tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25708416168417528912024-03-12T22:03:35.001-04:00Upper End TravelAdventures for the Spirited TravelerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-82012073841432059202016-09-03T15:56:00.002-04:002018-01-09T20:48:28.648-05:00Casa Kimberly offers Old Hollywood glamour in Puerto Vallarta
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<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: PrattRegular, Georgia, Palatino, 'Book Antiqua', 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 25px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.6px; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="There are echoes of Liz and Dick everywhere in the intimate hotel built atop the house Richard Burton gave to Elizabeth Taylor">
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BARBARA RAMSAY ORR</div>
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PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO — Special to The Globe and Mail</div>
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Published <time datetime="2016-09-01T13:09:09EDT" pubdate="" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thursday, Sep. 01, 2016 1:07PM EDT</time></div>
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Last updated <time class="updated" datetime="2016-09-01T13:09:09EDT" pubdate="" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thursday, Sep. 01, 2016 1:07PM EDT</time></div>
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Puerto Vallarta was a small Mexican fishing village until it became a Hollywood backdrop. When John Huston filmed <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The</i> <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Night of the Iguana</i> here in the sixties, big name stars such as Ava Gardner, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor came to stay, and the little village became a major tourist destination. Even now, despite the growth and the proliferation of holiday condos, PV retains the romance of the village it once was. In the heart of the old town, in the <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zona Romantica</i>, a visitor can find cobblestone streets, outdoor taco stands and busy local markets. And now there’s a new hotel that is an homage to passion and glamour: Casa Kimberly, an intimate nine-suite hotel built on the ruins of the house that Richard Burton bought as a birthday gift for Elizabeth Taylor.</div>
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Casa Kimberly, built atop the ruins of a house Richard Burton bought for Elizabeth Taylor, is a cross between old Hollywood glamour and sturdy Mexican comfort.</div>
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Casa Kimberly is snugged into the side of the mountain in the Zona Romantica, overlooking Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church and steps away from its sister property, the Hacienda San Angel. Guests can nip over to the San Angel for breakfast or a swim if they like. The hotel is a short walk from the beaches and the Malecon, where locals and visitors do their evening <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">paseo</i>. Nearby markets offer good shopping for local artisanal products, such as silver and turquoise jewellery and Mata Ortiz pottery.</div>
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The hotel's interior is stunning, with marble staircases and blue-and-white tiles.</div>
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Behind an anonymous exterior, the hotel is visually stunning, combining traditional Mexican design with antique oriental carpets and crystal chandeliers, a cross between old Hollywood glamour and sturdy Mexican comfort. There are marble staircases, blue-and-white tiles, and white carved statues of saints and <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">putti</i> in niches, and everywhere, echoes of Liz and Dick. I woke one morning to find a Hollywood star on the floor of my bedroom: Not the tipsy ghost of Richard Burton, but a sunny outline cast by the star-shaped window above the shower. An appropriate wake-up symbol as I was staying in the Velvet Suite, named after Liz’s role in <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">National Velvet,</i> where French doors open to a sun-washed terrace with views of the Sierre Madres, the terracotta roofs of the city and the blue water of Banderas Bay.</div>
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The Velvet Suite, named after Elizabeth Taylor's role in National Velvet, features French doors that open to a terrace with views of the Sierre Madres.</div>
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The largest and most opulent room is the Liz Taylor suite, occupying approximately the same space where Liz’s bedroom would have been. There’s a large sitting room/dressing room, with a heart-shaped tub like the one that Liz ordered – there was a breakdown in her communication and the tub is an anatomically correct heart shape, kind of Frida Khalo-like.</div>
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The Richard Burton suite.</div>
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In all the suites, white plaster walls, honey-coloured marble floors and gauzy drapes means there is little need to use the air conditioning. And the bridge that Burton built to discretely connect Liz’s casa to his – they were both married to other people at the time – is still there. It connects the main part of the hotel to the Richard Burton suite, two smaller suites, and the hotel pool.</div>
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The best time to eat at the hotel's Iguana Restaurant is at 6:30 p.m., when the sun is setting.</div>
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There’s a staggering choice of excellent places to eat in Puerto Vallarta, but it would be a shame to miss the hotel’s Iguana Restaurant. (Hint: Book a sunset table for 6:30 p.m.) I had a lobster taco that may have been one of the best things I have ever eaten in Mexico, a beet-and-tomato gazpacho with green-apple julienne, slow-simmered pork shank and, to finish, a silky chocolate mousse zinged with chilli. The wine list leans toward Mexican wines, which can be a gamble, but there are some good Chilean and Californian choices. There is also a tequila bar where guests can explore the intricacies of the country’s most famous tipple.</div>
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The bridge Richard Burton built to connect to Elizabeth Taylor’s casa now links the main hotel to the pool.</div>
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A selection of locally made chocolates by the bedside was both delicious and culturally appropriate, as chocolate has been popular in Mexico since the Aztecs.</div>
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I would have loved an espresso maker in the room. I’m an early riser, and ended up on the terrace at sunrise watching the light hit the roofs of the city. A good coffee would have been perfect.</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Casa Kimberly, Calle Zaragoza 445, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,</i> <a href="http://casakimberly.com/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="">casakimberly.com</a><i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">. 9 suites from $589, includes breakfast.</i></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-60113136083435176402016-06-01T14:05:00.003-04:002016-07-13T10:09:58.166-04:00La Cité du Vin, Bordeaux, France, Opens Its Doors To the Wine Lovers of the World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's Official! </h2>
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The World's First Wine Playground </h2>
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Opens to the Public </h2>
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June 1, </h2>
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in Bordeaux, France</h2>
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<b><a href="http://www.laciteduvin.com/en">La Cité du Vin</a> is a brilliant new facility, opened officially by French President Hollande on May 31, and opened to the public on June 1. It is a museum, a wine bar, a wine-rich restaurant, a multi-sensory wine experience, and a totally immersive journey into the culture and history of wine, from Man's first sip of fermented liquid to the latest trends in winemaking, from all areas of the globe. It's ambitious in reach and completely and delightfully entertaining. whether you are a wine connoiseur or an infrequent sipper.</b></div>
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<b>Situated on the left side of the Garonne River, in the Bacalan district of Bordeaux, this architecturally dramatic building is more than a shrine to wine. It is designed to be an immersive journey, an entertaining 'degustation' of wine history and its place in our culture. There are twenty two different modules, all interactive and controlled by hand held devices that give the visitor the ability to activate the many layers of sound, sight and even smell that each module can present.</b></div>
