Until quite recently I had no idea who or what was behind that name. Well, Saint Maur des Fosses is a city in France, not far from Paris, and it happens to be one of my hometown's four 'sister cities'.
poster with the emblem of the french city
.
maintenance guy on his vehicle
flowers- close up
Sister cities or Twin towns are bound by a formal agreement between the respective municipalities, to promote educational, cultural, touristic, commercial, and other ties - through all sorts of exchange activities focusing on mutual interests.
It appears the municipality of my hometown (Ramat-Hasharon), has signed such an agreement with two french cities (Dunkirk and Saint- Maur- des- Fosses), a german city (Georgsmarienhutte), and an american city (Tallahassee, the capital of Florida).
Usually, the "sisters" are supposed to be more or less in the same category as far as relevant characteristics are concerned, namely: geographical size, status (urban, rural), population statistics etc.. It's not a rule, but it makes things easier.
The whole concept of sister cities (conceived after the Second World War) sounds nice and beneficial to all sides. The exchange of knowledge and delegations, could open doors to everyone involved, and above all, foster friendship , respect, and understanding between people of different nations.
It should definitely be encouraged.
Does your city/village/region/state have any sister cities?
It should definitely be encouraged.
Does your city/village/region/state have any sister cities?
I know about this idea but i do not know which city is a twin city of Warsaw...
ReplyDeleteHi Ola,
ReplyDeleteWarshaw has some 27 sister cities according to Wikipedia. If you're curious about that, you can search Google and find out all about it.
I had a look on Google to see if our village has a sister village, but nothing came up. I shall ask an English speaking French neighbour for the correct translation of 'sister village' as my own translation didn't seem to work!
ReplyDeleteVera,
ReplyDeletePossibly, individual villages don't have a "sister", but the county town to which they belong , might have one or more "sisters".
Interesting post, DUTA. I thought my city had a sister city, but when I Googled it, nothing came up. I believe it did, at one time, but maybe not anymore? Thanks for sharing your pictures.
ReplyDeleteBica,
ReplyDeleteThe municipality of your city should make public her town-twinning arrangements, if she has any. As a resident and tax-payer you are entitled to information
on this matter.
sisters cities sound so nice.. my town and country doesn't seem to have that at all or maybe they do.. you got me interested in this topic and i sure will go explore about this!
ReplyDeletebbb,
ReplyDeleteIt is ,indeed, an interesting topic. Pity there's not enough transparency about it; perhaps that is so because it involves travel to another country and there might be officials that misuse this opportunity and don't want us to know about the delegations.
Thanks for your comment.
Such a beautiful little place to visit. I didn't see benches or anything so this is most likely just a place to drive by? I love the lamp posts in the background, the little arch above the lights is a nice detail.
ReplyDeleteThe town I live in is too small to have a sister city that I know of, but the city I work in does have several, Bucheon, South Korea; Cixi, China; Amritsar, India; Dawin, Australia; Minsk, Belarus; Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico and Wakayama, Japan. I never even knew this!
Hi Alicia,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is cute, but no benches, as it is only a small place to drive by from four adjacent inner roads.
The town you work in has seven "sisters"!! That's very nice.
Well, I will find out about Rockland and Camden Maine. This is interesting. Too bad the Sister city wasn't in Fort Lauderdale Nicer than Tallahassee, more fun.
ReplyDeleteThis happened after WW 11 a great idea. Wish we could do it with some countries.
La Petite Gallery,
ReplyDeleteDear Yvonne, I trust your knowledge of Fort Lauderdale and Tallahassee. To me, all my hometown's "sisters" are nice; pitty I haven't had the chance to visit any of them.
What fun doing such research! Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think we are twinned with Perth, Scotland!
Jennifer A. Jilks,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is rather interesting. And it all started from an unknown name displayed in a nice little square.
Hi Duta~ I loove that idea of sister cities! very cool! Our church has a sister church over in Sweden but no sister cities :)
ReplyDeleteHi Libbie,
ReplyDeleteSister churches - how nice! I suppose this kind of sisterhood is within the same religious denomination, that is a non-catholic church (protestant, anglican etc..), for example, cannot be sisters with a catholic church, and vice versa.
Thanks for stopping by.