Heartbreaking Pictures of Christ Church Earth Quake Aftermath

The ground trembled, walls came crumbling down and a massive chunk of ice from one of the biggest New Zealand glaciers drifted 120 miles in the second earthquake to hit Christchurch in five months. The devastating 6.3 magnitude quake killed at least 75 people and left thousands trapped under the collapsed buildings.

Beautiful Village in Holland with No Roads

I am ready to bet, you have never heard of this village before. Giethoorn is a place in Holland, where you will never find a single road, because all, I mean it all transportations are done by boats alone. Frankly speaking, just one look at the following pictures and you will understand – it looks damn beautiful!

This village has nothing in common with Venice or Saint-Petersburg, it is a country of its own, that offers stunning sceneries and adorable views. Giethoorn is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. Actually, the village consists of two parts and it is the old part of the village where there are no roads. Ouch, there are some cycling paths there.

All visitors are welcome to enjoy the beauty of sceneries while on a Whisper Boat (a special electric powered boat, which makes no noise). Most of these boats can transport up to 8 adults.

You can spend some time on the lakes and arrange a picnic while enjoy swimming, sailing or windsurfing.

The Unusual Tradition in Ukraine

Known as an ancient tradition, in central-European countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, Wet Monday appears to be very popular in Ukraine, as well. It takes place on the second day of Easter

Wet Monday started out, in Poland,as a pagan custom that symbolize cleansing, with the coming of Spring. When Christianity became the main religion, Wet Monday was adopted as a Christian ritual, related to cleansing souls of sins. The truth is people loved this tradition so much, they found a way to keep it, by associating it with religion.

The photos below were taken on Wet Monday, in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. They are copyright of Yurko Dyachyshyn.

On Wet Monday. boys and men armed with bottles and buckets of water, chase after girls and splash them from head to toe. According to the original custom, the most beautiful girl in a village would be the wettest, but nowadays, boys just splash any girl they see. At one point, the tradition got so out of hand that boys threw buckets of water, at girls, threw their car windows.

With the current water shortage the world is facing right now, some would say this is a terrible waste, but the boys with water bottles wouldn't dream of abandoning this ancient tradition. just look at those happy faces.