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<b> Open headsets, with output available in eight different languages, allow attention to the presentation, as well as permitting the wearer to still hear ambient conversation.</b></div>
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<b>When I toured the facility, the workers were in countdown mode, almost done but finishing the last jobs to prepare for the French president's visit and the grand opening. And while all the details were not completely finished, it was obvious that this museum would not be a solemn or solely academic place of meditation on wine. Rather it is a living and energetic exploration, with opportunities to engage, to experiment, to taste and enjoy and, in the best way possible, to learn.</b></div>
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<b>The restaurant on the seventh floor is a soothing and calm place to dine, with a rotating array of wine choices, and with one of the best views of the city of Bordeaux.</b></div>
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<b> The Belvedere, on the top floor, will be the place where visitors can choose a glass, from twenty different wines, that is included in their ticket price, and enjoy the wine while drinking in the 360 degree view of the city, the river and the surrounding area.</b></div>
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<b>There is also a wine bar and more casual eating area on the main floor, as well as a 60,000 bottle wine store and a centre where visitors can plan and book a tour of wine country. The terraces outside lead down to the river, and boats will take visitors on tours of wine chateaus that are close to the river.</b></div>
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<b>The state of the art tasting rooms can be booked by groups, or individuals can join scheduled group tastings in one of the three tasting rooms. A library and reading room, the Thomas Jefferson Auditorium and an exhibition gallery are also part of the experience and will present wine culture from many angles</b>.<br />
<b>If you love wine, are interested in the history of wine in world culture, or if you just enjoy a an entertaining culinary experience</b>,<b> </b><b><a href="http://www.laciteduvin.com/en">La Cité du Vin</a> is your kind of venue.</b><br />
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<b>Entrance fees for La Cite du Vin are 20 euros pp, and include the hand helds and headsets, as well as one glass of wine in the Belvedere. Tickets can be booked in advance online. <a href="http://www.laciteduvin.com/en">http://www.laciteduvin.com/en</a></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-34224463640908351942015-04-21T13:05:00.002-04:002015-04-21T13:05:54.475-04:00Walk Through The Gardens With Royalty In Brussels, starting April 24.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><span style="color: #38761d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Royal Greenhouses at Laeken: </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A Regal Spring Tonic in Brussels</span></b></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cw1WHI4AjdY/VTZ1symff-I/AAAAAAABd9Q/JyA1i-5siao/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cw1WHI4AjdY/VTZ1symff-I/AAAAAAABd9Q/JyA1i-5siao/s1600/3.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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Frank Lloyd Wright had a clear concept of how visitors should enter the
spaces he had designed. He liked to keep the entrance hall low and dark
and confined so that when you stepped out into the main room, the high
ceiling space would come as a powerful perceptual shock, an enlargement
that would cause the observer to stop and truly absorb the new space.<br />
This has only tangentially to do with the travel experience I am going
to tell you about, but it illustrates the way I came to it, and how it
came to me.<br />
I entered Brussels through a Frank Lloyd Wright hallway.<br />
Arriving on the Eurostar after midnight, I walked through dark streets
in a chilly rain. My hotel was a mere four blocks from the station, and I
have an aversion to taxis - something about sitting in the back of a
car being driven by a stranger has always creeped me out. So I was one
of the only people on the rain slicked narrow street that led to the
small square and my hotel, The Dominican. The lobby was dimly lit, the
staff spoke in hushed tones and just on the periphery of sound was the
somnolent chanting of monks. I was too preoccupied to take note.<br />
The next morning I fussed about catching the right bus, changing to the
correct line, and getting off at the designated stop. I shouldn't have
worried. The driver remembered my fractured French request to notify me
when to get off and most of the passengers were going to the same place.
I grabbed my camera, hugged my notebook to my chest and hurried after
the crowd, intensely aware that my time was limited.<br />
I stopped at the gilded gates to the Royal Gardens and that was the FLW
moment. The surrounding neighbourhood fell away, and the rest of the
crowd continued on through the gates, but I was halted in my tracks.<br />
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In front of me perfectly groomed lawns unrolled downhill, bordered by
flowering trees. Under an immense blue sky, the glass cupolas of the
greenhouses winked in the sun. Smells of damp earth, cut grass and
camellias saturated the air. The transition from cramped and tight and
dark, to large and open and light forced me to be totally present.<br />
"Look,smell, touch, take this all in," a voice told me, " Be fully
present in this moment." Maybe it was FLW, the engineer of such
experiences whispering in my ear, or maybe it was Alphonse Balat, the
architect who designed the greenhouses.<br />
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So perhaps the connection to FLW isn't so far off after all. The Royal
Greenhouses of Laeken, in the north section of Brussels, which I was
about to experience, were designed by the architect Balat, the mentor of
Victor Horta, the Belgian architect who is considered the father of
European Art Nouveau design.<br />
The greenhouses were commissioned by Leopold 11- evidence that even bad
men can do good things- in 1873 and were to be "palaces of glass." The
eleven structures that Balat created are to this day the finest example
of glass and iron architecture in the world. And these are not your
garden variety greenhouses- the cupola of the Winter Garden greenhouse
soars high enough to allow a jungle of fully grown palm trees to exist
comfortably beneath its glass curves. There are colonnaded walkways,
shaded arcades, graceful staircases, sculptural figures and miles of
flower-filled glass rooms.<br />
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Picture a mass of jungle ferns, densely packed and toned in more shades
of green than one can count, walls of camellias so perfect that only
their scent reveals their reality, ceilings hung with fuchsia,
glass-ceilinged rooms lined from floor to ceiling with geraniums,
cyclamen and lilies.<br />
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One surprise is the perfectly preserved studio where the Belgian Queen
Elisabeth painted , with her easel, painting supplies, and a carefully
placed chair next to a window with views of the exterior gardens.<br />
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These garden houses are royal delights, usually reserved only for the
pleasure of Belgian royalty, but for about three weeks a year, the
public is permitted to tour the fabulous flower- filled rooms. It's a
sensual experience that is well worth a special trip, all the more
precious because the window for experiencing it is open for such a short
time.<br />
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A walk through the Laeken greenhouses is a garden experience that feeds
something in the soul, and is particularly welcome after the winter most
Canadians have just endured. Do this if you possibly can.<br />
It's the real Spring tonic.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If You Go:</span><br />
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The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken are open to the public this
year from April 24 To May 14. Admission is $3.40 CAD (€2.50). I would
advise visiting early. I began my tour just as the gates opened at 9:30
in the morning, and the crowds were still light. By midday the place was
very busy. Also consider a night visit, when the greenhouses are
lighted and there's a whole different feel to the gardens. Tours are
self guided, although there are some French language guided tours.
