Those who follow my blog long enough probably know how obsessed I am with trains in general, and with subways in particular. I strongly believe that the best way to learn about a new city and its people is to take a subway. And that's without mentioning a direct benefit of using trains to navigate in urban areas. But for cities like Paris, taking a train is a necessity unless you stay within a walking distance from its main attractions downtown. A term "métro" or "métropolitain" which became a synonym for underground urban railways around the world, has originated in Paris from the name of its founding company La Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris.

American southwest is plentiful of natural wonders and perhaps the most diverse place on Earth in geological features such as mountains, volcanos, canyons, badlands, arches, mesas, butts and so forth. Last year's spontaneous trip to Colorado, New Mexico and Utah was my forth trip to the area after Texas, Arizona and California, and I can tell you that you can make hundred trips to the American southwest and still find new and unusual places that will awe you. But you have to be careful while planning your itinerary there, because it's easy to keep on visiting places that will look the same after a week or so. My approach is to always find a right balance between nature, urban areas, history and entertainment. The place I want to show you today is a natural phenomenon called hoodoo. And while you can find hoodoos in other places such as Alberta, these ones have a very unusual pencil like shape.

Cascais has it all - golden beaches, palm trees, big blue sky, rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean, charming architecture and the best Portuguese food. And, this was my favourite, very few people comparing to Lisbon and Sintra (I haven't visited the latter, but heard of its epic crowds). And you can easily reach it by train from downtown Lisbon in less then 50 minutes. Sounds attractive? Let's take a look.

If you felt tired of the hustle and bustle of Paris and its big crowds of tourists, you'll find a little bit of a relief in Montmartre. This neighbourhood, just north of the centre-ville, has been known as a place that many artists call home. Well, at least up until recently as it got really pricey these days and ordinary artists cannot afford living there any more. But regardless, you'll most likely find Montmartre charming and enjoy strolling its narrow cobble streets in search for Basilique du Sacré-Coeur that dominates the cityscape of Paris.

Show me a place on Earth where people would not have heard of the United States of America or would not have felt its influence. For good or bad, America is a such a strong superpower that only few countries dare to oppose politically, economically and militarily. Millions of people across the globe have been raised on American music and movies, and well over half of the world's population use technologies originating from the US on a daily basis. But America hasn't always been like that. In fact, it was very different from what it is today before Columbus officially "opened" it in 1492. Luckily, there are still some places in the US that can give us a glimpse of what it looked like in the old days. One of them is Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in northern New Mexico. 

We saw four out of five planned on our day trip from Paris. The reason we didn't see the firth one is because the forth one with its garden and adjacent forest turned out to be so beautiful and serene, we didn't want to leave and stayed until the sunset. The valley, nestled at the Loire River and its tributaries, offers over 80 castles (châteaux in French), 42 of them make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site. When you'll be planning a similar trip to the valley, I bet your biggest challenge will be which ones you pick to see.

Among all the things I like about the United States, their national parks is my favourite one. I always enjoy visiting them no matter the season and the weather. Since the first national park was created in 1872, the goal has always been to provide recreational opportunities with the conservation coming after. As a result, most of the America's national parks are very accessible that often draws big crowds, especially at those parks near major highways and cities. It obviously seems appealing to me that tourism brings more profit to some areas than traditional mining of natural resources, but I believe there should be a better way to control crowds since most visitors to the national parks come see the nature, not other people. So I was really glad that Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, that I visited this past December, was still a hidden gem with fewer visitors come comparing to other "big boys" in the Southwest such as Grand Canyon, Zion and Arches.