Aswan, Egypt's sunniest southern city and ancient frontier town located about 81 miles south of Luxor, has a distinctively African atmosphere. Its ancient Egyptian name was Syene. Small enough to walk around and graced with the most beautiful setting on the Nile, the pace of life is slow and relaxing. Days can be spent strolling up and down the broad Corniche watching the sailboats etch the sky with their tall masts or sitting in floating restaurants listening to Nubian music and eating freshly caught fish. In Aswan the Nile is at its most beautiful, flowing through amber desert and granite rocks, round emerald islands covered in palm groves and tropical plants. Explore the souk, full of the scent and color of spices, perfumes, scarves and baskets. View the spectacular sunsets while having tea on the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel (Named due to the location of the Nile's first cataract located here). Aswan has been a favorite winter resort since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and it's still a perfect place to get away from it all. Every night Nubian dancers and musicians perform in the Cultural Center, just off the Corniche. Folklore troupes recreate scenes from village life and perform the famous Nubian mock stick-fight dances. Aswan is a strategic location which currently houses a garrison of the Egyptian army, but which has also seen ancient Egyptian garrisons, as well as that of General Kitchener, Turkish troops of the Ottoman empire and the Romans. The city proper lies on the east bank of the Nile. Relax here, visit a few mosques, but then prepare for an adventure. The bazaar runs along the Corniche, which continues past the Ferial Gardens and the Nubian Museum, and continues on to the Cemetery, with its forest of cupolas surmounted tombs from the Fatimid period. Just east of the cemetery in the famous area quarries is the gigantic Unfinished Obelisk. Just to the south of this, two Graeco-Roman sarcophagi and an unfinished colossus remain half buried in the sand. The most obvious is Elephantine Island, which is timeless with artifacts dating from pre-Dynastic times onward. It is the largest island in the area. Just beyond Elephantine is Kitchener's Island (Geziret el-Nabatat). It was named for the British general Haratio Kitchener (185--1916) and was sent to Egypt in 1883 to reorganize the Egyptian army, which he then led against the Sudanese Mahdi. But the island is known for its garden and the exotic plants the Kitchener planted there, and which continue to flourish today. On the opposite shore (west bank), the cliffs are surmounted by the tomb of a marabut, Qubbet el-Hawwa, who was a local saint. Below are tombs of the local (pharaonic) nobles and dignitaries. Upriver a bit is the tomb of Mohammed Shah Aga Khan who died in 1957. Known as the Tomb of the Aga Khan, it is beautiful in its simplicity. A road from there leads back to the Coptic Monastery of St Simeon, which was built in the sixth century in honor of Amba Hadra, a local saint. Just up river a bit, there is also the old Aswan dam, built by the British, which was enlarged, expanded, but unable to control the Nile for irrigation.

Chicago is a city of world-class status and unsurpassed beauty, drawing visitors from around the nation and the globe. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan in the heart of the Midwest, Chicago is home to the blues, several sports teams, an internationally acclaimed symphony orchestra, spectacular live theater, celebrated architecture, and thousands of restaurants, museums and shopping. Chicago is a major cultural center and has a multitude of attractions for visitors. The city is world-renowned for its diverse collection of museums, which explore a variety of subjects including Chicago history, art, African-American culture, astronomy, natural history and much more. Visitors from around the world come to Chicago, the birthplace of the modern building, to admire its architectural marvels. From historic landmark buildings to contemporary technological masterpieces, Chicago is built of the unique and innovative designs that have shaped American architecture. In addition to world-renowned museums and its architecture, Chicago is home to a variety of spectacular attractions including Navy Pier, the city's lakefront playground and the state's most popular attraction. Navy Pier offers visitors a unique blend of family-oriented attractions from the thrilling ride on the Wave Swinger in Pier Park to the 3-D Time Escape ride. The Pier also boasts the 150-foot high Ferris wheel, a musical carousel, the Chicago Children's Museum, a variety of restaurants and the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. In addition, Chicago's latest showcase - Millennium Park - opened in July 2004. The 24.5-acre park has instantly become a world-class attraction and a Chicago landmark. It contains an outdoor performing arts pavilion, an indoor year-round theatre, restaurant, ice-skating rink, contemporary garden, public art, fountains, promenade area for special events, and landscaped walkways and green spaces. Other attractions not to miss include Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park, the Hancock Observatory, and the Sears Tower Skydeck. Overall, Chicago is a great place to visit anytime of the year.

