Chicago

Located on the southwesterly shore of Lake Michigan, Windy City is the biggest metropolis in Illinois, and 3rd biggest in the United States overall. As of the 2000 census, the metropolis iself had a population of 2,896,016. Additionally, when concerted with its suburbias and the nine encompassing counties in Illinois, Hoosier State and Wisconsin, the metropolitan country (known as "Chicagoland") have a population of almost 10 million.

The metropolis have a highly diversified economy, including fiscal services, manufacturing, printing and publishing. Windy City is place to the nation's 2nd biggest concern territory (after New House Of House Of York City), and the 3rd biggest mass media marketplace (after Los Angeles and New York City), and four major fiscal and hereafters exchanges.

Chicago is a popular tourer destination, attracting well over 30 million visitants each year. Some of the attractive forces in Windy City include:

- Adler Planetarium

- Aon Center

- Field Museum of Natural History

- Toilet G. Shedd Aquarium

- Toilet John Hancock Center

- Abraham Lincoln Park Zoo

- Museum of Contemporary Art

- Sears Tower

Here is some more than information about the area:

- Some of the major companies with their central office in Windy City include Boeing, Exelon and Sara Lee.

- Major airdromes for Windy City include Windy City Midway International Airport and O'Hare International Airport.

- Perhaps the best known educational establishment in Windy City is the University of Chicago. The University of Windy City is a private university that was originally founded by Toilet D. John D. Rockefeller in 1890, and held its first social classes in 1892..

- Professional athletics squads in Windy City include the American football game team, the Windy City Bears, the baseball game game team, the Windy City Cubs, the baseball team, the Windy City White Person Sox, the basketball game team, the Windy City Bulls, and the water ice field hockey team, the Windy City Blackhawks.

Ride Free in the Outer Banks During the Labor Day Bike Show

Rev up the Harley, don your leathers, and strap your best buddy into the sidecar. The Outer Banks aren't just for summer vacation, and the Labor Day weekend is proof. For the last seven years, motorcyclists and enthusiasts have gathered in the Currituck area of the OBX to celebrate the rip-roaring two-wheelers that line the main roads annually. At the Outer Banks Bike Show, you don't have to own a motorcycle to have fun, but it helps to have a ride.

The Outer Banks Bike show is held in Grandy, North Carolina, with the Walnut Island Restaurant and Barry's Bar taking on the majority of hosting duties. Proceeds from the event go to benefit the Victory Junction Gang, a camp designed for children with special needs, founded by NASCAR driver and North Carolina native Kyle Petty, in honor of his late son Adam. Starting normally on the Friday of Labor Day, bikers can enjoy live music and dinner specials at the restaurant, while vendors from the around the country display their wares - T-shirts, bike accessories, and other fun items of interest.

Saturday kicks into high gear with a specially priced biker's buffet, followed by games and contests worth cash prizes. There may be poker competitions, contests for the best, fastest, and oldest bikes, and other related events. An auction and live music cap off the night, followed by a Sunday of camaraderie, food, and award presentations.

The only restrictions to attending the Outer Banks Bike Show are the prohibition of dogs, gang colors, and weapons. Otherwise, this event promises to bring together bikers from around the United States. If you're looking for a good time this fall and want to appreciate some beautiful motorcycles and connect with other riders, make the Outer Banks one stop for Labor Day.

Secrets of Amsterdam, The Facts - Chapter 2

Amsterdam 750.000 inhabitants, is the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which, apart from the Netherlands itself, comprises the Netherlands Antilles and the Island of Aruba.

Monarchs are traditionally inaugurated in the Nieuwe Kerk church next to the Royal Palace on Dam Square, which is considered the heart of the nation.

For centuries, life in the Netherlands has been inspired by Amsterdam, a place where people from virtually every country and culture feel at home.

Since the Netherlands became an hereditary monarchy in 1813, the three kings and three queens of the House of Orange-Nassau who have succeeded to the throne have all been invested in Amsterdam. However, the reigning head of state, Queen Beatrix, was the first monarch to marry here as well, when she married Claus von Amsberg on 10 March 1966, in the Westerkerk church. Her eldest son, Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, will follow in her footsteps.

