I always said to myself that I shall never be a part of rat race. All I can say is that probably I never realised that I was already a part of it. Maybe, I realised it, but never with such an intensity....I so wish for peace, quiet...probably the simple lifestyle that I myself was a part of just 5 years ago...days when I could spend time at my own pace and think original thoughts and nights when I was at home listening to faint sounds of aartis and chants from the temple close to my home.

These days I have begun to hate almost everything that symbolizes yuppism. Mobile phones that ring incessantly , techno music with its indigestible mixes and the clubs and pubs that play it loudly, coffee shops that are oh so crowded and that serve bad and costly coffees , malls and brand outlets that ensure you spend all the money you earned slogging your a** off at work , mp3 players that become outdated every other week...and of course traffic! the noisy honking cars and bikes that everyone seems to own these days...

We yuppies look alike. Jaded, exhausted!  we work like dogs during the weeks, long hours, while traveling, from home and every possible place. Weekends, our mode of relaxation therefore is throwing away the money that we spend most of our time earning, by buying dinners that cost us fortunes and still leave us almost empty stomached... or maybe buying lounge chair tickets for an afternoon show at the plushest theatre mall in the town...for some it might be smoking like a chimney and drinking like a fish... all in all THIS is the lifestyle of new generation. Somehow I dont feel excited about this lifestyle at all... and mentally I dont connect to this way of living at all... I am a misfit...

Somehow, I still feel I got dragged into this rat race. Yeah,probably I had an option of selecting a less aggressive career field, living in a less cosmopolitan place, making friends with less urbanised people etc...but I do not dare do that. I am not brave enough to quit my career, go to a town and start all anew... they say pressure is addictive...maybe, I will come to regret the peaceful small town life ... maybe I might long for deadlines then... till I am ambivalent and timid, I have to live with yuppie way of life...may be such random post once in a while then, to let out all the frustration.....

The European Green Capital Award (EGCA) promotes and rewards the efforts of local authorities in improving the environment. It is to be given each year to a European city with a population of more than 200,000 that is leading the way with environmentally friendly urban living. Four out of five Europeans now live in towns and cities so their environmental performance is becoming more and more important. Most of the environmental challenges facing our society originate from urban areas but it is also these urban areas that bring together the commitment and innovation needed to resolve them. The deadline for submitting applications for the 2010 and 2011 awards is 1st October 2008.  If your city qualifies, then you can get more information on: www.europeangreencapital.eu

Usually an article about a writer from Colorado is placed in the context of the region. They're writing about a coal mine or a flood or something related to the (sometimes boring) history of Colorado.

A poetry professor in college insisted that where we're from, and where we've lived, seeps into our writing, that place is unavoidable. Since then I've been trying to figure out how Colorado factors into my writing.

At a novel writing workshop this summer, our instructor spoke briefly about place. We read an excerpt from a book that takes place in a coastal town in Maine. For the project I started, I couldn't figure out whether to set the story in a coastal town or in Colorado. There is no doubt that location can be as large as a character, and if not, still shapes the story.

Colorado is landlocked, neither truly the West nor the Midwest nor the Southwest. We're kind of the border state between the Midwest and the West. Sometimes we're categorized as the (Wild) West and sometimes with the Midwest. The most accurate classification I've seen is the Mountain Region.

A few months ago I read David Payne's essay in the Oxford American about why writers from the North are considered national and writers from the South are considered regional. I love Southern writing. The distinct flavor is down-to-earth, sometimes strange, lyrical, and magical. The writing seems to focus more on characters and place than ideas and plot, though neither of the latter are missing. But it's no wonder that those writing from the South are tired of hearing that their fiction is colorful or being grouped together with the only common thread being place. I just stereotyped writers who happen to live in the South in this very paragraph.

But we can't ignore location, can we? Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner, two of my favorite writers, can't be separated from their roots. Would As I Lay Dying be a different novel if it were set in the middle of Boston or San Francisco or Denver? What about O'Connor's stories? The country characters need their farms and open spaces in order for the stories to work. The characters can't go into town without having come from outside of it.

What irks me is that the sheer number of writers in New York seems to equate writing with the city. It says that writers can't be writers outside of a city. I absolutely don't believe this, but I'm tired of reading in a byline or the back flap of a book cover that the writer lives in New York. Even Flannery O'Connor lived in New York for a time. So does one have to venture East in order to be taken seriously?

There exist numerous ways to classify writing, and I suppose place is just one more. But I can't help but wonder if our need to categorize and analyze reduces writing to stereotypes or helps elucidate the finer points.

