Saturday, September 12, 2009

10 Most Beautiful Railway Stations of the World

But there are railway stations around the world that offer more than hot beverages and gloomy stationary stores. Here I have compiled some of the most beautiful railway stations of the world. I hope you will like it.

Union Station


Union Station in Los Angeles, California, which opened in May 1939, is known as the “Last of the Great Railway Stations” built in the United States.

Beijing West railway station


Beijing’s West Railway Station is located in western Beijing. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it is the largest railway station in Asia.

Grand Central Station


Grand Central Terminal is a terminal station at Manhattan in New York City. It is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms 44, with 67 tracks along them.

Wellington Station


Wellington Railway Station is the southern terminus of New Zealand’s North Island Main Trunk railway. In terms of number of services and in passenger numbers, it is New Zealand’s busiest railway station.

Shanghai Railway Station


Shanghai Railway Station is the main railway station in Shanghai. It is one of the top class railway stations in China. Its passenger traffic is heaviest at all railway stations in Shanghai.

Kuala Lumpur Railway Station


Kuala Lumpur Railway Station is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was completed in 1910 to replace an older station on the same site. The station is notable for its architecture, adopting a mixture of Eastern and Western designs.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof


It is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. Designed by the Hamburg architecture firm it began full operation in May 2006. The station serves an estimated 1,800 trains and 350,000 passengers per day.

Union Station Washington DC

Union Station is the grand ceremonial train station designed to be the entrance to Washington, D.C., when it opened in 1908. It is one of the busiest and best-known places in Washington, D.C., visited by 32 million people each year.

Gare du Nord, Paris


Gare du Nord offers connections with several urban transportation lines. By the number of travelers it is the busiest railway station in Europe and one of the busiest in the world.

Kiev Passenger Railway Station


Kiev Passenger Railway Station is Kiev’s main passenger railway station, serving more than 170,000 passengers per day. The station provides long-distance service including international, and a short-distance service to nearby regions.

10 Deadliest Water Creatures in the World

Stingrays

The spear, which stiffens when the stingray feels threatened, is serrated like a steak knife and packs venom that can be deadly to predators.

Moray Eels


Snake like body, protruding snout and wide jaws. These primitive creatures just look like death. They’re fish, by the way, and they can be up to 8 feet long.

Sea Lions

They’re considered cute, trainable and are major attractions at zoos, but have been known to bite people.

Crocodiles

Crocs have earned a reputation as one of the wild kingdom’s most ferocious predators. Relying on purely brute strength, they are capable of dragging down water buffaloes and have occasionally victimized humans.

Sea Snake

Sean snakes are related to cobras, so when it comes to venom, they know what they’re doing. Their bite paralyzes and kills prey in seconds.

Lionfish

Popular in home aquariums, these docile fish sport a striking fan of venomous spines. Although not fatal to humans, the spines deliver a painful sting that can cause headaches, vomiting, and respiratory distress.

Puffer fish

You don’t even have to be near water for this creature to kill you. The puffer fish, also known as a blowfish has venom stronger than cyanide.

Stonefish

It’s the most venomous fish in the world, and it’s a master of disguise, hiding in plain sight on the seafloor, looking like any other rock.

Tiger Shark

The great white shark gets all the attention. But reality is tiger sharks kill more people. Tiger sharks will eat anything: fish, seals, birds, squid, small sharks, dolphins. They can be up to 18 feet long and weigh a ton.

Box Jellyfish

These gelatinous creatures are flat-out deadly. Dozens of people die each year from the many species of box jellyfish that exist in all oceans.

10 Most Amazing Lakes in the World

Whether dotted with mineral accumulations, cascading down mountains or home to a rare breed of flamingo, each of these 10 lakes are definitely worth veering off course for. Here I have compiled some of the amazing lakes in the world.

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia


Sixteen cascading bodies of water called the Plitvice Lakes are divided into upper and lower basins by dams made of moss, algae and bacteria.

Laguna Colorada, Bolivia


Speckled with white borax isles, the Laguna Colorada is a shallow salt lake in southwest Bolivia. It is red in color due to sediments and pigmented algae.

Dead Sea, Jordan


This landlocked lake in Southwest Asia, which sits at the lowest dry-land elevation on the earth’s surface, is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean which makes it one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water.

Spotted Lake, Canada


In Osoyoos, British Columbia, there is a 38-acre natural phenomenon called Spotted Lake. It contains one of the world’s highest concentrations of minerals.

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia and Peru


Lake Titicaca boasts three major physical distinctions: It’s located on the border of Peru and Bolivia; it sits at the highest point above sea level of any lake in the world; and is, by volume, the largest lake in South America.

Pitch Lake, Trinidad


Pitch Lake, the biggest nature-made deposit of asphalt in the world, is located in La Brea, Trinidad. It attracts nearly 20,000 visitors a year,

Five-Flower Lake, China


Five-Flower Lake is the most awe-inspiring of all of its bodies of water in the region. Its vast color palette is caused by calcium carbonate as well as hydrophytes, which also leave the water crystal-clear.

Lake Nakuru, Kenya


Protected within the borders of Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya, Lake Nakuru boasts an abundance of blue-green algae, which attracts a myriad of pretty pink flamingos. Over 400 resident bird species, it still remains one of the greatest bird-watching spots on earth.

Kelimutu Crater Lakes, Indonesia


Atop a strato volcano in Flores it is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. Typically green, red, black or blue, colors are most apparent in the morning, as the sun shines on them from above.

Boiling Lake, Dominica


Bubbling with grayish-blue water, the Boiling Lake is located in National Park on the Caribbean island of Dominica. It is the second largest hot spring in the world.