Utopia by Design
© Benjamin Loyauté studio
Kosmos
Culture, travel, fashion and culinary delights: the Kosmos pages of Lufthansa Magazin bring you interesting and useful tidbits from around the world
Warts and all
In Phaya Thaen Public Park, about an hour’s flight from Bangkok, Phraya Khan Khak (The Toad King) towers above the Chi River. The statue represents the amphibian spirit that is said to forecast rain. Inside the giant toad there’s a museum on toads and Thai mythology.
© jiGGo/Alamy Stock Photo
Step this way
New Year’s resolutions? How about stair climbing instead of going to the gym? On these steps, you could break your personal record.
© Bente Schipp
Legendary ascent
The mother of all stair climbs is the Empire State Building Run-Up in New York featuring 1576 steps. The record time: 9.33 minutes.
Stairway to the stars
To get to the top of Adam’s Peak, Sri Lanka’s famous pilgrimage point, you have to climb about 5200 steps, some of them hewn into the naked rock. The best time to climb is on a clear winter’s night with a full moon.
Long way up
With 11 647 steps and an altitude gain of 1700 meters, the Niesenlauf up the Niesen Mountain in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland region is a run on the world’s longest staircase and the ultimate challenge for stair climbers.
© Cristóbal Schmal
Culture clash
If you thought winter was cold and depressing on the Arctic Circle, think again: These events will warm you through and through (and also warm your heart)
Low temps, high spirits
In Tromsø, Norway, winter blues are all but unkown. Why? Thanks to the excellent Tromsø International Film Festival (Jan. 13 to 19), for example.
Playing in the snow
2000 athletes attend the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse, Canada, where specifically Arctic disciplines include high kick, snowsnake, sledge jump and dog mushing (March 15 to 21).
Festival Fun
The heat won’t actually melt the snow this early in the year, but these sizzling festivals in Reykjavík, Iceland are not to be missed: the Dark Music Days take place January 25 to February 1 and the Winter Lights Festival is on February 6 to 9.
darkmusicdays.is
winterlightsfestival.is
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