There's no restaurant, but some small food outlets and a very limited
gift shop. This is not a commercialized attraction, but rather a
valuable but short-lived chance to see these fabulous greenhouses and
gardens at their best. Directions of how to get to the Royal Greenhouses
can be found on the website: Closed Mondays.<br />
<a href="http://www.belgiumtheplaceto.be/the_royal_greenhouses_of_laeken.php" target="_blank">http://www.belgiumtheplaceto.<wbr></wbr>be/the_royal_greenhouses_of_<wbr></wbr>laeken.php</a><br />
<br />
Where To Stay<br />
<br />
The Dominican<br />
Rue Léopold / Leopoldstraat 9<br />
1000 Brussels, Belgium<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thedominican.be/" target="_blank">www.thedominican.be</a><br />
This elegantly understated hotel, located in a former monastery, is a
short walk from the main train station and within easy reach of buses
that will take you anywhere you want to go in the city, including out to
the Greenhouses. Rooms from $190 CAD ( €140)<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-82215379967458589182014-11-20T14:06:00.003-05:002014-11-20T14:09:36.467-05:00Abu Dhabi – The Pearl Of The World <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The desert
has always been the perfect backdrop for romance-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lawrence
of Arabia</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The English Patient</i>,
all the way back to Valentino’s 1921 movie, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Sheik</i>, in which “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a charming Arabian
sheik becomes infatuated with an adventurous, modern-thinking Englishwoman and
abducts her to his home in the Saharan desert”</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
So it is not surprising that
Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte should run away to Abu
Dhabi and the deserts of the United
Arab Emirates when their New York lives threaten to become mundane,
in 2010’s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Sex in The City 2</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its nickname is ‘the pearl of the world’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
While Dubai
is the emirate that you hear most about, it is Abu Dhabi, with its more subdued profile,
which became the nominative setting for the adventures of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sex and the City girls.</i> The capital of
the emirate, also called Abu Dhabi,
has wide boulevards, larger than life architecture and immense wealth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And right on the doorstep of the city is the
immensity of the desert. Perfect backdrop for a blockbuster movie. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KdAX6iL23tg/VG47Vhd4UYI/AAAAAAABZ98/DG-JlDI-1fc/s1600/abu%2Bdhabi%2Bcultural-attractions-2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KdAX6iL23tg/VG47Vhd4UYI/AAAAAAABZ98/DG-JlDI-1fc/s1600/abu%2Bdhabi%2Bcultural-attractions-2014.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is a
city that confounds categorization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
one hand there are gleaming shopping centres, exclusive luxury hotels and
expensive yachts anchored in the harbours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a very wealthy city and it celebrates its abundance in daring
architecture, like the Emirates Telecommunications Company (Etisalat) Building
with its gigantic golf ball at the top or the pointy topped National Bank of Abu Dhabi building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw cars parked casually in front of hotels
that would make a car lover’s heart sing – and that you seldom see in the real
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shops team with gold jewellery,
and perfumeries prepare personal blends of signature aromas for their
customers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Abu Dhabi is also home to
the seven star Emirates Palace Hotel, the most expensive hotel ever built.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a fairy tale hotel, with marble halls,
gilded domes, and splashing fountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Suites open to balconies that look out on the Persian
Gulf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A private butler
greets you with chilled champagne and hands over his card with his cell phone
number, to be used “whenever there is a need.” Later in the evening, the bath
has been drawn, with fresh rose petals sprinkled on the towels, and more petals
beside the bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are 114 domes,
1002 chandeliers, 13 restaurants, and a vending machine that dispenses gold.
