Taj Mahal has retained the topmost position among places visited by foreign tourists in India. It also stands as the number 1 place to be visited not only by the commons, but also the VIPs. The marbled edifice of love that Shah Jahan built for his wife Mumtaz in the 15th century attracts nearly 2.5 million visitors every year.
Nearly 2 million Indians and 0.5 million foreign tourists visit this marbled edifice, which Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built for his beloved wife Mumtaz.
The second place most visited by Indian tourists is ‘Red Fort’ in Delhi, while 2, 59,000 foreign tourists have visited the ‘Agra Fort’ next to Taj Mahal. The ‘Kutb Minar’ follows a close 3rd place, where 19 lakh Indians and 2,49,000 foreigners have witnessed the towering structure in the Indian Capital city.
Mamallapuram in Tamilnadu, ‘Golconda Fort’ and ‘Charminar’ in Andhra Pradesh, Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh are other places where tourists visit in India.

Bridegroom accompanying the bride walking like a Cinderella with wedding bells ringing at the background is the usual scene of a wedding. But, one may find it interesting to hear continuous gun shots during wedding; and this happens at Turkey. A particular native sect in Turkey, whose majority populace has their representation in Turkey military rejoice the wedding amidst continuous salvos of gunshots and throwing of currency notes in air.

The shrine named after a Jewish Rabbi is a place of unique event, where two different sections in the world find harmony here. The Jews and the Muslims that represent Israel and Palestine respectively, and who are always at loggerheads with each other near the Gaza strip, celebrate their unity at this shrine.
During the festival that began on July 4 visitors prayed and feasted around the shrine named after the rabbi, who escaped a persecution bid in the 15th century and then lived in Safi, Morocco.
“There is only one god, you worship him sitting down and I while standing up”. These are the lines, which a group of half-Jewish and half- Muslim played including a song in French, Arabic and Hebrew. The great Rabbi of Morocco Aaron Monsenego prayed for the health of Morocco King Mohammed VI and his family.
Interestingly, Morocco hosts the Arab world’s only Jewish Museum, funds Jewish institutions and celebrates Judeo-Moroccan heritage. However, fear of living in an Arab state seems to have dwindled the population of Jews to as low as 4500 people.

When one of the Indian films carried out a scene with a song sequence showing hundreds of potbellied dancers having paintings on their belly, little we knew that the inspiration might have come from the annual festival in Japan.
The traditional dance saw hundreds of Japanese with artistic work on their stomach dancing on Shibekawa Street in Japan, which is an annual event that takes place in Japan.

Madame Tussauds wax museum in Berlin

Lively wax statues of celebrities adorn Madame Tussauds wax museum in world’s finest places like Las Vegas, New York, Amsterdam, Washington, Shanghai, Hongkong and London. Celebrities range from world’s famous politicians to Hollywood super idols. Any celebrity would be awe inspired to see his/her own statue, which is made out of wax with absolute vivacity.
The latest place in Europe to join the bandwagon of Madame Tussauds is Berlin. Of course, the start was not devoid of many controversies and as it would be anybody’s guess, Hitler was the subject. There are divided opinions about the wax statue of Hitler, where a section want it in the museum and some not for it. A German citizen went to the extent of damaging the statue’s head, which stirred a controversy and later he asked an apology for doing so.
Notwithstanding the events, Madame Tussauds deserves a visit in Berlin and if you have a visit of Berlin on the cards, why not you include it to have the fortune of seeing celebrities like Enrich Honecker, Boris Becker and Ottowan Bismarck, known … and others.

‘Honecker Bunker’ opened near Wandlitz, Berlin.

Finally with the additional efforts of Berlin Bunker Network, the ‘Honecker Bunker’ has been thrown open to the view of public and tourists. The three-storey complex built between 1978 and 1983 was built for Erich Honecker, who ruled the German Democratic Republic (GDR) for nearly two decades. Interestingly, Honecker is believed to have visited the Bunker only once, as he was believed to be frightened or shocked when he visited there.
History has it that the bunker at that time was surrounded by East German Spy Agency, Stasi. It had a fountain and shock absorbing rooms to safeguard leaders from detonations.
Tourists will have the opportunity to the 70 meter deep bunker below ground. There are 170 rooms in the submarine like tunnels in the ‘Honecker Bunker’ that was built in a forest 25 km near Wandlitz, north-east of Berlin.
Tourists please watch out! The bunker would remain open only for 3 months. Those interested make it a point to add it in your itinerary at the earliest.

Red Bull Air Race in England

The Red Bull Air Race sends shiver down the spines what with the best acrobats performing between towers; and somersaults and other feats, where pilots exhibited dare devilry recently. Pilot Kirby of England was selected the best in the recent Red Bull Race. Watch out for the next race at Hungary’s Budapest somewhere around August 20.

Sand statues at Blakenberge, Belgium

Sixty international artists, twenty tons of sand and a beautiful sea shore at Blankenberge, Belgium. What more would it require to have an excellent combination to provide a visual treat for tourists? Artists specialized in making sand statues proved their mettle, when they made sand exhibits of castles, princesses and witches from Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales. ‘Rapunzel’,’ Cinderella’ and ‘sleeping beauty’ were the famous characters that came to life at the touch of international sand sculptures at Blakenberge. Though the event is over, Global trotters may make a note of it. By the way, Blakenberge is situated at a distance equivalent to a 90 minute drive from Belgium’s capital Brussels – capital of Belgium.