In March 2013, the U.N. announced that an estimated 2.5 billion people don’t have access to working toilets, and pledged to halve this number by 2015.

However, for the 4.5 billion people who do have access, it’s a very different story. It’s been estimated that we spend over a year of our lives on the loo. With this in mind, we’ve investigated ten of the best loos with a view.

The London skyline, with its landmark structures and skyscrapers, is one of the most famous in the world. Iconic buildings like the Gherkin and Big Ben rise from the bustling streets, attracting tourists from around the globe. At 306 metres, architect Renzo Piano’s Shard is the tallest building of them all. The 68^th floor of this incredible structure boasts the most exhilarating toilet view in London. Visitors are treated to a breath-taking view of the sprawling metropolis, from a ceiling-to-floor window.

Here’s another loo with an impressive city view. Workers at the Commerzbank tower – the tallest building in Germany – can look out over the rooftops of Frankfurt in this lofty bathroom. The architect of the building clearly had a sense of humour, as the location of the toilet makes it look like users are urinating on the building of Dresdner bank, who were direct competitors when the Commerzbank tower was built. (Commerzbank has since acquired Dresdner, completing the transaction in 2009).

Chinese city Chongquing is home to ‘Foreigner Street’, a theme park devoted to international culture. The park features replica Egyptian pyramids, a smaller copy of Christ the Redeemer, and what is claimed to be the world’s largest public toilet. The sprawling bathroom contains 4 floors, and over 1000 toilets.  If they can take their eyes off the novelty-shaped urinals, the uppermost floor provides guests with a view over the park.

The NamibRand nature reserve is one of the biggest privately-owned nature reserves in Southern Africa. The park is home to a plethora of wildlife, including cheetahs, vultures and jackals. It’s also home to this unusual toilet, which looks out onto a vast, sandy plain.

Kenya’s Meru National Park was made famous by Born Free, the 1960 book and subsequent film about a couple’s efforts to release a lioness into the wild. A luxurious safari lodge, Elsa’s Kopje can be found within the park’s boundaries. Guests are invited to enjoy the facilities, including this incredible bathroom, which comes complete with stunning views over the African plains.

This photo was taken from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The first thing you notice is the stunning view. Look closely, and you’ll see the best loo-with-a-view in Africa – a long-drop toilet provided for visitors to Shira Camp. Situated on Kilimanjaro’s Shira Plateau, this toilet sits at a dizzying 3,847m above sea level.

Alcatraz was notoriously difficult to escape – authorities maintain that throughout the facility’s 29-year history, no prisoner ever successfully broke out. Part of the prison’s success was down to constant surveillance – carried out in part from lofty guard towers. One of the towers was equipped with a toilet, providing a 360° view of the surrounding San Francisco bay.

Going to the toilet on the slopes can often be a chilly and unpleasant experience. However, this stunning Alpine view, found in a mountainside bathroom in the Austrian SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser, makes up for the cold. The SkiWelt is Austria’s largest interconnected skiing region, with 279km of runs, 91 cable cars, and a series of breath-taking bathroom views.

Standard aeroplane toilets rarely feature windows. However, they’re slightly more common in business and first-class cabins. This luxurious loo, complete with faux-wood panelling and a porcelain sink, features on some Emirates flights. Not only does this toilet offer far more space than the cramped cubicle most flyers are used to, it also provides flyers with a sensational view of blue skies and drifting clouds.

Hikers are usually reduced to doing their business in the woods. However, park authorities at Montana’s Glacier National Park have thoughtfully provided this toilet for passing ramblers. With over 1,000,000 acres to explore, this loo-with-a-view could be hard to find. Those who are lucky enough to stumble upon it can use the facilities whilst gazing at the vast Agassiz Glacier.

 This article was written  by Ben Wosskow of LoveHomeSwap.com, a leading home swapping site boasting over 48,000 properties across over 150 countries.

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In this map I marked remains of Berlin Wall in the city and memorials. Please contact me if I missed something.

View Berlin Wall remnants in a larger map

You should plan full day if you want to visit all sites, museums and memorials on the route.

Start from the East Side, where East Side Gallery is located. Take a train or S-Bahn to Ostbahnhof station and you’ll find the wall a 100 meters from the station exit. It is longest continuous section of the wall stretches about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) long. Some wall paintings are the same I saw during my first visit, but some of them are new, so you can find something new even if you visited this part of the wall before.

At the end of this section cross Oberbaum Bridge and after short walk you’ll reach Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn station. Take a train to Kochstraße station (change from U1 to U6 line at Hallesches station). This is where you’ll find Checkpoint Charlie, Wall Museum –The Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (€12.50) and until end of 2013 you can visit Asisi Panorama (€10), which shows daily life in the Berlin divided by wall.

Take a short walk (~300 meters / 1000 ft) West on Zimmerstraße and you’ll reach about 200 meters of wall still standing. On other side of wall Topography of Terror museum is located. During Second World War Secret State Police Office was located on these grounds and you can visit different exhibitions with history of this place. Admission is free.

Take another S1 or S2 train at Potsdamer Platz to Nordbahnhof station. You can find some photos and history of the station, which was called “ghost station” during Wall period as none of trains were stopping there and was passed by Western trains traveling from one end of West Berlin to the other. Outside the station there is Berlin Wall Memorial with names who were killed during attempts to escape from East into West side of Berlin.

There is another small remains of the wall near Liesenstraße and Gartenstraße junction about one kilometer (0.6 miles) North  from Nordbahnhof station, but I didn’t visit that part and just took a look on Google Street view

Please share this post if you’ll find these directions helpful.