The ATM-style kiosk monitors the daily gold price and offers small bars up to
10 grams or coins with customized designs. It’s an experience tailor made for a
Carrie Bradshaw.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a hotel that is a destination
in itself, outrageously luxurious, and imbued throughout with the romantic
style of the Arabic world.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mWN6t6OPcls/VG47U4wLZeI/AAAAAAABZ9o/3SMvcAC6gV0/s1600/Abu%2BDhabi%2B01-Emirates-Palace-Exterior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mWN6t6OPcls/VG47U4wLZeI/AAAAAAABZ9o/3SMvcAC6gV0/s1600/Abu%2BDhabi%2B01-Emirates-Palace-Exterior.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But the
ancient world lives on in Abu Dhabi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is much reverence for the Bedouin life
style that existed in these parts up until oil became the driving force of the
economy in the early sixties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So you can
see ancient dhows still plying the waterways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the souks, piles of dates, heaps of carpets, handicrafts and spices
are offered in shops along narrow ally ways and at makeshift stalls and tables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Iranian Souk is one of the most authentic
souks in Abu Dhabi,
while the Al Meena Souk is the place to bargain for carpets. Go to the Madinat
Zayed Gold Souk for good buys on jewellery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the fish market, local fishermen display their catch like artwork. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
If you leave your window open,
you’ll hear the muezzin echo through the city, calling its citizens to prayer,
five times during the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my hotel
room, inside one of the drawers is a prayer rug and a compass.</div>
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There is a concerted effort to
preserve the Arabic style in architecture, furnishings, and cuisine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While almost any international cuisine is
available, every corner has cafes and restaurants that offer the special foods
of the Middle East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A traditional meal will usually start with
mezzeh, a selection of tasty appetizers, often including tabbouleh, hummus and
falafel. Main courses include lamb infused with cardamom, saffron, turmeric and
thyme, and the meal will end with desserts made from dates, pistachios, and
honey, or muhalabiya, a milk pudding served with rose water and
pistachios.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before the meal, diners are
welcomed with dates and small cups of ghawah, the fragrant and sweet Arabic
coffee .And after the meal, there’s usually<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a hookah or ‘shisha’ to help you relax.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This exotic water pipe bubbles smoke through water, and can be spiced up
with flavours like lavender, vanilla, cherry, cinnamon, or orange. </div>
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The Anar Restaurant in the
Emirates Palace Hotel does elegant Persian food, while the Abdel Wahab, near
the Grand Mosque serves a simpler take on Emirati and Lebanese dishes.</div>
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While most restaurants,
particularly those in the large hotels, serve alcohol, many will not serve
alcoholic drinks before sundown during Ramadan, the month long Islamic holiday
that requires fasting from sun-up to sun down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This year Ramadan runs from early August to early September</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the
surprising facts about Abu Dhabi
is that less than 20 percent of the population are UAE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bulk of the population is made up of
expatriates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means that the
atmosphere of the city is more cosmopolitan and more liberal than one would
expect in a predominantly Muslim country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While it is good manners to respect the conservative mode of dress of
the city, most forms of dress are seen on the streets with no problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within hotels and resorts, there are no dress
restrictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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One of the startling contrasts I
witnesses was on the beach in front of the Rotana Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a lounge chair, a woman relaxed in the
shade, dressed in a black abaya that covered her completely from head to toe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the adjacent lounge, another woman sunned
in a tiny bikini.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither one seemed to
be bothered by the other.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gekh-AIX_1k/VG47U2DE8jI/AAAAAAABZ9s/WQ3gKaFWOzE/s1600/Abu%2BDhabi%2B-01-Al-Ain-Rotana-Exterior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gekh-AIX_1k/VG47U2DE8jI/AAAAAAABZ9s/WQ3gKaFWOzE/s1600/Abu%2BDhabi%2B-01-Al-Ain-Rotana-Exterior.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a city of beaches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Abu
Dhabi is actually a T-shaped island, connected by
bridges to other islands and to the mainland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are over 400 kilometres of coastline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Corniche, the elegant walking path in the
centre of the city, is a favourite place for walking, jogging or biking, and is
lined with cafes and shops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A white sand
beach stretches for 2 kilometres along its length, and there are landscaped
parks and picnic grounds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Day trips
from the city into the desert give visitors the chance to experience the
nomadic life of the Bedouins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can visit
the large camel market at Al Ain, where white robed locals barter for the best
camels, and you can see every size, from babies to full grown, of this ancient
‘ship of the desert’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can ride a
camel through the dunes, sleep in a Bedouin tent and dine under the stars in an
encampment. A popular activity is dune bashing, or wadi bashing, where
practised drivers take you on hair-raising races through the desert, sliding
down the sides of one dune and skidding up the next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can even surf the sand dunes, or play
golf on sand links, with a portable circle of grass that you tee off from.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If you tire
of the sand, Al Ain, 150 kilometres from Abu
Dhabi, is the ‘garden city of the Gulf’, an oasis in
the sand and the home of the Royal family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a much more rural city, with a National
Museum, the Hili Archaeological
Park and surprisingly, an
Olympic sized ice skating rink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>me of
the best scuba diving in the world is to be found in the clear waters of the Persian Gulf.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is one
of the safest and most cosmopolitan cities in the UAE, and I felt very</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
comfortable here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most people speak English and there is a casual acceptance of western
ways, while the life style and history of the desert region has been both
preserved and celebrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Abu Dhabi is the perfect city to begin an exploration of
the Middle East.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Travel Information</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The United Arab Emirates
is a federation of seven Arab emirates, with Abu Dhabi being the largest, and the
capital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also has the largest oil
reserves.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Canadians do not require a visa to visit Abu Dhabi.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Etihad Airways has three direct flights a week from Toronto to Abu
Dhabi.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.etihadairways.com/">www.etihadairways.com</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Where to Stay:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.emiratespalace.com/">www.emiratespalace.com</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.rotana.com/">www.rotana.com</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">General Information:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.visitabudhabi.ae/">www.visitabudhabi.ae</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.abudhabitourism.ae/">www.abudhabitourism.ae</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
© Barbara Ramsay Orr</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-28391550996129218752014-11-19T13:10:00.000-05:002014-11-19T13:10:11.844-05:00The Hague: The Widow of Indonesia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Dutch Royal City</span></h2>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Hague is often called The Widow of
