Picture Yourself There

Welcome to Picture Yourself There

Welcome to Picture Yourself There, a blog all about locations – from seaside walks to ancient houses, from luscious parks to beauty spots, every place you’ll find mentioned here is something special.

We spent several months searching the globe for the most fascinating, spectacular and just plain lovely locations, as well as the most interesting things to do when you get there. Search our archives to find the Big Brother House, the Verona Opera Festival, the Van Gogh Museum and even Sainsbury’s car park in Darwen (where you’ll find the World Gravy Wrestling Championships). Whether you find places that are curious, iconic, sublime, or ridiculous, you can be sure that all are both diverse and inspiring.

Apple launches iPhone in UK - 9 November

Without wishing to sound like an old codger, it seems like five minutes ago that mobile phones were the size of a shoebox, weighed as much as a small television set and had those awful monotone ringtone melodies. Well, thanks to contributors to the industry such as the Crazy Frog, the ringtones are no less irritating – but now mobiles can do just about everything except tile your bathroom for you. And perhaps the most anticipated mobile phone in history is set to launch in the UK on 9th November: yes, the iPhone is making its merry way across the pond, much to the delight of technophiles across the land.

With the best screen and internet browser you’re likely to find on a mobile, as well as a great camera and (of course) music functionality, Apple has gone and done it again. If you’re keen to head down and grab yourself this cracking gadget on 9th November, prepare to brave some queues…

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Museum of Broken Relationships

They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and at the Museum of Broken Relationships in East Berlin you’ll find supporting evidence of this from some pretty furious women. Take the axe, for example, that one woman used to smash up her ex-partner’s furniture, proudly displayed alongside the items she destroyed.

Not your traditional tribute to love, then. But the museum aims to channel the emotions ordinarily expressed when a relationship breaks down, and turn them into something creative. Love notes, engagement rings and even a wedding dress are on display. So you can either visit and appreciate the catharsis that can come from giving away such painful memoirs – or, you can go a think how lucky you (and your exes) are that you’re not quite so bonkers.

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World Vegan Day / Black Pudding Festival

Prepare to feel like a lesser person on November 1st, when World Vegan Day reminds you that you should really do something about your Big Mac habit and start eating a bit more healthily. Around the world, vegans will be celebrating their glowing complexions, slimline physiques and smug self-restraint.

However, they won’t exactly be thrilled to hear that a culinary creation has appeared on the BBC website that will wilt your curly kale. Black pudding flavoured ice-cream, a shameless extravagance of seemingly incompatible meat and dairy produce, has been unveiled in a daring Blackburn dairy by the adventurous master chef Tom Bridge.

The dish will be officially unveiled at the Black Pudding Festival - yes, really, and don’t bother asking where the lentil bar is. Feeling adventurous? Get the NavPix here…

Fireworks at Alexandra Palace

The Festivals come thick and fast this time of year – no sooner have you packed away the pumpkins that you’re handing out sparklers for the kids (having doused them with fireproofing spray, forced them to wear four pairs of gardening gloves and made sure a fire extinguisher is at hand). Prepare quite literally for fireworks as November 5th approaches, as the British remember the thwarted Gunpowder Plot.

It won’t be difficult to find somewhere locally where you can eat charred marshmallows and lose your foil-wrapped jacket potatoes in the coals. But if you fancy something truly explosive, it might be worth taking a trip to Alexandra Palace to see their fabulous fireworks display. One of the most popular in London, this is the perfect way to avoid standing in your back garden while the drizzle comes down and that sad little Catherine wheel from the newsagent fizzles pathetically out.

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Punkin Chunkin

Fans of The Office will remember a particularly cringeworthy episode in which, following a competitive and volatile pub quiz, the odious Chris Finch throws Tim’s shoe over a building. When Tim protests, he is challenged: ‘He’s thrown a shoe over a pub. What have you done?’

And so sums up the attitude of many to ‘throwing stuff’. And one competition has taken it to the next level – the World Championship Punkin Chunkin takes place between 2nd and 4th November, and will see competitors battling it out to see who can lob their orange ammo the furthest. However, this competition does not rely on man power alone. Click here for the official website, to see the cannons and catapults that have been constructed in the name of Chunkin. A perfect and potty way to get into the Halloween spirit.

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The Tomb of Dante's Muse, Florence

Halloween creeps stealthily ever closer, and while the faint-hearted among you prepare to sleep with the light on for one night only, those with an interest in the supernatural will be hoping for some communication with the spirit world. We at Picture Yourself There can barely watch The Munsters without getting a bit frightened, so we’ll be leaving the séances and the psychic stuff to Derren Brown, thank you very much.

However, in Italy, one spirit in particular has been getting a lot of attention from the world of the living lately. Beatrice Portinari, Dante’s 'emerald-eyed' muse, has received a great deal of mail from young, single women across the world imploring her to help them bewitch boys just as she enchanted her besotted writer. Her tomb in Florence is covered in notes – written in Italian, French, Spanish, English, even Japanese – from girls both joyful and desperate. Well, she probably offers better relationship advice than you’ll get from the local paper's agony aunt…

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Britain's Pride of Place

Okay, so England hasn’t really had much to celebrate lately. After fretting about whether they’ll actually qualify for the football world cup, they’ve had to see Jonny Wilkinson and his golden boot surrender the rugby title to the superior Springboks, as well as watching Formula 1 prodigy Lewis Hamilton miss out on the chance to win a top title in his debut season.

But this is still a green and pleasant land to be proud of and, thanks to the Government’s Connect To Your Council campaign, the English are indulging in a little national pride. The Pride of Place poll is asking residents to choose from ten beauty spots to find the one location in the country they love the most. Among the contenders are Silverstone racetrack and Peterborough Cathedral, but we particularly love Wigan Pier. Pretty and quaint, this Lancashire location is truly old school - you can even visit the Victorian schoolrooms, where lessons take place just as they did back in the day. And believe us, 'Miss, my dog ate my homework' just isn't going to cut it.

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MTV Europe Awards

What happened to the days of chirpy, bubblegum pop? One look at MTV’s Europe Music Awards, and you’ll see that Kylie and Jason this ain’t. If nominees are anything to go by, the industry seems to have taken a decidedly dark turn, with potential winners ranging from the outraged youth to the tortured genius.

Vying for the Best Band Award are the ever-angry Linkin Park, up against the ‘emo’-flavoured Fall Out Boy and the goth-lite My Chemical Romance. The talented but somehow shambolic Amy Winehouse surely deserves to scoop a few too. However, most depressing of all, Rihanna’s Umbrella is a contender for the Most Addictive Track…

The awards will take place in Munich, and you can cast your votes until 30th November through the official website. Get the NavPix here…

World's Biggest Liar competition, Cumbria

James A. Garfield once commented: ‘The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable’. Well, why bring yourself down? Enjoy some whopping porkies at the World’s Biggest Liar competition, which takes place every November at the Bridge Inn in Cumbria.

The competition commemorates Will Ritson, a 19th Century publican and resident of Wasdale in the English Lake District who could have made Baron Munchausen look like a trustworthy sort. Will regaled his customers with fantastical tales, including a story about how the turnips in the area were so large that they were frequently used as sheds for the local sheep.

The winner of the competition will not only be crowned official Master of the Universe, but will also win a trip to the moon and their own body weight in meat pies. See you tomorrow for more NavPix, when we’ll be blogging directly from Buckingham Palace after a spot of lunch with the Queen.

(For details about the competition, click here. Honest.)

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