine that you were swollen by the giant fish, and you were living there for a long time, looked at it inside, settled down there, swam and dived there?
Impressions of this city depend much on what you have visited before being introduced to it. After Los Angeles it may seem very business-like and culturally rich, after New York – provincial and old-fashioned somehow. In any case, it has a bright and memorable face of a gentleman from Massachusetts.
Many city dwellers are irritated by cats, dogs or even pigeons in the streets. Attempts of zoo-advocates to save them from attacks of people and from starvation are mainly ineffective. But there are wonderful cities in this world where people perfectly coexist with deer, peacocks and cattle…
A little son came to his father and suggested to run away from mom and granny to the North Pole? Now, do not indulge into tragic speeches of severe frosts, pitch darkness of the polar night and hungry polar bears! Give a conspiracy wink to a little brave one, and give him a real man's job for his school winter holidays that is to learn how to build an igloo, night shelter in ever-frost lands.
For certain reasons there are two capitals in America – official and actual. Context manager from Kyiv Bohdan Yanchev visited them both and told us about spirits of these cities, about their landmarks and about what they represent in reality. If you think that New York is imbued with expensive perfumes and there is nothing else to do in Washington but to lie on a lawn by the White House – you are wrong!
Dog sledding is a national passion in Switzerland: it is for a good reason that one of the best European camps for training sled dogs is located in the forest village of Saint-Cergue, nested behind the Jura mountain. The way into the huskies’ realm goes through sunny pine forest along the picturesque route Jura Alpine Trail from the mountain of La Dôle in the valley of the Col de la Givrine.
Next ‘character’ of our cycle about symbolic means of public transport is yellow cab of New York. It is impossible to imagine the Big Apple and especially its centre, Manhattan, without those bright and incredibly handy cars. Seemingly, there are more “checkers” than people.
Till the beginning of 2019 there is little time that’s why in case one hasn’t decided yet where and how to celebrate the most popular holiday on our planet, OUTLOOK offers the list of the brightest cities for the celebration. There all the wishes and dreams will, definitely, come true!
Ice and snow has long been used by artists to create different figures and objects, and only 1960, this age-old skill became a new trend of a land art! The largest number of winter artworks is created during special festivals about which we will tell our readers.
The cold season brings not only such important things as wrapping into a reindeer sweater, drinking hot chocolate and once again reviewing Christmas comedies. Thus, sport has not been canceled yet, so OUTLLOK compiled top five ski resort bucket list for you to cheer up and get out of your winter sleep.
Icerink instead of heated floor. Bomber hat and a puffer jacket as an alternative to terry robe. Eco-hotels and cafes in Canada, Romania and even hot Dubai offer a possibility to have leisure time a-la North Pole. The exotic hotels are not only those near the ocean and tropic palms.
When we hear about "water city", Venice immediately comes to mind, doesn’t it? Tranquil gondolas, narrow waterways, gentle light of the evening sun and ancient architecture create that heady romantic cocktail which attracts tourists from all over the world to the Italian city.
There are hardly many travelers who would go somewhere further than city centre where their hotel is situated when on a short-term journey. And if location is a metropolis on top of everything else, such “outside” trips are sure to be put on hold till better occasions.
When, if not now to conquer summits, overcome seas and climb on the rocks? People often make great efforts to enjoy the comfort through the whole lifetime. But sometimes our soul needs some romance, so OUTLOOK presents seven unique canyons.
Photo rockefellercenter.com
Photo pinterest.com
Photo twitter.com