Indonesia as many of the </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>plantation owners and employees of the Dutch
East
India Company </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>came from here and returned to here. The exotic flavours
they brought back </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>show up in almost evey corner of this elegant Dutch
city.</i></span></div>
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Morning sun streams in through large windows, bouncing off
white linen and silver, and making the red velvet chairs glow. In one corner,
men in conservative business suits and crisp white shirts sit drinking their
morning coffee and consulting their iPhones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s eight am on Monday morning in the <a href="http://www.desindes.nl/">Hotel des Indes</a>, the
favoured headquarters for lawyers, politicians and diplomats who conduct
business in The Hague.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And since this is the Royal City,
home of the World Court
and the Dutch parliament, there is much serious business to be done.</div>
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There’s a problem, though.</div>
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Step outside the revolving brass doors of Hotel des Indes,
and you face the seductive charms of the Lange Voorhout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A corridor of green linden trees, a famous
bi-weekly outdoor antique market, little secret gardens, and casual sidewalk
cafes make thinking about business difficult.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ntg96ICyBN4/T7_ooIAMPsI/AAAAAAAAJvo/xi1-7l_-l6U/s1600/DSC03044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ntg96ICyBN4/T7_ooIAMPsI/AAAAAAAAJvo/xi1-7l_-l6U/s1600/DSC03044.JPG" height="300" width="320" /></a>Welcome to the vibrant dichotomy that is The
Hague, a city that has been labelled the greenest city in Northern Europe as well as the world centre for peace and
justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Its decisions affect the whole
world, and its Indonesian rijstaffel is world famous.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T9yKNWPBMFM/T7_oo6ZrTLI/AAAAAAAAJvw/zEGy0E-UaYo/s1600/DSC03059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T9yKNWPBMFM/T7_oo6ZrTLI/AAAAAAAAJvw/zEGy0E-UaYo/s1600/DSC03059.JPG" height="252" width="320" /></a>Somehow these competing elements manage to strike a balance
– the serious business of world issues and governance finds a comfortable fit
with the not so serious business of enjoying the simpler pleasures of life –
dining, shopping, lounging in the sun and people watching, in this, one of the
world’s most cosmopolitan cities.</div>
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First you have the unexpected juxtaposition of buildings in
the old city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The elegant town houses and
embassies that line the Lange Voorhout as it parades up to the 13<sup>th</sup>
century Binnenhof, the buildings that house the Dutch parliament, could be
illustrations in a textbook of classical architecture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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But raise your eyes above the Binnenhof and you’ll see the
modern skyline, where tall skyscrapers are multiplying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t feel like a disconnect,
however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are traditional canal
house design elements suggested in several shapes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In typical Dutch fashion, the locals have
given each building a nickname – the pristine white city hall designed by
Richard Meier is called “The Candy Box”, the green domed one is labelled “The
Citron Press” and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael Graves’
Castalia, the new Ministry of Health building, is deemed “The Tits of Den Haag” because of its two distinctive pointed towers. </div>
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But there are more layers to the architectural landscape of
the city. The Hague is the Art Nouveau capital
of the Netherlands.
Remember to look up often as you walk through the streets of Den Haag to see
the architectural details that have been preserved above shops and cafes. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Walk
away from the Binnenhof and find the Denneweg, then turn right along
Jagerstraat and left onto Smidwater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here
you’ll find #26, a faithful example of Art Nouveau architecture that is privately
owned and in the process of being restored to its former glory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mail slot is a very cool stylized cat. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">In
contrast, just across the canal is #16 Nieuwe Uitleg, where the exotic dancer
and suspected spy Mata Hari lived.</span></span> </div>
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<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;">The
Bijenkorf Department Store in the Grote Markt area is a fine example of The
Amsterdam School of architecture.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5_vCuyg_WDw/T7_omNnwHYI/AAAAAAABWfc/hsw90ayQdf4/s1600/DSC03027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5_vCuyg_WDw/T7_omNnwHYI/AAAAAAABWfc/hsw90ayQdf4/s1600/DSC03027.JPG" height="320" width="200" /></a>Radiating out from this sedate city heart are streets that
bend and twist, opening onto ‘pleins’, or squares, offering seductive shopping
and cafes that lure you to linger for a coffee and a stroopwaffel, the thin
waffle cookie with a thick syrup in the middle that the Dutch make so well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The shopping is good. Along Hoogestraat you’ll find Ogen,
Eduard Pelger, Dunklemens (famous for its croquettes), all up market Dutch
shops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If remarkable undergarments
interest you, be sure to visit Marlies Dekkers’ shop on the Denneweg to pick up
a unique and provocative ‘little nothing’. Amble by the interesting shops in
the grand glass roofed Passage, or swan around in the cafes and sops in the new
Haagshe Bluf (The Hague Boast!).</div>
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The Nooreinde is acknowledged to be the most fashionable
shopping street. The Maison de Bonneterie is an upscale department store that
is frequented by Queen Beatrix. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pauw, Purdey
and Hoogeweegen Rouwers are rumoured to be favourite shops of the young Dutch
royals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gallery Arte Fortunata features
artist Bas Meeuws whose photographs of floral still life, epoxy-sealed on metal,
are an homage to the golden age masterpieces of Bosschart and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>van Aelst.</div>
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And further along, on the Paleis promenade, cheek by jowl
with the shops and galleries, is the Paleis Noordeinde, Queen Beatrix’s working
palace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not open to the public,
but you can walk through the restful palace gardens on the opposite side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Farther out from the centre in the well treed neighbourhoods
that are home to many ambassadors, there’s the imposing bulk of the Peace Palace,
home of the International Court of Justice. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ztw-dqRfO60/T7_ot9wfeMI/AAAAAAAAJxA/KGx5J_5LmCU/s1600/DSC03135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ztw-dqRfO60/T7_ot9wfeMI/AAAAAAAAJxA/KGx5J_5LmCU/s1600/DSC03135.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a>If it wasn’t already difficult to concentrate on work in
this lively metropolis, there is the added allure of the beach. A fifteen
minute tram ride brings you to a whole new face of The Hague.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The beach culture at <span class="description">Scheveningen</span> lures
city dwellers out to swim in the North Sea,
walk the miles of white beaches and gentle dunes or to lounge in the sun on
plump sofas with a glass of cold beer in one of the many clubs along the
boardwalk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The candy-confection Kurhaus
Hotel sits like a Victorian lady in the middle of the boardwalk busyness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are evening fireworks shows over the pier
all summer.</div>
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Another compelling distraction is the museums of The Hague, the city’s real
treasures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Mauritshaus, labelled the
most beautiful museum in the world by the New York Times, is hands down my
favourite museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building has just re-opened after extensive renovations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a small museum, but
its collection, displayed in high ceilinged rooms painted in jewelbox colours,
is spectacular.<span class="description"> It contains some of the most famous
works from the old Dutch Masters, including Vermeer’s <i>Girl with a Pearl
Earring</i> and <i>View of Delft</i>, Rembrandt’s <i>The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.
