Cheapflights.ca Seals This List With a Kiss

TORONTO--(Marketwire - Jan 22, 2013) -  Everyone enjoys a good love story. And, with every story of romance and passion, there's definitely a make-you-weak-in-the-knees kiss. Ahhh. With Valentine's Day quickly approaching on February 14^th, love is in the air at Cheapflights.ca, the online leader in finding and publishing travel deals. All the talk of love and passion inspired our travel experts to scour the globe in search of the Top 10 Iconic Kiss Locales. Whether depicted by actors or captured in a sculpture, painting or photo, these kisses and the stories behind them, some dating back hundreds of years, will awaken the butterflies in your stomach.

Below are the locations of five iconic kisses captured by photographers and shared with the world that made our list:

• Buckingham Palace, London, England -The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge: Prince William and Catherine Middleton sealed their nuptials with not one, but two smooches on the Buckingham Palace balcony in front of a group of more than 500,000 onlookers and millions of TV viewers. The kisses followed the couple's elaborate ceremony at Westminster Abbey. After a quick first kiss, the cheering crowd convinced the Prince to go in for a second (and longer) smooch. The only attendee who didn't seem impressed was three-year-old bridesmaid Grace van Cutsem, who frowned and covered her ears to block out the noise of the crowd. The balcony also served as the setting for an earlier royal post-wedding peck between Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981.
  
  
• Times Square, New York, NY - Victory-over-Japan Day kiss: This kiss amid the post-war daytime commotion of Times Square has stolen the hearts of hopeless romantics around the world. The true story behind the featured kissers -- Navy quartermaster George Mendonsa and dental assistant Greta Zimmer -- isn't exactly one of romance, but more of impulsive celebration. Yet, that doesn't seem to steal any thunder from this patriotic peck -- an image of all-American love that offered an extreme contrast to the violence of war. The kissers almost appear to press the pause button on the energy of the Big Apple. The photo was originally captured by Alfred Eisenstaedt on August 14, 1945 -- the day Japan surrendered, effectively ending World War II.
  
  
• Vancouver, Canada - Scott Jones and Alex Thomas, "The Kissing Couple" during the riots in Vancouver following the Stanley Cup finals: As the dust settled following the riots that took place in Vancouver after the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, a photo began circulating of Australian Scott Jones and his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas kissing in the street amid the chaos of the night. The kiss from Jones was meant to comfort a distraught Thomas after the pair got caught up in police activity as the city's streets were being cleared. Unbeknownst to Jones and Thomas, their intimate moment was captured on camera and almost immediately emerged as a moment of love against the backdrop of a tumultuous night in Vancouver.
  
  
• Pattaya, Thailand - Longest kiss ever recorded: If the length of a kiss is any indication of good love, then Nontawat Jaroegenasornsin and his partner Thanakorn Sittiamthong have something great. Last Valentine's Day, the couple executed the longest continuous kiss ever recorded at a competition in Pattaya, Thailand, breaking the previous Guinness World Record by more than four hours. The beachfront resort town would seem to be a perfect setting for romance, but this make-out marathon, which lasted for 50 hours, 25 minutes and one second, featured decidedly unromantic side-by-side, lips-still-locked bathroom breaks and meals (consumed via straw).
  
  
• Paris, France - Robert Doisneau, The Kiss by the Hotel de Ville: This 1950 photo of a couple kissing outside the Hotel de Ville in Paris has often stood out as the epitome of Parisian romance. Taken by French photographer Robert Doisneau, the image features Francoise Bornet and Jacques Carteaud locked in a casual, yet sensual kiss outside the hotel. Known for depicting everyday life in Paris in his photos, Doisneau has admitted to staging this particular kiss after seeing the couple's actual kiss moments beforehand, but Bornet maintains the emotion behind the kiss was real even if the photo was a reenactment. Ooh la la!
  
  

Rounding out the list are five locations featuring embraces brought to us by the imagination of film makers, writers and artists: Halona Cove, Oahu, Hawaii - Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity; Belvedere Palace Museum, Vienna, Austria - The Kiss by Gustav Klimt; The Rodin Museum, Paris, France - The Kiss by Rodin; Verona, Italy - Romeo and Juliet and Bowen, Queensland, Australia - Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in Australia. To read all the juicy details of Cheapflights.ca's Top 10 Iconic Kiss Locales, visit www.cheapflights.ca/travel/top-10-iconic-kiss-locales. 

About momondo Group
momondo Group is an online travel media and technology company that is driven by the belief that an open world is a better world. The group now serves travel search and inspiration to over 13 million visitors a month -- plus 6 million travel newsletter subscribers -- via its Cheapflights (www.cheapflights.ca) and momondo (www.momondo.com) brands.

Skygate began the sourcing of complex air-travel data in 1992, while Cheapflights pioneered the online comparison of flight deals for users in 1996 and momondo launched meta-search in the Nordic countries in 2006. 

The Group has offices in London, Copenhagen, Boston and Toronto, with a consumer base across 16 core international markets but users all over the world.

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