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It is still free of charge to visit Reichstag building, but rules were changed and you can’t go whenever you want. Most important thing – you need to book your visit in advance.  You can do it online or there is a kiosk just across the street (security will show it for you). You can do booking a year in advance, though I am not sure anybody planning such visits so in advance Keep in mind some days the dome can be closed for cleaning and maintenance work and don’t don’t trust information on their website which states:

Closures

The rooftop terrace and the dome are closed all day on 24 December and from 16.00 hrs onwards on 31 December. In addition, the dome will be closed to visitors from 12 to 16 March, from 9 to 13 July, from 23 to 27 July and from 8 to 12 October to allow cleaning and maintenance work to be carried out. The roof terrace can still be visited when the dome is closed.

But the dome is closed for cleaning right now – from 4 to 8 March, and I wasn’t able to visit dome today, though the view from roof terrace also very nice and it is worth a visit even if the dome is not accessible.

One more important thing – don’t forget to bring a valid identity card or passport or equivalent form of photo identification with at the day of you visit as it will be checked at security point.

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If ever a place deserved the ‘city of contrasts’ epithet, it has to be Berlin. Classical architecture mingles happily with ultra-modernist creations, while avant garde artists rub shoulders with opera stars. Though careless visitors can find the city costly, those who plan their trip to the German capital can make their money last.

Reichstag

The Reichstag building was constructed in 1894 to house the Reichstag – the parliament of the German Empire. The building fell into disrepair during World War Two, after which it was restored. Its most striking feature is now the glass dome at its apex, which provides visitors with a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape.

Brandenburg Gate

 A must-visit for anyone who is studying the German language in Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate is situated just west of the city centre and has become a symbol of German unity. The neoclassical triumphal arch is one of Germany’s most iconic landmarks and has acted as the stage for many significant events over the past two centuries.

Berlin Wall

Built in 1961 to separate West Berlin and East Berlin, the Berlin Wall served to stop East Germans fleeing to democratic West Germany during the post-World War Two period. The wall was removed in 1989, save for a one-mile stretch on Mühlenstraße in the suburb of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

Visitors are able to see first-hand the barrier that served to divide a city and ultimately create its unique modern dynamic.

Tiergarten

Originally a hunting ground in the 18th century, the Tiergarten is Berlin’s largest park and a place to unwind during the summer. For those hoping to learn a language, the gardens are a great to meet new people and practise a little German.

Potsdamer Platz

Built in 1995, Potsdamer Platz is a collection of modernist architecture housing everything from shopping centres to cinemas.

Walking tour

For those that like guided tours but resent paying for them, New Berlin offers a free daily three-and-a-half hour tour of the capital. The expert-led tours depart from outside of the Dunkin’ Donuts by the Zoologisher Garten and in front of the Starbucks by the Brandenburg Gate.

Museum Island

Museum Island is situated on the river Spree in the Mitte district of the city and is home to five internationally significant museums, as well as being a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Holocaust memorial

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe is a five-acre site filled with 2,700 tomb-like slabs of concrete arranged in a grid. Designed as a tribute to the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the memorial was created by architect Peter Eisenman.

Visitors can find more information about the holocaust at the information centre situated beneath the memorial.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was originally built in the 1890s, but was badly damaged during bombing in 1943. The tower has been preserved as a war memorial.

Hackescher Markt

Art lovers will enjoy the plethora of galleries and street art around Hackescher Markt – a square in the central Mitte locality of the city.

Berlin is a fascinating city for a short break, and also an excellent environment for learning to speak the German language. For more information about German courses, visit the ESL website.

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Auckland, New Zealand

Sydney, Australia

Taipei, Taiwan

Hong Kong

Singapoure

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Moscow, Russia

Berlin, Germany

London, UK

Toronto, Canada

Photo credit:  ekv8H, sydneynewyearseve.com, cfnews13.com, militaryphotos.net, channelnewsasia.com, cntraveler.com, emirates247.com, q8allinone.com, abc.net.au, thestar.com

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But now I knew I can do it and it just a question of time when I will be able to ride something bigger

You must try it too if you are visiting Australia and I encourage to hire trainer. Of course spending time in surfing camp it is the best option to learn it, but take at least couple hours lesson if you can’t go to camp. You can rent surf board and try it yourself, but it is good to have somebody on side who can show your mistakes.
Be prepared for lot of paddling at the beginning

then relax and stretch a little bit

watch whales passing by

and paddle paddle again

The most famous surfing beach in Australia is Bells Beach near Melbourne, but I wasn’t much excited about it as water is quite cold there and my preference were beaches around Sydney as I lived there or in Byron Bay during holidays (last three photos are from the trip to Byron Bay). I love that shallow beach in Byron Bay and you can just walk if you are tired of paddling.

You will also find some outstanding surfing in the city of Gold Coast and the surrounding area. Surfers Paradise is probably the best known beach in the region, but South Stradbroke Island, Broadbeach, Main Beach, and The Spit are extremely popular in their own right. Duranbah Beach is another world famous surfing beach that is close to Gold Coast, but it is actually just across the state line and is located in New South Wales.

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There are ten wooden panels which illustrates the history of transatlantic navigation and flight, demonstrating pioneer spirit, but it is hard to see it in this video as it was too dark.

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First time I saw this 10 years ago. At the time I have no idea about surfing at all. After I lived in Australia for couple years I wanted to see this place again.

You don’t to paddle out to the sea, you don’t need to wait for a wave, you don’t need to paddle again to catch that wave. Surfers know what I am talking about. May it is part of all surfing fun, but here you just put your board on the surface and jump on it. That’s it.  It looks so easy here.

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