Nicolaes Tulp</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Carel Fabritius’
<i>Goldfinch</i>. <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;"></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5erSMAnxAKU/T8OE9v9glcI/AAAAAAABWf4/8BcMROWFMvA/s1600/DSC03010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5erSMAnxAKU/T8OE9v9glcI/AAAAAAABWf4/8BcMROWFMvA/s1600/DSC03010.jpg" height="320" width="271" /></a></div>
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<span class="description">The Escher Museum,
housed in a former palace on the Lange Voorhout, the Museum Het Paleis, displays
the convoluted works of the famous Dutch Graphic artist. </span></div>
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<span class="description">The Gemeentemuseum (Municipal Museum) specializes in classical modern
art, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Monet, Sisley, Degas, Bacon and a large collection of
Mondrians. The building was designed by Hendrik Berlage, a Dutch architect who
pioneered modern archtiecure. </span></div>
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A visit to <span class="description">Panorama Mesdag, the
oldest 19th-century panorama in the world that's still in its original site, is
like a journey to the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a
cylindrical painting from 1881, created by Hendrik Willem Mesdag of The Hague School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It shows a vista of the sea and the dunes at Scheveningen. </span></div>
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<span class="description">These are all special museums,
beguiling to any art lover, and they add a cultured edge to the city.</span></div>
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There’s plenty of inducements to linger over dinner. You can
dine here very well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hague is often called The Widow of
Indonesia as many of the plantation owners and employees of the Dutch East
India Company came from here and returned to here.</div>
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Garoeda is one of many Indonesian restaurants specializing
in the Rijstaffel, or Rice Table, a dizzying collection of dishes served on a
bed of rice. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O2iuHDomls8/T7_ovy_MeBI/AAAAAAAAJxY/KOVhdJFzb7w/s1600/DSC03151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O2iuHDomls8/T7_ovy_MeBI/AAAAAAAAJxY/KOVhdJFzb7w/s1600/DSC03151.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">“The rijstaffel
is more Dutch than Indonesian in style,” says my guide Remco. “We don’t like to
waste anything, so the ladies who ran households on plantations wouldn’t throw
out the leftovers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead they had them
served in a collection, with rice, at the end of the week.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it’s a culinary tour de force of Indonesian
specialties, but it was originally the result of Dutch parsimony</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Reflecting the multicultural nature of its people, The Hague has many international
restaurants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wox is a new Japanese
fusion restaurant near the Hojviver, the pond that surrounds the parliament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can watch Dutch parliamentarians coming
and going from its windows.</div>
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Saur is one of the best fish restaurants in the city, while
Taste is a wine bar with an outdoor patio that looks out to the hojviver and
the Mauritsthaus. T’Ogenblik is a sweet café that was recently voted the
restaurant with the best service in the Netherlands.</div>
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Cafes like <a href="http://www.itrainsfishes.nl/">It’s Raining Fishes</a> and Pulchri have hidden
garden patios for a quiet meal and there are quaint prooflocals like Djuiden on
…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to enjoy a chilled jenever, the Dutch
style gin, at the end of an evening.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Be sure
to stop at the Pizza Hut at the Noordeinde 140, not for the pizza but to look
at the interior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building dates from
1707, and the ceiling decoration and fireplace are original.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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And when work get too oppressive, locals can slip away to
sit in one of the 100 or so hidden hofjes, enclosed garden residences
originally built as almshouses to house the elderly poor, but now lovely
secluded garden apartments.</div>
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It may be difficult to stay focused on work in The Hague, but it is very
easy to enjoy the pleasures of this worldly city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Info:</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Getting There</b>:
Air Transat, Air Canada, fly
regularly to Schiphol
Airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Catch the train out of the airport and you
will be in The Hague
in about forty minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are frequent
trains each hour. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Getting Around:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an easily walkable city but there is
also a convenient network of trams that will take you all through the city and
out to the Dunes.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Where to Stay</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hotel Des Indes</b></div>
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Lange Voorhout 54-56</div>
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<a href="http://www.desindes.nl/">www.desindes.nl</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-85948048262269863042014-09-08T12:51:00.000-04:002014-09-08T12:53:07.227-04:00Ireland, Green and Grand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Castles, Gardens and Rugged Coastline – Ireland’s Awesome Beauty</b></div>
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I have become a believer in the
‘luck of the Irish’. On a recent tour of the southwest of that green island, I
lost a twenty euro bill, and found it stuck inside my touring map. A random
choice of pubs for lunch in Glengarriff resulted in the best seafood chowder I
have ever enjoyed, and, against all odds, I snapped a photo of an Irish castle
that will forever be my tangible memory of Ireland.</div>
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I had been trying to get a good
photograph of historic Dromoland
Castle but every time I
reached for my camera, the sun disappeared and it would begin to rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not rain exactly, more like a light mist,
what the Irish call ‘soft’ weather.</div>
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So I had little hope as I headed
out in the fog to tour the grounds. An hour later, returning to the castle via
a curving path that wound around the famous golf course on the property, I
emerged from the trees at the exact moment that the sky cleared and the sun lit
up the castle. The light lasted only long enough for me to take a few pictures,
before the clouds descended again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
felt I had been in the right place at the right moment – Irish luck.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Even in the mist, Dromoland Castle
Hotel is dramatic. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
This five star property is a short 12
k from Shannon Airport and the perfect place to unwind
after a long flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also an ideal
starting point for a driving tour of the southwest of Ireland.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Driving the Irish roads is less
intimidating than it used to be – many roads have been widened, and there are modern
multi-lane highways that can get you where you want to go quickly and easily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
But in Ireland,
getting there is not the point, and the Ireland you want to experience
won’t be found along the freeways. You need to take the winding roads that lead
you along the coastline, through the mountains, and into the villages where
pubs lure you into stopping for a pint or two and lush gardens seduce you into
long walks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
On a drive along the Irish coast
this Spring, from Shannon to Cork
City, I followed the
quieter roads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With minimal planning and
some Irish luck, these roads took me to seaside towns that each possessed a
