Dramatic images from around the world

Cruise ships float on the Danube river in central Budapest, Hungary.

Visitors admire a model of Thailand's Wat Arun of Bangkok during a media preview of Legoland Malaysia at Nusajaya in the southern state of Johor. The 76-acre theme park opened on September 22. It is Asia's first Legoland park. 

 

Tourists descend the stairs of Santa Marija Tower on the Maltese island of Comino. Comino is the smallest of the three inhabited islands that make up the Maltese islands. The fortified Santa Marija Tower was built in 1620 to facilitate defence and communication between the larger islands of Malta and Gozo, according to local media.

A Kashmiri man rows a boat past fountains in the polluted waters of Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, India. The lake has been polluted during decades of neglect and a separatist revolt.

An aerial view of the Thames River in London from the air with the Shard and Tower Bridge in the foreground.

People visit the Spiral Minaret of the Great Mosque as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad on August 20, 2012. Also see: Holy Mosques of the World.

This aerial view shows the Seattle Great Wheel (bottom) and a Washington State ferry boat on the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle.

Tourists gather around the Magic Fountain of Montjuic during the music and light show on August 4 in Barcelona, Spain.

The four-masted Russian tall ship Kruzenshtern (R) is flanked by the French tall ship Bellem (C) as they enter the Bay of Douarnenez as part of an armada participating in the "Tonnerre de Brest" maritime festival in Finistere, Brittany, in western France.

Tourists ask a "tuk tuk" taxi driver for directions along Khao San Road in Bangkok.

People walk in a square near Kul Sharif (also known as Qol Sharif) mosque in Kazan. Kazan is the capital of Russia's mainly-Muslim Tatarstan region.

A paddle board rider surfs at sunset on New Year's Eve at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.