Big Blue Marble

Home

Home

View of Ipanema

Along with Copacabana, Ipanema beach is one of the best known beaches in Rio de Janeiro. However, there is more than just a wonderful beach to Ipanema. It is considered to be one of the more desirable areas of Rio to live in. Naturally, the beach is incredibly popular and people arrive early to secure their favourite spot for a lazy day in the sun. Ipanema faces south on to the Atlantic Ocean.

Umm Suqeim Beach In The Shadow Of The Burj Al Arab Hotel

The luxurious Burj Al Arab hotel is one of Dubai's most recognised landmarks. While most of us will never get to stay there, it is possible to sunbathe (fairly) close by on the Umm Suqeim public beach. The beautiful, white sands and waves gently lapping make Umm Suqeim an ideal place to relax. It offers some of the best views of the Burj Al Arab hotel and Dubai city tour buses pass along the road next to the beach to afford tourists a photo opportunity.

The Great British Columbia Spring Break Getaway

Our family looks forward to spending time together, and I really enjoy those special times. We all have hectic schedules, and sometimes I think my life consists of ferrying kids to soccer practice or something like that. So we all gather at some point during the fall – to check the calendar and pick a destination for our spring break getaway. Choices – boy, do we ever have a lot of those when looking around British Columbia for a family vacation.

A Real Old West Experience - Frontier Days in Wyoming

This is a wonderful guest post from Carol Atkins who kindly wrote about a visit to Cheyenne, Wyoming in search of the Old West. My husband Ed and I are from Fort Worth, Texas, so we grew up with tales of cowboys and cattle drives. When we went to Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming, we wanted an authentic taste of the Old West. We did it all – parades, rodeos and concerts.

France's Most Visited Place: Fontainebleau Castle and Forest

Apart from the ever romantically famous Eiffel Tower, France is known for its wildlife and forest attractions. Fontainebleau Castle and Forest has been noted to have 13 million visitors yearly, surpassing the Eiffel Tower, with only 6 million visitors. Fontainebleau Forest is protected by France’s Office National des Forets which has 25,000 hectares of forest surrounding the vicinity of Fontainebleau and its neighbouring villages.

Charyn Canyon Valley of the Castles

215km east of Almaty towards the border with China is the Charyn Canyon National Park. Although it is nowhere near the size of America's Grand Canyon, the Charyn Canyon is also a spectacular place to visit. Stretching almost 150km in length and dropping to 300m in places, there is one area of the canyon that is of particular interest. The Valley of the Castles (known locally as Dolina Zamkov), this is the most commonly visited section of Charyn Canyon.