character and a story.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Knightstown, on Valentia Island,
partway along the Ring of Kerry, is a tidy little village that borders the
harbour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a summer holiday place,
with water sports, fishing and boating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is best known as the place where the Transatlantic Cable was completed.</div>
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You can take the ferry from
Knightstown to the Skellig
Islands, with Skellig
Michael the most captivating. Rocky and forbidding, this jagged island was home
at one time to a group of ascetic monks who craved the isolation and austerity
that the islands promised, for their spiritual health. The remains of their
monastery, abandoned in the 12<sup>th</sup> century, are a compelling and sobering
vision of the monastic life that would once have been lived here, but the climb
up rocky steps can be challenging, and the trip out to the islands can only be
made in good weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The island is a
Unesco World Heritage site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
After an island adventure, The
Moorings in Portmagee is the place to warm up by the fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can spend the night in a room with a
harbour view, enjoy great seafood and maybe spend a few hours in the Bridge Bar
with a glass or two of Guiness,listening to the locals make music. You could
even join in, if you know a song or can carry a tune.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Waterville is a small town further along the
coast that boasts one of the best golf courses in the country, - Tiger Woods
comes here to golf and fish, silent film star Charlie Chaplin lived here for
years, Barrack Obama has visited and Richard Nixon hid out in Waterville House
after his disgrace.</div>
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“Seventeen U.S. presidents have roots in Ireland,” my
Irish friend, Byron, tells me. </div>
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Kenmare is a serene town comprised
of quiet streets lined with colourful shops and cottages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black;">There is a stone
circle and a haunting fairy tree, under which unbaptised babies were
traditionally buried in the past. Visitors still leave little tokens tied
to the trees for luck, and to appease the fairies.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
“Be careful to speak quietly when
you are near the tree – the fairies don’t like to be disturbed, and they are
notoriously dangerous when they aren’t happy,” Byron warns me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
In the centre of town is the Park
Hotel Kenmare, whose grounds are a gardener’s delight, with green sloping lawns
leading down to the bay and paths lined with rhododendron and azalea. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
For an inland diversion, head out from
Kenmare through Moll’s Gap to Killarney
National Park, where you
can boat along the lakes and hike the McGillycuddy’s Reeks, or take a jaunting
car through the Gap of Dunloe.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
East along the coast from Kenmare is
Baltimore, where the town’s castle is worth a
tour, to hear the story of Barbary pirates who
raided the village in 1631. If you take the local ferry out to Sherkin Island , you can tour the ruins of a
Franciscan abbey, walk the island or visit one of the two pubs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
In Bantry
Bay, in the sheltered harbour of Glengarriff,
you’ll find Garinish
Island which is home to a
subtropical garden property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gardens
were designed by Harold Peto and are lushly beautiful in every season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I visited in Spring, the rhodos and
azaleas were in full bloom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
A few miles from the coast, in the
country near Skibbereen, is Liss Ard, another hotel gem with famous gardens.
This estate, a remarkable mash-up of classic country house design and
contemporary aesthetics, is known for its extensive gardens that occupy 150
acres around the hotel. The centrepiece of the gardens is James Turrell’s Sky
Garden Crater, a green experience that is both memorable and almost surreal. If
you descend the crater and lie on your back on the stone plinth in the centre,
your view of the sky and the grassy bowl of the crater’s sides is otherworldly,
especially at dawn or dusk.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I stopped in Kinsale to visit the
wine museum in Desmond Castle and to sample the seafood and then headed for
Shannagarry and Ballymaloe House. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
This lovely property near the end
of my drive is a quiet retreat, a country manor that feels like home - or how
home would feel if mommy were Lady Ballymaloe. </div>
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Each room in the hotel is
different and unpretentiously comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m in the Flower Room, with a view of the walled garden. The big draw
at Ballymaloe is the dining room, reknown for its cuisine and for its
dedication to local products and producers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hotel is run by Allen family. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just down the road is the Ballymaloe Cookery
School, run by more
Allens, cookbook author and chef Darina and her daughter Rachel. You can take
cooking classes, walk in the extensive grounds, enjoy peaceful hikes to the
coastal cliffs or plan a visit to the Jameson Distillery for a whisky tasting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
For a change of pace, spend a day
or two in Cork,
a bustling and prosperous city with its well known English Farmers Market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hayfield Manor Hotel is a serene pocket of
gardens and sophistication in the middle of the city, situated next to the
university where guests are welcome to walk through the quadrangle and enjoy
the campus. </div>
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</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Blarney Castle and the Titanic Museum
are nearby.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
And with a bit of Irish luck, you
will come back again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">If You Go</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
While you could depend on Irish
luck to help you find your way, the Irish Tourist Board has excellent maps and
driving routes, complete with not-to-be-missed highlights, dining suggestions
and available accommodation choices. Visit <a href="http://www.ireland.com/">www.ireland.com</a>
for more information.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
www.dromoland.ie</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<a href="http://www.moorings.ie/">www.moorings.ie</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
www.parkkenmare.com</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<a href="http://www.lissardestate.com/">www.lissardestate.com</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<a href="http://www.ballymaloe.com/">www.ballymaloe.com</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
www.hayfieldmanor.ie</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<a href="http://www.ballyfin.com/">www.ballyfin.com</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-58764881024511217672013-11-19T21:34:00.000-05:002013-11-19T21:34:12.745-05:00Poulet a la James North<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Charred!</h2>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxWXdw_iZFQ/UowZ5KquENI/AAAAAAAAPs4/QwTMHrnJrR8/s1600/20131119_134109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxWXdw_iZFQ/UowZ5KquENI/AAAAAAAAPs4/QwTMHrnJrR8/s320/20131119_134109.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It is always a pleasure to find a place that is wise enough to choose one thing and do it exceptionally well. <a href="http://www.charred.ca/"><b>Charred</b></a> is one of those places. This tiny and intimate little central Hamilton resto does chicken, - charred on a charcoal rostisserie and served with homemade piri-piri sauce. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