Joe Riemann bestowed one simple name, and in return received overflowing blessings and a beautiful name for himself.

The name he received from members of a grateful immigrant community in the Twin Cities is “Jalata,” meaning “One who loves.”

As for the simple and single name that he bestowed, bear with me, this will sound implausible but it is absolutely true.

Riemann distributes Ethiopian coffee to food cooperatives in Minnesota, and he recently changed the label on vacuum-packed bags of the coffee beans he sells from “Organic Ethiopian” to “Organic Oromian.”

The Oromo have immigrated to Minnesota over the past 15 years, fleeing what they say is brutal repression and ethnic cleansing of their group by the present Ethiopian regime – claims that are fully backed up by human rights groups. A Human Rights Watch Report in 2005 reported “pervasive human rights violations” and documented hundreds of cases of torture, arbitrary detention, surveillance, and harassment of Oromo citizens.

The systematic suppression of political influence and cultural expression — Oromo history is not taught in Ethiopian schools, for example — is what makes the appearance of the Oromo name on bags of coffee grown in Oromia so genuinely and deeply moving, Oromo Minnesotans say.

“It touches your heart, it’s so powerful,” said Lense Solomon, an Oromo native and the president of the Oromo Student Union. “The Oromo have been repressed for so long, their labor unrewarded, their history wiped out, that to have the Oromo name on their own coffee, that’s huge.”

“It’s like the difference between being called ‘you,’ and being called by your real name,” she added. “It makes you feel proud to be acknowledged.”

The change has been good for business too, according to Barth Anderson, a spokeman for the Wedge food cooperative in Minneapolis. Sales of the coffee have increased about 30 percent since the label change, he says, and some Oromo have brought their families and children into the store to pose in front of the “Oromia Organic” coffee bags on the shelves.

“It’s almost embarrassing how gushing they are in their gratitude,” Anderson said. “They tell me, ‘Thank you for being so brave, to acknowledge what we are going through and to stand with us.’”

Riemann says the idea to change the name began at a showing of the documentary film, “Black Gold,” about Oromia coffee farmers in Ethiopia, that he organized as “a bit of Equal Exchange outreach” to potential Ethiopian customers from the area, especially Oromo.

To read the whole article by Douglas McGill, visit Twin Cities Daily Planet.

In January 2006, unusually cold winter weather caused an underground heat pipe to crack and this lead to a collapse of the district heating system. About 60,000 residents found themselves without heating and was force to relay on electric heaters. Within a few days, the sewage system froze since it no longer held any warm tap water. The accident occurred on January 22 and by February 11 dozens of buildings where still without any heat, despite the efforts of the engineering teams sent to Alchevsk by the Ukrainian government. Children had to be evacuated to warmer parts of Ukraine. An investigation showed that the heating system suffered from long-time neglect and it was also especially vulnerable to this type of accident since it depended on no more than two boilers and a few main pipelines.

It was not.

Arriving at the huge, Metropolis-feeling city at sunset, the Wild Traveler found himself in an unlikely destination that playfully, yet seriously, punched him in the gut. Gigantic edifices decorated with statues of giants; an ultra modern ancient port; maze-like bypasses, overpasses and underpasses; lively medieval dark alleys; deserted boulevards; hills upon hills covered in apartment blocks. Light rain. The smell of the Mediterranean, salty and sour. A pirate ship. A castle. Tunnels and intersections. Whores, pimps and dealers. Japanese tourists. Arabs. Italians. Moroccans. Greeks. Immigrants. Emigrants. People in transit. Even more huge buildings. Even more dark alleys. A terracotta orange. White marble. The aftertaste of a revolution. The feeling from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. Garfield in a coma.

The punch took the Wild Traveler by surprise. As he crouched to catch his breath, he looked up the dark sky and, for a moment, he thought he saw the bat signal hovering over the city.

The punch left a dent in the Wild Traveler's soul, a precious, little, permanent dent.

The punch made the Wild Traveler wanting to go back to Genoa.

It made Genoa one of his favourite places.

Protected by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Banner Elk and the surrounding area is an oasis for the weary soul.  The mountains are a place to find yourself, renew what was lost, and to again find your path and return again to life refreshed.  Between reading, walking, eating and napping and just loving life, the mountains are for lack of a better phrase, a breath of fresh air!

