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Dubai’s Miracle Garden – Where Scents come to Life

Written by Margit RĂŒdiger on . Posted in Culture.

It was launched on Valentine’s Day 2013 and is set in the heart of Dubailand. Since then each year Dubai Miracle Garden reinvents itself with a whole new concept and design experience. 150 millions of flowers form on 7,2 ha territory outside of the City sculptures, castles, animals and an airplane of the national airline „Emirates“. Bigger, higher, more spectacular Where else the biggest flower garden should bloom if not in Dubai, known as the city of superlatives. At the beginning of November, when temperatures for flowers drop to a bearable 25-28 degrees, he opens its doors. Already at the entrance one is received by huge flowering horses, which seem to grow from the ground. It’s a foretaste of let’s say a floral craziness. The 18 metre sculpture high Mickey Mouse floral sculpture has earned in 2018 the 5th Guiness Records entitled „World’s largest Topiary Structure“. It is made from almost 100,000 plants and flowers, and weighs 35tons. Emirates Airline has constructed together with Dubai Miracle Garden the world’s largest floral installation through a life-size version of the Emirates A380. The plane is covered in more than 500,000 fresh flowers and living plants. When in full bloom, the aircraft structure will have an unprecedented total stem count of 5 million flowers and will weigh over 100 tonnes (take-off weight of an actual A380 is 575 tonnes). The path through the garden show is lined with opulent beds and giant hanging baskets – colourful and strong scented. In between you will find flowered little gazebos, called cabanas, where you can have a little rest and rub your eyes, if that is all reality, what you have seen: the 12-metre-high Teddy bear, the 15-metre floral clock, the hug castle covered with flowers or the underground floral cascade „the lost paradise“ with a depth of 20 ft. The garden with its colourful arches and patterns, and the myriad shapes they form, is truly magnificent and an oasis where birds and insects bustle you will never find downtown. Definitely it is a must for all Dubai visitors. Good to know The Miracle Garden reopens November for a new season after closing for six months during summer for renovation. It is required in order to protect the plants and flowers from excessive summer heat of the region. However, the trip outside the metropolis will be well planned. Be aware that Friday and Saturday is Dubai’s weekend, and the garden may be crowded because it is also a destination for many locals.… weiterlesen

Ski Resorts – The Most Popular on TikTok And Instagram This Winter

Written by Margit RĂŒdiger on . Posted in Culture.

Ski resorts around the world. The team from BonusInsider. They checked the hashtags associated with some of the world’s largest and most famous winter resorts on social media platforms. They also looked at what they offer, and at what price. Here is it the handy guide to the best ski resorts for the winter of 2023/2024. The most viral ski resorts around the world. This ski report ranking is based on their popularity on TikTok and Instagram. Millions of people planning their winter holidays. Skiing vacations, however, don’t come cheap, especially at big resorts where, along with accommodation and food, tourists need to pay for ski passes, lifts, equipment, and often insurance. For those who are looking for inspiration and a vacation that won’t break the bank, the BonusInsider team compiled a list of the most viral ski resorts right now. They also checked their prices and looked at essential information such as the length of the ski slopes and the number of ski lifts they have.  According to the research, Courchevel in the French Alps is the most popular skiing destination on social media. Videos with the #courchevel hashtag on TikTok have amassed more than 450 million views on the platform, while on Instagram, the resort has been mentioned in roughly 523,500 pos These are the top 10 most viral ski resorts on TikTok and Instagram right now: 1 Courchevel, Les Trois VallĂ©es, Savoie, France 453.8M TikTok views, 523k Instagram postsCourchevel is a popular ski resort in the French Alps and part of Les Trois VallĂ©es, which is the largest linked ski area in the world. It lies in the Tarentaise Valley, which boasts the highest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. Some of these, namely Les Arcs and Val-d’IsĂšre-Tignes, are listed here, as well. We could pick any of the resorts from Les Trois VallĂ©es for this research; but we picked Courchevel because it is home to some of the most exclusive Alpine hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. The resort, at 1,747 metres, is linked to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Courchevel 1850, each at a different altitude and offering winter sports enthusiasts pistes of various skill levels. 2 Lake Louise Ski Resort 362.7M TikTok views, 1.2M Instagram postsThe Lake Louise Ski Resort is a winter paradise, boasting stunning views and world-class skiing. It is located in the heart of Banff National Park on the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada.… weiterlesen

Carlo Rampazzi Thinks and Feels in Colour

Written by Margit RĂŒdiger on . Posted in Culture.