MANAUS is the capital of Amazonas, a tropical forest state covering around one and a half million square kilometres. It is also the commercial and physical hub of the entire Amazon region. Most visitors are surprised to learn that Manaus isn’t actually on the Amazon at all. Rather it lies on the Rio Negro, six kilometres from the point where that river meets the Solimões to form (as far as Brazilians are concerned) the Rio Amazonas. Just a few hundred metres away from the tranquil life on the rivers, the centre of Manaus perpetually buzzes with energy: always noisy, crowded and confused. Escaping from the frenzy is not easy, but there is the occasional quiet corner, and the sights of the port, markets, Opera House and some of the museums make up for the hectic pace in the downtown area. In the port and market areas, where the infamous Porto do Manaus smell is inescapable, pigs and chickens line the streets and there’s an atmosphere which seems unchanged in centuries. For the Amazon hinterland, Manaus has long symbolized “civilization”. Traditionally, this meant simply that it was the trading centre, where the hardships of life in the forest could be escaped temporarily and where manufactured commodities to make that life easier could be purchased – metal pots, steel knives, machetes and the like. Virgin jungle seems further from the city these days – just how far really depends on what you want “virgin forest” to mean – but there are still waterways and channels within a short river journey of Manaus where you can find dolphins, alligators, kingfishers and the impression, at least, that man has barely penetrated. Indeed, most visitors to Manaus rightly regard a river trip as an essential part of their stay; there is a variety of jungle tour and lodge options. Even if you can’t afford the time to disappear up the Amazon for days at a stretch, however, there are a number of sites around Manaus that make worthwhile day excursions, most notably the meeting of the waters of the yellow Rio Solimões and the black Rio Negro, and the lily-strewn Parque Ecólogico Janauary. History The name Manaus came originally from the Manau tribe which was encountered in this region by São Luís do Maranhão, exploring the area in 1616. He called the spot São Luís del Rio. But it was Francisco do Motta Falco who really founded Manaus by building up the settlement and encouraging others to remain there with him. The city you see today is primarily a product of the rubber boom and in particular the child of visionary state governor Eduardo Ribeiro, who from 1892 transformed Manaus into a major city. Under Ribeiro the Opera House was completed, and whole streets were wiped out in the process of laying down broad Parisian-style avenues, interspersed with Italian piazzas centred on splendid fountains. In 1899 Manaus was the first Brazilian city to have trolley buses and only the second to have electric lights in the streets. Around the turn of the nineteenth century Manaus was an opulent metropolis run by elegant people, who dressed and housed themselves as fashionably as their counterparts in any large European city. The rich constructed palaces and grandiose mansions; time was passed at elaborate entertainments, dances and concerts. But this heyday lasted barely thirty years, and by 1914 the rubber market was collapsing fast; Ribeiro himself had committed suicide in 1900. There was a second brief boost for Brazilian rubber during World War II, but today’s prosperity is largely due to the creation of a Free Trade Zone, the Zona Franca, in 1966. Over the following ten years the population doubled, from 250,000 to half a million, and many new industries moved in, especially electronics companies. An impressive new international airport was opened in 1976 and the floating port, supported on huge metal cylinders to cope with variations of as much as 14m in the level of the river, was modernized to cope with the new business. Today, with over three million inhabitants, Manaus is an aggressive commercial and industrial centre for an enormous region – the Hong Kong of the Amazon. Over half of Brazil’s televisions are made here and electronic goods are around a third cheaper here than in the south. All of this helps encourage domestic tourism – Manaus airport is crowded with Brazilians going home with their arms laden with TVs, hi-fis, computers and fax machines. The City It’s not hard to get used to the layout of the city, and most things of interest huddle close to the water. From the floating port where the big ships dock, riverboat wharves extend round past the market, from one end of Rua dos Andradas to the other. The busiest commercial streets are immediately behind, extending up to the Avenida Sete de Setembro, with the cathedral marking one end of the downtown district, the Praça da Polícia the other. Beyond Avenida Sete de Setembro, towards the Opera House, it’s a bit calmer, with more offices and fewer shops. The busy Praça da Matriz by the cathedral is the main hub of city communications, with buses to local points around the city and suburbs; another good connection point for city buses and taxis is the east side of Avenida Getúlio Vargas just north of Avenida Sete de Setembro.

The town on the three rivers – the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz – got its name from the Roman fort of Batavis. After 739 AD Passau grew to become the biggest bishopric on the Danube, its domain extending all the way to Hungary. After the great fire of 1662 the prince bishops rebuilt the town in the Baroque style. One of the highlights of the Old Town is the beautiful Cathedral of St Stephan, which boasts the biggest church organ in the world. High up above the town and the rivers stand the Veste Oberhaus Castle and the Maria Hilf Abbey, both of which are also well worth a visit.

Few cities can offer so many stunning attractions and intriguing moods as St. Petersburg - City of the Tsars. From the vibrant colours of spring, through the sunny summer days and endless twilights of the famous White Nights, the brilliant golden sun of autumn, and into the crisp and brittle brightness of a St. Petersburg winter, the City casts its own unique spell over visitors. Created by Peter the Great in 1 703 to be his "window on Europe", St Petersburg combines its fascinating Russian heritage with a distinctly European outlook. Considered the cultural heart of modern day Russia, St. Petersburg is rapidly regaining its reputation as one of the Great Cities of Europe. Within easy reach of the capitals of Europe and Scandinavia St Petersburg now offers visitors luxury accomodation, expert destination management companies and international travel services.