If fresh, farm vegetables, starry skies, mountain views, and clean air are not enough, the people of North Carolina and Banner Elk will be the draw.  Southern hospitality is at its best, and who doesn't enjoy the kind smile of a stranger?  Banner Elk can boast of her own accomplishments but on my last visit, I enjoyed the fruit of her labor at the Banner Elk Winery.  East Coast wineries are not among the most popular in the world, but they are growing in number and offer surprisingly good tastes at moderate prices.  While I am not much of a fan of sweet wines, the Banner Elk Winery does produce a really nice blueberry wine that would accompany any dessert or spicy appetizers ever so nicely.  Honestly, I hope that wineries on the East Coast never reach the height of popularity as Napa and other wine mecca’s.  Too much popularity, can translate into the inflation in prices and often wine quality becomes poor.   

Admittedly, I am a helpless romantic, but there truly is something so magical about walking into an establishment, live acoustic music (my favorite) playing in the background, ordering a glass of wine and being seated outdoors to enjoy the view with friends.  One might argue that you do not need much more in life and this made me fairly happy.   The vines surround and the winery cottages offer refuge for those looking for something further afield.

Traveling is just plain fun, but traveling with a chef is even better.  Somehow I need to make enough money in my life to ensure that my father is constantly able to travel with me and be my personal chef.  Returning from Banner Elk Vineyard resulted in a meal of homemade bread, freshly grilled salmon with cappers, and tomatoes, black bean and corn salad with extra cilantro, and skin on mashed potatoes.  Sigh! Luckily, there are plenty of little eateries in Banner Elk, just in case your personal chef called in sick.  Zuzda Tapas is a relatively new dinner spot, serving everything from gnocchi to seared tuna.  The Ham Shoppe in Valle Crucis is a must visit lunch spot and worth every bit of glorious ham!

Life can sometimes be so complicated, and instead of reliving moments of hurt, or worry, I would prefer to rewind and relive the moments in the mountains. 

Enjoy the trip!

I made it down one road that leads to the new Hyatt. Wonder howbusiness is given that it’s smack dab in the middle of holes and skeletons. It’s beautiful and I hope it has the same high tea that the Cha Lounge in the Hyatt in Taipei has. I’ll have to find out someday. Trucks and their drivers waited around on the street. Some workers were busy digging in the road. I took some shots around the trucks.

The drivers were entertained by the Mamiya, which I finally got out and working.  There was one moment when I turned and saw a driver sitting in his cab, one leg dangling down, just staring at me. Against the red exterior of the truck, and the black interior it was an excellent pose and one for the memory of photos seen and not taken. I moved on a little.

I found a hole in a fence around a field of nothing, and a lock that had a nice “made in China” on it. Workers were walking through the field and out of the door. It's these small things that I like to notice and give me some sort of thrill, like finding the quarter in a cake with money when I was a kid.

I packed up and rode away, managing to make it another 50 metres. I had about 2km to ride until I reached my planned starting spot. I would never make it. Another hole. This one in a cement wall, one of the pieces at the bottom making a handy stair. Behind it was a man-made hill, covered in thick grass. I had seen this hill from the office and had been curious.  Again, people were coming down a path which ran along the hill.

I snapped some shots with the RB, packed up, and headed in. The path simply led to the road on the other side, but it provided a fantastic view. A group of workers in the site below called out and waved. From where I was to the river, hundreds of metres away, there were only holes, foundations, cranes and machines.

I worked around there for a while then climbed to the top. It was surprising. Fat, it was carpeted in lovely grass and afforded me an amazing view as I walked around. An old tree pointed up out of the ground, echoing the bamboo from earlier, and the buildings around it.

It was amazingly quiet and peaceful, as if all the noise just lay beneath me, though I was but 50 or 60 metres up. But up here I could find the perspective I wanted—people tiny in the vastness, making their ways, conforming the spaces to their needs.

I then shot a nice but banal image of a flower before the stick. If you look along the grass to the left of the flower, you might see the RB in the blurry background. I knew that it was a trite image when I was making it, but oh well.

But that was that. It was after twelve and I needed to get going. I had spent close to 3.5 hours going but a few blocks.

I wasn’t frustrated but excited, but I wanted to head down to the camera area and get some more 120 film, oh, and see if I could find a nice Mamiya 6 rangefinder. I like the square format and read that the 6 is a fantastic camera. I decided to find a new way there. There’s an annoying military area along the river, meaning I couldn’t pass directly through, so I rode around the outside. I ended up finding this old area with fantastic post-colonial houses. Narrow, tree-canopied streets lined with brick and plaster buildings, taking me back a century from where I was, where some shiny future is being erected.