The name Amsterdam derives from the dam on the Amstel River on which the city was built. The name (Amstelledamme/Amstelredamme) is first recorded in 1275. In the gazetteer the name of Amsterdam also appears in Georgia, Idaho and Ohio, in South Africa, at Spitsbergen and among the islands in the Indian Ocean. New York was originally a Dutch establishment known as New Amsterdam, with a 'walstraat' (Wall Street) and a 'bouwerij' (Bowery), and quarters bearing the names of related places, such as Haarlem (Harlem) and Breukelen (Brooklyn). Even the name 'Yankee' originates in the Dutch names Jan and Kees.

The city Amsterdam is built on a four-metre-thick layer of peat, with a substratum of sand and clay to around 11 metres below N.A.P. (Amsterdam Ordnance Datum).All buildings are constructed on piling-foundations made from tree-trunks or concrete.

Just a century ago, Amsterdam Noord - the borough north of the IJ - comprised little more than farmland behind old Zuiderzee dykes. The construction of the North Holland Canal (1824) and the North Sea Canal (1870) at first attracted maritime industries, mainly ship-builders. The first houses were built in 1914, followed by garden suburbs.
For the next 20 years it seemed as if Amsterdam was going to expand in a northerly direction, but from the 1920s onwards a preference grew for the polders to the south and south-west of the city, where large new suburbs are today.The main reason for this was initially the unbridgeable water - without punt ferries the North was inaccessible. Since then, however, the suburb north of the IJ has grown into a mixed collection of neighbourhoods with 83,000 inhabitants, easily reachable by tunnels and bridges.

Mayor of Amsterdam is the head of the police of Amsterdam-Amstelland, a regional police force in which Amsterdam collaborates with the Municipalities of Amstelveen, Aals-meer, Diemen, Ouder-Amstel and Uithoorn. The area covers 357 square kilometres and has 875,000 inhabitants.

Amsterdam, the habitat of Ines'Gloves http://www.gloveseurope.com and fashion city http://www.dutchleatherdesign.com

With thanks to the City of Amsterdam

San Carlos de Bariloche – South-American Switzerland

San Carlos de Bariloche is a captivating Argentine city, located between the high Andes and the plains of Patagonia. This place is sometimes called an Argentine or a South-American Switzerland thanks to astonishing beauty of its lakes and forests, purity and transparency of air, architecture and delicious chocolate produced here. It is really hard to describe the beauty of the Andes: silent thousand-year-old woods, mirror lakes with greenery coming down to them, granite mountain peaks and blue glacier glades... And in the south, Fire Land and Ushuaia open the doors to boundless and mysterious Antarctic.

Bariloche is one of the most famous cities in this region. In 1931in order to attract more tourists it was decided to establish one of the country's biggest national parks here. The plan worked out: for six months every year, Bariloche is turned into a lively resort with a unique Alpine atmosphere.

Summer attracts crowds of tourists here, who love walking along lush forests, observing picturesque glaciers and mountains. In wintertime, well-off lovers of mountain sports come to the city from all over South America, ride on the Andes' slopes and fill local restaurants in the evenings. However, other seasons which are traditionally considered to be dull, might turn out to be even more colourful ones: in spring the valleys next to the lake are full of flowers and greenery while in autumn the colour of the forests changes into red, orange, hazel and yellow.

The city is located on the picturesque shore of the Nahuel Huapi lake and is surrounded with notched brown mountains. Look into the distance, and you will see Tronador mountain– the highest peak in the region (3 554 meters high).

Active tourism and sports are not the only things to do here as there are also numerous attractions found on this territory. Among the things that might interest you are: Templo Mayor and El Centro Civico complex (created of cypress, larch and tuff stone), Capilla de San Eduardo, national monument and a cathedral Catedral de Bariloche, a monument to Julio A. Roca (the person who was in the head of forces during the desert war that almost lead to extirpation of the Indian tribes), Post Office building which is now an exhibition hall, municipality building with huge tower clock, City tourist centre, rich Patagonia Museum and Sarmiento library, Nahuel Huapi Estancia where a house of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's hideout is found. The other attractions are Nahuel Huapi National Park, Los Arrayanes National Park, arrayana forest and El Boliche Viejo where general store was located.

Patagonia Museum will introduce you to the history of this region from the days when Indians lived here, smeared with fat from head to food not to feel cold, and up to the arrival of the white explorers and military expeditions.

The very "salt" of each stay is a visit to arrayana forest – the myrtle grove. Places where these trees grow could be counted on the fingers of one's hand: Spain, Chile, Columbis. But even there they are rare to see, while in Bariloche they occupy 12 hectares of land.