What do you imagine when you hear the word "abbey"? I'm sure most people will first of all think of Westminster. But what if I said that in fact it is no longer an abbey? So what makes these medieval buildings so special? Let's look at the example of buildings from different European countries.

In February Switzerland changes beyond recognition: reckless power of pre-Lent carnivals, insatiable gluttony and cat’s choirs of Guggenmusik rush into the streets. Only evil spirits are kind of weak – same glamorous vampires and emaciated zombies. Want it to become really scary? Head to Lötschental Valley to celebrate Tschäggättä: infernal characters from Alpine folklore will haunt you in your dreams!

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.

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.

Today OUTLOOK travels along the cities and countries that are considered as the most interesting from the point of view of geography and administrative management. Moreover, they are enclaves as they are located within the territories of other states.

There is probably no man on Earth who wouldn’t have a Swiss knife or its look-alike. And though the idea of a pocket knife may have originated nowhere near Switzerland, it gained global fame thank to a Swiss Karl Elsener and is now associated unbreakably with his motherland and perfect Swiss quality. OUTLOOK tells the story of the most famous and popular knife of the world.

Marketing gurus and restaurateurs are enterprising and ready to do anything to increase flow of visitors to their food courts. Quite often, their methods of "flirting" with the public are the same, interior designs and menus are not much different. So, we have collated for you the world’s wackiest, weirdest, out-of-this-world dining establishments.

Despite ongoing development of air transport, many people across the Earth still love to travel by train for various reasons. Though the majority of passengers associate trains with a rather slow way to travel compared with airplanes, and are concerned with low comfort which can be still at the level of last century, reading through our selection below...

Spiegelgasse is originated from German collocation ‘Mirror street’ or ‘Mirror alley’. However, it is not the biggest and the most important street in Zurich. Moreover, it is vice versa, incredibly short and narrow… Well, being situated in the quiet nooks of the old city in such a way that no tourists could see it.

It is an open secret that this world is full of paradoxes. OUTLOOK, in its turn, tries to figure them out therefore today we’ll tell about armed forces of the world’s most militarized state that, however, hasn’t been at war with anyone for over two centuries. Our feature is about the army of Switzerland.

Germans have other pets besides German Shepherds and in Boston not just Boston Terriers can be seen. People choose dogs relying on own preferences. But sometimes locals are too prone to having a certain breed so it becomes a distinctive of a location. Natural conditions, fashion and even set of mind contribute to it.

National flag is a kind of business card, after having a glimpse at it one gets an idea, at least roughly, concerning what to expect from this or another country. OUTLOOK is going to tell you about the most outstanding of them.