The hole in the plaster fence and its beckoning trail made me think of Alice in Wonderland. I felt like her, passing through into some strange realm, suspended between things. It was a place seemingly out of time. A place to watch time marching past, measured out in levels and layers of green fabric, measured out in the constant turning of the cranes. Then the trip into the past on the other side of the rabbit hole, where the pace is slow, but where some lies fenced up, waiting its chance to move forward in time.

Here's a Google map of today's veleur.
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117481085861112897991.000452868cc989487a92c&t=h&ll=23.121516,113.306776&spn=0.011643,0.025213&output=embed&s=AARTsJocol0N6s-95UCzlRmtysAbEjDhpg&w=425&h=350]

I should be so happy right now.

After years of just surviving, I am now able to live a better live.

My job is great, I am on top of all their "stack ranking" I am on top of my team, in all objects, top of "pay 4 performance", everything at work looks really really great. But I feel so left out in my personal life.

My husband works his buns off and so do I, so we dont see each other that much. Church I havent been in a long time, because of my work schedule.
I have only one friend from Church who consistently calls me and checks up what I am doing. I tried to set up a BBQ at my house, but for some reason it doesnt seem to get off the ground.
Perhaps because I havent been in Chruch?
Slowly but surely I feel like I am forgotten, people moved on with their busy lives, and so did the Church.

Of course than I get the responses "Well you can call too". Perhaps I am not the person who does well with "first steps". Perhaps I have to learn that, but it wont be now!
I just know how I feel, and I feel not being a part of anything. All meetings and get togethers are on Thursdays,Saturdays, so I cant attend. It is very hard to get a weekend off at my job.

I just needed to vent today!!!
My husband is a loner, so he is not affected as I am. He likes been by himself. I on the other hand, love having people around, talking on the phone, etc..

My prayer right now is that I find a church that has a evening service on Sunday's. Now that would be to cool! Probably not happening but it would be wonderful.

This post is not meant to offend anyone from my Church, it is only how I feel and see things lately!

The Lord is still directing my path, and that will NEVER change no matter what.
I am so much closer lately because He is all I have to talk to, and to cling on. I praise Him still after each and every phonecall at work. I dont care if it was a good or a bad call, I praise Him constantly. He is so good to me.
Everywhere I turn, I see the Lord's work before me, and I am in awe what He has done for me and my husband. And I am still on working on my husband to get him back to where he should be with the Lord. But he still has a hard time with it.

Well, I vented, so whoever reads this...dont beoffended, this isnt meant as an offense, it is from my heart, my thoughts, my feelings.

Blessings to all
Andrea

A Writer and two books: Fountainhead/Atlas Shrugged, yes it did make a difference, and it does make a difference in the great domain of lower minds, the indispensable engine of this world. After reading them, a lot of us start idolizing Howard Roark , in this great competitive circus, where everyone is so proudly replicating Peter Keating lives, these old fictions come up as a reality check, as an honest mirror display! There is one more impact Ayn Rand has on your thought process and that is the ignition of the 'so-what' mindset. And believe me, the 'so-what' mindset is far calmer that the 'what-if' mindset.

A Bank: Another book that impacted me immensely is the freshly completed 'Banker to the poor', which talks about Grameen bank, its genesis, functioning, people, and a lot of things about it. For someone who has believes that the world economy is depressingly polar, this story came as a hammer, and a followed up relief. Very motivating and logical. The biggest question that has been asked to the world still remains "How do we eliminate poverty from the face of the world", in our lifetimes; a few answers like Grameen bank will help. Amen!

A Movie: I love movies, from ek ruka hua faisla to Amelie, from the incredibles to Raincoat, from Memento and the butterfly effect to Ghost World, I love them all. They entertain me to the core. And in this midst of all these great movies and the great directors, arrived 'Into the Wild', the only movie that I have gone back again and again and again. I just can’t get enough of it. And even if the movie's magnetic field diminishes, the music and lyrics of this movie takes over. I once told about this movie to my simple very motherly mother, she quietly asked me 'Everything’s ok son?', she surely loves me a lot :). Time to quote from a song from the movie

When you want more than you have, you think you need...
and when you think more then you want, your thoughts begin to bleed.
I think I need to find a bigger place...
cause when you have more than you think, you need more space.

