Monday, September 1, 2008

Theme Day: Sister Cities


Phoenix has a number of sister cities and I am embarrassed to say that as much traveling as I’ve done, I have only visited one of these places, Calgary and that visit was many years ago. I opted to post a picture of this sign post located just outside of the Phoenix “Historic City Hall”. You might recognize the new city hall in the background since I posted a picture of it just yesterday. Since I don’t have pictures from any of the sister cities, I thought I’d list them along with an interesting fact about each location.
  • Ennis Ireland: Every household in this small town is being equipped with and trained to use the latest computer hardware and internet connections making it the most technologically advanced city in Europe.
  • Calgary Canada: Calgary, the city that hosted the winter Olympics in 1988 was ranked by Mercer Quality of Living as the world’s cleanest city in 2007.
  • Catania Italy: Located on the east coast of Sicily, the city has been buried in lava from Mt. Etna a total seven times in recorded history.
  • Chengdu China: A city of 11 million, Chengdu suffered damage in the May 12th earthquake. It is considered the Panda Capital of the world.
  • Grenoble France: Located in the shadow of the Alps, Grenoble is now a major scientific center especially in the fields of physics, computer science and applied mathematics.
  • Hermosillo Mexico: At a mere 313 miles, Hermosillo is the closest sister city to Phoenix. Over 114 companies have plants in Hermosillo employing thousands of workers.
  • Himeji Japan: Himeji is home to Himeji Castle, considered Japan’s most spectacular castle and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • Prague Czech Republic: Prague is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world with preserved examples from all periods of history. It’s home to a Frank Gehry building called Dancing House that I would one day like to see.
  • Ramat-Gan Israel: This city borders on Tel Aviv and is home to the largest diamond exchange in the world encompassing 4 high-rise buildings connected by bridges.
  • Taipei Taiwan: Taipei is a major producer of high tech electronic components and is a creditor economy holding one of the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves.
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      9 comments:

      1. glendaSeptember 1, 2008 at 9:33 AM

        Thank you for info on Phx. sister cities. This would be great start for a geography lesson in Phx. if I were still teaching. I've visited two of these cities and like you was not aware of connection.

        ReplyDelete
      2. Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.comSeptember 1, 2008 at 9:53 AM

        That's a nice sign, but here is a nit-picky, cynical comment. In the name of sisterliness to the sister cities, don't you think the sign should give the distances to the sister cities in kilometers instead of just miles?

        And maybe the signs should be bilingual so that visitors from the sister cities will see the name of their city in their own language.

        ReplyDelete
      3. Jane Hards PhotographySeptember 1, 2008 at 12:27 PM

        I think you have done an excellent job here. The signs work perfectly with the info about each sister city.
        Very creative thinking, and eductaional.

        ReplyDelete
      4. Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.comSeptember 1, 2008 at 4:40 PM

        Sharon,
        You mentioned that Calgary was the site of the winter Olympics in 1988, but perhaps you forgot that Grenoble was the site of the winter Olympics in 1968. We would not want to offend the French by mentioning that fact about Calgary but not Grenoble, especially because the Olympics in Grenoble were the site of the triumph of French skier Jean Claude Killy.

        How ironic that there are two winter Olympics sites that are sister cities for Phoenix, a warm desert city where it is never winter.

        ReplyDelete
      5. JillySeptember 1, 2008 at 11:05 PM

        Lucky you to have this way of showing your sister cities. Very nice too. and what a lovely mix of cities.

        So glad you liked the Grafton shots. It's a magical place - as is all of Zion Nat. Park. I'll never forget it.

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      6. Gerald (SK14)September 2, 2008 at 12:33 AM

        It is amazing how little seems to be known locally about these sister/twinning relationships.

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      7. KateSeptember 2, 2008 at 6:03 AM

        I'm surprised that there are so many sister cities. I wonder if our own cities really do a lot after these cities are appointed? I see very little news re. St. Paul's sister cities in our local press.

        ReplyDelete
      8. angelaSeptember 2, 2008 at 7:14 AM

        This is a good approach and very educational too. I didn't know a lot of those facts..

        ReplyDelete
      9. Ming the MercilessSeptember 3, 2008 at 9:02 PM

        Great choice to represent the many sister cities of Phoenix, Az.

        ReplyDelete