historical topics

Geneva is one of Switzerland’s most populous cities and it’s also one of its most visited when it comes to the tourist industry. The city has so much to offer tourists that it’s not hard to see why. From a mesmerising city life, packed with workers going about their day to day business and traversing some of the most architecturally stunning buildings, to an enigmatic night life where the city buzzes with energy like no other, Geneva is truly a city that has its all.

Known as a city of diplomacy, however, there is something about Geneva that attracts many tourists who are great fans of culture. Fortunately, this merely means they are never disappointed whilst on holiday, because there are a great deal of attractions catering specifically to this type of tourist. Geneva is packed with an impressive volume of museums, all of which offer various and differing collections that cater to all tastes. For example, the Natural History Museum takes visitors on a tour of the world’s trip through evolution, both in terms of species and culture, whereas the Archaeological Site of Saint Peter’s Cathedral is just that – a site of immense archaeological interest.

The Art and History Museum at Rue Charles-Galland 2 was designed to be an encyclopaedic museum, which takes visitors on a journey through Western culture from the very beginning of this fascinating culture to where it stands today. It contains items of archaeological interest, incredible examples of the fine arts and applied arts – the latter of which includes things like furniture, textiles and armour.

If you’d like a museum trip that is a little more relaxed, head along to the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, to which a fragrant visit is the ideal way to spend a warm afternoon. Geneva’s extensive botanical gardens is a mesmerising sight, with huge stretches of land spreading out and offering thousands upon thousands of different species of plants, trees and shrubs, letting garden fans get their fill of horticulture and other visitors simply getting the opportunity to enjoy sights of immense beauty. Within the gardens is a conservatory that visitors can enter to view some of its 220,000 strong book library, as well as a herbarium, with more 5.5 million samples, which visitors can enter by appointment.

You’ll undoubtedly want to visit many of Geneva’s fantastic museums once you step off your Geneva flights – just make sure you find a way to plan them all in!

Your London hotel is near a famous museum. It’s almost guaranteed, because London is home to scores of famous museums in a city that is renowned for its history and museums here contain many of the world’s incredible artifacts. They’ve made amends and returned many priceless antiquities to their countries of origin, but London museums are still known the world over for their incredible collections and exhibits. So it is only natural that visitors want to stay close to the array of museums that dot the London landscape. With the help of the Internet, visitors can even coordinate their hotel choice with their museum choices.

Attractions range from Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum to the lofty British Museum, home of the famed Egyptian Hall and some amazing European sculptors. For a more personal glimpse into the past, a visitor could try the Florence Nightingale Museum, Freud Museum, Sherlock Holmes Museum, or Jack the Ripper Walk, which traces the killer’s deadly footsteps. The Victoria and Albert Museum is the jewel of the South Kensington area, which hosts a number of attractions and fine hotels. History buffs will treasure the National Army Museum, National Maritime Museum, and Natural History Museum.

If you like spooky old prisons, you’ve got the Clink Prison Museum, the Tower of London, and the London Dungeon to explore. The art connoisseur will certainly appreciate the Tate Britain Gallery, Tate Modern Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the National Gallery. The Design Museum, Clockmaker’s Museum, London Toy and Model Museum, and Bramah Museum of Tea and Coffee cater to specialized tastes.

Whatever your preference, there’s a first-class London hotel within easy walking distance and numerous tube stations to get a visitor to more distant locations. New booking sites on the Internet allow you to search for a London hotel by neighborhood and proximity to various attractions. A helpful website offers maps, tube station locations, photos, and sightseeing tips to make the most of a trip to London without scouring guidebooks for information. Prices and rankings are important criteria, too, but there’s nothing like the convenience of choosing a hotel by location. Your lodging is important, because it becomes a sanctuary for dinner and respite after a long day of exploring the past. In fact, many London hotels are virtual museums all by themselves, offering a glimpse into Victorian and Elizabethan England.

Don’t stay too long in that lovely hotel room, because London nightlife beckons. Combine a trip to the West End theater district with a stop at the Theatre Museum near Covent Garden. The possibilities are endless, but your stay in London isn’t. So choose a London hotel that allows you to make the most of your time, and keep track of the places you don’t visit for your return trip.

Some of the world’s most spectacular diamonds and other gems are located in the National Gem Collection in the Museum of Natural History in Smithsonian Collection in Washington, D.C.  In the collection are diamonds known to almost everyone, such as the Hope Diamond, as well as other large diamonds and other precious gems and jewelry.

In the National Gem Collection are examples of spectacular minerals and crystals, as well gemstones and jewelry. You can see a beautiful purple quartz amethyst crystal, or the mineral azurite, which is a bright blue copper compound mineral. You can also see a huge green beryl crystal. Beryls are the mineral family that include emeralds, aquamarines, heliodor and morganite. It’s almost as exciting to see the raw crystal as it is to see the finished product when it’s been cut and polished.

Some of the finished pieces in the Smithsonian Collection include the crown Napoleon used for the second Empress, Marie Louise. It originally was made of 700 carats in diamonds and 79 emeralds. The emeralds have been replaced with Persian turquoise cabochons.

You can also see the 182-carat Star of Bombay star sapphire that was given to Mary Pickford by Douglas Fairbanks and a brilliantly colored black opal. Black opals are the most valuable of the opal family of gems.

There are also extraordinary examples of quartz crystals, including a 7,000 faceted clear quartz egg! Part of the Smithsonian’s collection includes pieces of jade and turquoise used in other cultures. This includes a collection of Zuni Indian turquoise jewelry and jade lanterns carved from nephrite for the Chinese emperor Chi’en Lung in 1750. A more modern piece is the Dragon Vase, carved from a rare piece of lavender jade.

But of course, the most dazzling items in the collection are the individual gemstones and jewelry that have been owned by royalty through the centuries.