A Person: Ravi Gulati. Met him only twice, and I am a fan of his, admiration comes up naturally for this IIM A graduate who runs a subtle NGO called Manzil based in Delhi where he teaches under privileged kids necessary skills.  One of most humble persons you will ever meet, and he will surely make you rethink and ask 'What am I doing?', anyways I think I am still young, and I cant run away saying that for a long time. Though I admire him a lot, but I wouldn’t say that he changed me, in that category only one person can fall, and that’s 'She', call it obvious, call it bourgeoisie, call it rule-of-world, but I am a different person when I am with her, a different person for her. We are two different ends of this world, but it clicks and it clicks pretty well for our comfort. I am always asking questions, feeling sad, wanting to do this to do that, and she has a pretty simple solution to my mental turbulences - 'Why do you think so much' and thus she conveniently shuts me off. But I guess it's time for me to tell her on a public platform, thanks for being there!

There are more things that changed me, events, more people, my stay at my college DA-IICT, my stay at Mumbai and Bangalore, troubled times at home, my dad's drinking habit and his management skills, and perhaps a few more. And my own belief that a person changes completely in a span of 4-5 years, lets see, if that continues to happen.

This is not a tag post, but i would like if some of my blogmates pen a similar post, it would be interesting, so requesting the following to pen the same:

Luthra, Shakti, Ankit, Richa, Naresh, Navin, Kamiya, Steve, Biraja, eesha, Desh, Vineet, Prateek

As long as he keeps the yard looking like that, I wont mind this other "lady"...HAHAHA

I had to ask him, if he dreamed of the tool last night. He got up early today just to use the tool! Unbelievable!!!

!!!

Yesterday I went to Madrid to take a test for the European Commission. As usually, there was a strike and my train was suspended, but fortunally I could take the next train and arrive just on time to my destination...

After the test I had about an hour to hang around so I went to take some pictures to the MNCARS (Reina Sofia Museum) nearby the station.

The museum is located at a really nice place with no cars and plenty of places to have a cup of coffee, K's favourite drug.

But I didn't feel like drinking coffee (I had paid 3.50 for a cup of coffee that morning at the hotel where the exam took place). Instead I took a few pictures of desperate messages written on the pavement...

...the museum's fancy elevator...

...and a boy playing soccer.

Then I headed to the other side of the museum to take a couple of snapshots...

...and decided to head back to the station so that i would not loose (ie miss) my train.

The way to the station.

There was a police car there. Bye bye, museum!

There we are at the station.

Fortunately I was on time for my train.

Почему-то все в Мадриде напоминает на Кате.

So I got into the train, that would soon be home bound and where I spent the entire trip in the corridor repeating my lesson so as not to be annoyed by cellphones and conversation.

Right out of the station, there seems to be a tetris inspired building.

Two and a half hours later we got to Sevilla, as huge, soviet inspired banner reminds the passengers (on the left side you can read: "Sevilla se saborea con Cruzcampo"). On the right side, the beer brand paid tribute to local patriotism: "Ciudad con sabor".

If this is not the center of the world, then what is this?

just had to post this update.

The diningroom set is ready to be viewed! It isn't completely done. I havent put all the stuff in it yet. But you get the picture!

Do you think it is nice???

Berlin is known for his high quality of living, diverse architecture, festivals, nightlife and arts. There isn’t any old architecture to be found in the city since it was bombed almost thirty years between the war. Alls an attraction you can go have a look at the Fernsehturn, which is the second highest building in whole European Union. The landmark of Berlin is the Brandenburg Gate; witch is also on German euro coins. A beautiful attraction is the glass dome on the roof of the Reichstag, where many tourists come to visit it. There are many cultural institutions to be found in Berlin, there around four-hundred art galleries and over hundred museums that show us the age of war and German technology.

Praga je kulturni center Češke, saj ima mnogo oper, gledališč, galerij, glasbenih društev ter koncertnih dvoran. Praga ima največ obiskovalcev od Aprila do Oktobra, zato si je pametno rezervirati hotele preden so zasedeni. Veliko obiskovalcev obišče Prago za novo leto in tako so lahko cene takrat tudi do dvakrat višje kot običajno. Za turiste, ki želijo prenočiti v tem mestu v stilu lahko obiščejo luksuzni hotel , ki je bil zgrajen v 14 stoletju. Za vse ki si pa želijo oddiha se lahko sprehodijo v raznih parkih ali vrtovih, ki so oblikovani v renesančnim stilu.

