Archive for the ‘Antwerp’ Category.

Antwerp, Belgium

Antwerp or the city on the river Scheldt, is the second largest city in Belgium and the major city of the Flemish region. The approximate 500,000 inhabitants call it the Metropolis. This city has so many different facets that it takes a while before one gets to know it thoroughly. There is a variety of unique neighborhoods — each with its own personality.

The Old City Many of the splendid architectural highlights can be found in the old city which is the area around the Cathedral of Our Lady and the Grote Markt. The destruction of the two world wars has unfortunately left scars on the old city which dates from the 16th and 17th centuries but recent renovation projects have restored part of the glory. The Vlaeykensgang is a typical example of the picturesque medieval streets. The golden age of Antwerp can also be found in the numerous paintings of Peter Paul Rubens who lived in Antwerp in the early 17th century.

Continue reading: travel.aol.com

Most Alaskan Glaciers Draw back and Narrow


Image source: www.susanmilne.com
Mainly of Alaska’s glaciers are retreating or thinning or mutually, a new book by the U.S. Geological Survey news.

About 5 percent of Alaska’s area is enclosed by more than 100,000 glaciers — that’s about 29,000 square miles (75,000 square kilometers), or more than the entire state of West Virginia.

While a few of Alaska’s large glaciers are advancing, 99 percent are receding, the book, “Glaciers in Alaska,” states. The book was written by USGS examine geologist Bruce Molina.

A USGS project to take pictures of the glaciers of Montana’s Glacier National Park also showed significant retreat. Based on these photos and glacier recession rates, scientists envisaged the park could lose its namesakes by 2030.

Greenland, which is covered by more ice than somewhere else in the world outside Antarctica, has also seen significant melt of its glaciers in recent decades.

The new book on Alaska’s glaciers used satellite images, aerial photos, maps and other studies to document the retreat of the glaciers, which began as early as the mid-19th century. Some glaciers have even disappeared since being mapped in the mid-20th century, the report found.

The account also said that glaciers in Alaska saw “important retreat” in the last two decades of the 20th century.