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| They arrived in the Imam Khomeini International Airport where George noticed the 747-200 from Iran Air and the Airbus 340 from Mahan Air. |
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| George visited the Hamadan Province and here he is enjoying the view from the hotel room. |
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| Having a sweet tooth George had an extra look on the desert menu. |
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| George likes gnomes. Probably because of the similar size. Gnomesville is outside a small town called Dardanup in the South West region. |
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| So, where did it all start? One story is that a group of Dardanup school children declared the intersection a hazard. While the council began constructing a roundabout to fix the problem, a single gnome was placed in close proximity by a local, as a quiet protest to the project going ahead. Soon after, other gnomes also rallied in objection and a community was borne. |
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| Name them, pose them, leave a message or a pun. The latter seems popular: "Gnome news is good new", "Gnoman Empire" and "Gnome sweet gnome". |
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| A story was told in the days of old of a village in the bush. On the side of a hill, with a creek running through and a bridge to join the two. A Gnome I once knew, told of a family or two who lived in this faraway place. They doubled and doubled and doubled until they called it Gnomesville. Fisher Family |
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| There are gnomes as far as you can see. Deep in the forrest. |
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| And right next to the creek. |
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Nové Město nad Metují is located in the north close to the Polish border. The name means "New City on the Metuje". The town was founded in 1501 round a rectangular square with a castle and a church of the Holy Trinity. |
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| Fáilte go hÉireann - Home of the famous Guinness. The Guinness brewery is still in Dublin and George wanted to visit it as one of the main attractions. |
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| There is a permanent exhibition, called the Guinness Storehouse, on the 250-year old Guinness brewery's history. You get to see how Guinness is made. |
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| At the very top floor of the building, it was possible to try the famous Guinness. George only enjoyed the fantastic view of the Dublin skyline. |
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| After the brewery George made it to the Temple Bar area that is famous for - well Guinness and and a lot of bars. The most famous one and the one that has named the whole area is The Temple Bar established in 1840. |
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| Inside the pubs there is live music and "Sweet Home Alabama" for some reason. |
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| George crossed the Ha'penny Bridge across the Liffey. The bridge's official name is the Liffey Bridge. Before the bridge there were seven ferries across the Liffey which flows through the centre of the city . The operator of the ferries was granted the right to extract a half penny toll from anyone crossing it. |
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| George also saw The Spire of Dublin, which is a 121.2 metres (398 ft) high, stainless steel, pin-like monument on O'Connell Street. The Soire of Dublin was built on the site of the former Nelson Pillar that was destroyed by a bomb planted by Irish republicans in March 1966. |
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| George met Molly Malone in Grafton Street. Molly Malone is the character in a popular song, set in Dublin, which has become some sort of unofficial anthem of the city. The song is telling a fictional tale of a beautiful fishmonger who worked in the streets of Dublin, and who died died young of a fever. |
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| Off Dame Street George saw Dublin Castle, a major Irish government complex, which until 1922 was the seat of British rule in Ireland. Most of the existing castle dates back to the 18th century. However the site served as the seat of English, then later British government of Ireland under the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541). The Record Tower is the sole surviving tower of the medieval castle dating from c.1228. |
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| In North Earl Street they met James Joyce. Who is considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce's fictional universe does not extend far beyond Dublin; Ulysses, one of his most famous works, is particularly set with precision in the streets and alleyways of Dublin. |
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| After having met James Joyce in the street George made it to No. 7 Eccles Street, the original front-door to Leopold Bloom’s home in Ulysses. It is on display in the yard at the back of the James Joyce Centre. |
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| George visited the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. With an overall height of 103 metres (338 ft), it is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. It is built on the site of the former world's largest outdoor swimming pool The Moscow Pool. In February 1990, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission from the Soviet Government to rebuild the cathedral and in 1994 the pool was demolished and the cathedral reconstruction commenced. |
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| In St. Petersburg George saw the cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church the Kazan Cathedral or Kazanskiy Kafedralniy Sobor, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. It is dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan, probably the most venerated icon in Russia. The construction was started in 1801 and took ten years to complete. The interior features numerous sculptures and icons created by the best Russian artists of the day and a wrought iron grille between the cathedral and a small square behind it is often cited as one of the finest. |
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| Here George is enjoying the view of the roof tops of St. Petersburg from his apartment. |
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| Elbląg is a medieval town and the focal point of the old part of the city is the St. Nicholas Cathedral, a 13th-century Gothic church, that was established in circa 1247, the church became Lutheran in 1573. It was damaged by fire in the late 18th century and suffered damage during the World War II. It was elevated to the status of cathedral in 1992. |
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| The centre of Elbląg has cobbled streets and a lot of medieval buildings. |
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| The centre piece is an old tram. Obviously George had to check it out. The history of the trams in Elbląg goes all the way back to 1895. Currently there are 5 lines with a total length of 32 km, and 74 trams. |
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| George went inside to get a closer look. |
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| There are quite a few statues in the city. |
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Parts of the old city wall can still be seen and in this photo George is watched by Julie.
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| In this photo you really see the sheer size of the vessel. The hull of the Triple-E is more like a U-shape compared to traditional container ships. An additional row of containers has been added to the Triple-E, giving it 23 rows across its width. |
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| They went to see the world's largest ship, The Triple-E Mærsk Majestic, that had anchored at the Langelinie quay in Copenhagen. |
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| The ship is massive. It sails between Asia and Europe. With a draft of 14.5 metres (48 ft), the Triple-Es will be too deep to use any port in the Americas or to cross the Panama Canal, but will be able to transit the Suez Canal when sailing between Europe and Asia. |
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| George walked the almost 400 metres from the bow. |
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| and all the way to the stern. These vessels reduce CO2 emissions by 50% per container moved, compared to industry average on the Asia-Europe trade. |
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| There is a fantastic view from the bridge, where you can see the rooftops of Copenhagen. The capacity of a Triple-E vessel, 18,000 TEU, will also be a new world record. 1 TEU (The twenty-foot equivalent unit) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity often used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals. |
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| George feeling at home with a fantastic prize! - George knows at least of one person who would love to win it. |
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| George on the edge... |
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| Here George is in the captain's seat. |