Rome is a city of political and cultural importance and its historic center is listed as a World Heritage Site. Many visitors come to see the pope and to visit the cathedrals if there is a festival. Its legend says that Rome was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus and was ruled by seven kings through the history to its glory today. There are many attractions in Rome; one of them is the Colosseum witch was able to seat 60.000 visitors in its glorious time. The city has many museums and galleries, where tourists can see many things from ages of Renaissance and Baroque. In the middle of Rome lies the Vatican City, which is a small separate sovereign state.

This was the opinion expressed by local governance experts and local officials at the recent launch of the 2007 Philippine Cities Competitiveness Report (PCCR) of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City.

Done every other year, it was the fifth time that the AIM measured the business-friendliness of select cities in terms of infrastructure, cost of doing business, dynamism of the local economy, human resources and training, responsiveness of the LGUs to business needs, and quality of life.

The study classified this year 90 cities into three categories: Metro cities, or those comprising metropolitan areas in Manila, Davao, and Cebu; mid-sized cities, or non-Metro cities with population more than 200,000 residents; and small-sized cities, or those with less than 200,000 residents.

Wholesale conversion

Experts and local officials said the almost wholesale conversion of municipalities into cities in the past two years has reduced the old cities’ share in national taxes or the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), which is used by LGUs to finance their operation and deliver basic services.

The direct effects of less IRA on infrastructure development, and consequently on the cities’ general competitiveness, may show in the next round of surveys to be conducted by the AIM Policy Center. (abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak)

Click here to continue reading the story .

My thoughts lately have been sparked by reformed doctrine opinions regarding natural disasters. These opinions adhere to the premise that natural disasters are God's way of punishing and bringing judgment on people. I located some podcasts recorded in the weeks just after hurricane Katrina that expressed this opinion, declaring that Katrina was directly associated with God’s judgment on the people of New Orleans.

Accused of being one of the most sinful cities in the world by a leading expert in reformed doctrine, he went on to describe how New Orleans was host to some of the most egregious acts of sexual immorality, gambling, and crime. Based on these observations the only conclusion he could come to was that God must bring judgment against the city; in the form of Katrina. The call was for society to clean up its act, get right with God, and obey His commands. As a society we are enslaved to sin and God is justified in mass destruction.

What? What happened to our savior? What happened to the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross? I have a terribly hard time trying to reconcile this speaker’s comments against all that we know of God. God is all powerful and certainly if he can bring such destruction, then can he not influence on a much more specific basis? Is He not concerned and longing for each one of us to seek Him? How many righteous and God honoring Christians lost their lives?

What is foremost in the eyes of God? He greatly wants each of use to turn out hearts and attention to Him. God wants a personal and close relationship with each person, so much so that He sent His only Son to forgive us of our sins. Why would he make such a precious sacrifice only to destroy those He forgave?

Is the message being spoken by this Christian expert that there is no hope for any of these people, and that they will never see the sin in their lives, and never turn their hearts towards God? God has given us the freedom to choose, the grace to screw up, and the opportunity to be forgiven.

Jesus the incarnate of God himself came to earth, suffered, was crucified and rose from the dead. Didn’t Jesus extend grace to everyone no matter what their condition? He did not strike sinners down, he extended the opportunity for them to turn their hearts, change their ways. Would this not be the personified image of God, His true being, His true belief? God gives everyone the opportunity to proclaim Christ as their savior and turn from their sin. Why then, would He destroy a city when each person has the opportunity to turn to God?

]]> http://europeparadise.wordpress.com/?p=7 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:47:44 +0000 ferryn http://europeparadise.wordpress.com/?p=7 Prague is the capital city of Czech Republic, many historians say, that it has come a long way from the plague of World Wars, and destruction of post war era in hands of ruthless Soviets. Prague hotels have provided boost in tourism, thus making this great city one of the richest cities in whole Eastern Europe. Located near a valley surrounded by the Vltava River in central part of the large Bohemia, this attractive tourist destination of Eastern Europe can be most enjoyed from various elegant Prague hotels. The cultural progression and attractiveness of whole Prague can be explained by the many different names it has occupied, like "city of a hundred spires", "the heart of Europe", "the Left Bank of the Nineties", and "the golden city".

Tourists enjoy staying in the many affordable hotels in Prague, or if they prefer luxury they can visit most known luxurious Prague Hotels with five stars. The city has prospered during the late 14th century, when it was ruled by Charles IV, thus the city became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. The most interesting structures from this era are the Saint Vitus Cathedral, the Gothic cathedral, and the Charles University. Tourists interested in history can enjoy the richness of many museums, art galleries, and attractions.