A visit to the design king of Ascona Bird of paradise, genius, cosmopolitan, free spirit and optimist. All of these perfectly describe Carlo Rampazzi. I meet the Ticino architect and designer in his palazzo in a sleepy side street close to Ascona’s lake promenade. The building with the giant black ant on the front and a coral as light source in the entrance niche houses the apartment, studio and the colourful topsy-turvy shop “Selvaggio” which, quite fittingly, translates as “wild”. In addition, there is an enchanting two-level inner garden, which my host proudly shows me later. Carlo’s charm is irresistible Carlo Rampazzi sits in his office behind a desk on which there is an array of colourful items but no computer or other things technical. His dress style, always unconventional, blends perfectly into the picture: a flowing beige-red striped trouser-tunic combination from a Jean-Paul Gaultier collection of 30 years ago. He considers each question carefully and, after making several starts, answers astutely and with great wit. He laughs a lot, even about himself. Rampazzi is a man who fascinates one from the start. A person you take an immediate liking to. It’s no wonder that he can ultimately make the most conservative and sceptical hotel managers enthusiastic about his wildly opulent “maximalism”. When he was suffering from back pain, he even managed to have a doctor from Zurich make a rare house-call to treat him. Mischievously he says: “If the toilet is broken, I’m not going to take it to the plumber – he’ll come to me.” The pleasure he takes from this little achievement is child-like and without a hint of arrogance. The “wild” way it all started Carlo Rampazzi decorates hotels, private houses and locations such as the City Bistrot di Bellinzona or, more recently, the Pop-up Suite high above the medieval city of Castelgrande . He designs furniture, which he exhibits in his showrooms in Ascona and Paris. And all this for the past 45 years – that’s how long his company has been in existence. Rampazzi: “I was forbidden to use our family name as a trademark so that’s why I called it Selvaggio.” And this is how it came about: The 24-year-old Carlo had no interest in entering the family’s construction business, nor did he want to become a banker or insurance broker, careers his father imagined for him. He wanted to do something on his own, something creative.… weiterlesen

Ayurveda Cure in Sri Lanka

Written by Karen Dahl on . Posted in Cream.

Diary of a Conversion Ayurveda – a word that I, as avowedly non-esoteric, had initially filed away in that drawer. I listened benevolently to reports of the many wonderful experiences, but it never occurred to me to try it myself. Until one day the perfect moment came: I was stressed, my boyfriend was gone and my old job had come to an end. I started researching and learned, with the help of Dr. Google, that Ayurveda is the world’s oldest medical science with at least 2000 years of tradition. Its aim, through and intense system of purification, (Panchakarma) is to bring the Doshas back into equilibrium after stress, illness and poor nutrition has thrown them out of kilter. The Doshas? These are the three life energies that are found in all of us: Vata (wind, air/ether), the principle of movement Pitta (fire/water), the fire or metabolic principle Kapha (earth/water), the structural principle In my search for a destination I focus on the countries of origin, India and Sri Lanka in the southeast, and come across the resort Ayurveda Garden and Shakti Villa. The resort was founded by Mr. Böhm and his Sri Lankan wife and incorporates their own herb and vegetable garden and doctor etc. Moreover, the villa looked as if it might correspond to my idea of a place to spend a holiday. Clicked, booked, suitcase packed. In my luggage: a lot of cotton underwear, a diary. Otherwise just pure curiosity
 and a slight case of the jitters. Day 1: The Shakti Villa driver welcomes me at Colombo airport. From there we drive for another two hours towards Abalonga, in Sri Lanka’s southwest. At the Shakti Villa, which is located directly on the beach, I am greeted by four radiant faces. I’ve brought the rain with me, but unlike us, people here are happy about that. I would have preferred sun. But maybe that’s to remind me not to just think about myself. As a first measure, my feet, swollen from the flight, are massaged. I’m thinking I may have done the right thing here! Before dinner I sit on my couch and enjoy the view of the Indian Ocean, where the sun is just setting over the waves. Then I hear the bell ringing for the first time. This is my signal to drink some hot water, one of the most important rituals in Ayurveda. There’s always a thermos on my terrace.… weiterlesen