They do several different riffs on the charred chicken theme - one of the best is the poutine - fresh cut fries, homemade piri piri cheese curds and gravy. Add charred chicken on top and this is a filling and delicious dish. (Regular $5; large $7; charred chicken on top, $3)</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I8k1dVUCHCo/UowZrLjP6DI/AAAAAAAAPsM/4P3tyBQOJ6I/s1600/20131119_130438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I8k1dVUCHCo/UowZrLjP6DI/AAAAAAAAPsM/4P3tyBQOJ6I/s320/20131119_130438.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Another good bet is the Charred Sandwich ($7) - pulled charred chicken with peppers and onions, topped with aged cheddar, homemade piri piri mayo and cilantro.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DoxqOMH6dcc/UowZ30tPtlI/AAAAAAAAPss/4Y_fgKls4no/s1600/20131119_130448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DoxqOMH6dcc/UowZ30tPtlI/AAAAAAAAPss/4Y_fgKls4no/s320/20131119_130448.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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There's also chicken to take out, as well as fresh salads and roasted potatoes.</div>
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And that's about it - simple, delicious and really well done.</div>
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The space is also unpretentiously simple, with reclaimed brick walls, some local art, and tables in the window that give a clear view of the action on James Street. </div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jq_XSA9yjBc/UowZzWP5wmI/AAAAAAAAPso/yp4dn-wBthQ/s1600/20131119_134053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jq_XSA9yjBc/UowZzWP5wmI/AAAAAAAAPso/yp4dn-wBthQ/s320/20131119_134053.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Charred is an attractive place for a casual lunch for those who love BBQ chicken and piri piri. It's another good excuse to hang out on James Street North.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QPhOIjoYGKY/Uowe4Vg90YI/AAAAAAAAPtM/sktdikSYPNs/s1600/20131119_130153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QPhOIjoYGKY/Uowe4Vg90YI/AAAAAAAAPtM/sktdikSYPNs/s320/20131119_130153.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Charred</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
244 James St. N.,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Hamilton, Ontario</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
L8R 2L3</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
(289)396-0662</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
www.charred.ca</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
@charredchicken</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-68352160695258449022013-11-19T10:22:00.000-05:002013-11-19T10:23:33.724-05:00River Cruising: A Room with a (Constantly Changing ) View<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> A Room With a View:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>River Cruising on Avalon’s Panorama</span></b></div>
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The world’s most expensive book, in the Gutenburg Museum in
Mainz, an historic mustard factory in Cochem, an underground disco in an
abandoned subway station in Frankfurt, and a mechanical monkey that plays the
violin in the Mechanical Instrument Museum in Rüdesheim,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– all are intriguing discoveries to be made
on a Rhine and Moselle River cruise.</div>
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But even more attractive than that is the discovery that you
can open the curtains in your new stateroom on board the Panorama and watch the
castles drift by at 6:30 in the morning, still in your PJ’s if you like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the kind of sybaritic extension to the
day that I can’t resist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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It’s not that I’m lazy – the rest of my day will be active
and full, but the possibility of starting the day like this, with the window
open to the fresh river air, and a cup of coffee from the cappuccino machine in
the club lounge is so appealing.</div>
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I’m not alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>River cruising on ships like the Panorama is part of a growing demand from seasoned, and beginner, cruisers. </div>
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When Lisa Wilkinson, popular Australian media and television
star, christened the Panorama, she was naming a boat that was already a success
story. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even before the ship’s official
touring season began with its first passengers coming on board in the spring of 2011<sup></sup>,
the first season of the Panorama was 98% booked <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></div>
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According to CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association)
the cruise industry is the fastest growing travel segment in the world, and
river cruising has had a compounded increase of 10% a year since 2004.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So popular are the river cruises that Avalon's sister ships the Vista and the Visionary, have been added to the fleet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The growth in river cruising is partly the result of a
general increase in the number of people cruising, but is also due to the
advances in design and upgraded amenities on the newer ships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of the dark and small cabins of early
river boats, as on the first river cruise I took in the early 90’s, new river
boats have adopted many of the features of their larger ocean-going
sisters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The new Panorama boasts some of the largest cabins in the industry,
at 200 square feet, with full length floor to ceiling windows that open to
French balconies, marble clad bathrooms, L’Ocittaine amenities, wifi throughout
the ship, a full fitness centre, larger viewing deck and elegant gourmet
dining.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wine and beer are included, as
are excursions, guided walking tours and state-of-the-art digital
earphones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Avalon fleet has some of the
youngest ships in the industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although
the company only started in 2004, it has already retired two ships, and
expanded to eleven ships in 2012.</div>
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The charm of the river cruise, though, remains in its
ability to give its passengers close and intimate connection with the countries
they visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shore excursions offer more
time ashore, with a variety of excursions and an emphasis on the local culture.
This all comes with the convenience of a cruise, one time unpacking, your own
comfortable room, all inclusive meals and access to the ship-board amenities.</div>
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Avalon’s 2014 itineraries range from European river cruises to Yangtze and Nile sailings to Galapagos expeditions, and new itineraries on the Mekong
River in Vietnam.</div>
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All good reasons to take to the river this cruising season.</div>
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For more information on Avalon Waterways Cruises, visit <a href="http://www.avalonecruiseline,com/">www.avalonecruiseline,com</a></div>
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© Barbara Ramsay Orr</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-68654433114068725882013-11-18T12:33:00.000-05:002014-11-11T23:40:23.682-05:00A Royal Stay in Ireland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Play The Princess at An Irish Country Estate: Ballyfin </span></b></div>
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I think every old
house has a ghost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The owners don’t
always admit to having hangers-on from the other side, and perhaps they are
only vestigially aware of sharing space with a spirit. But open your inner eye
when you visit a much-lived-in space, and you may find that there’s a shadow in
the room that isn’t yours.</div>
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I sensed another
presence as I lay in a cloud of bubbles in the deep tub in the Butler Room’s
rococo bathroom at Ballyfin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The soap
was handmade and redolent with roses and sandalwood, the water was warm and I
had had a long day in chilly weather. But just as my lids lowered in bliss, the
door to the bathroom whispered open and there he was, -James Butler, the Duke
of Ormond. </div>
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He was still
wearing his armour and battle regalia from his successful leadership of the
Irish Loyalists during the mid seventeenth century. His regard was regal,
disdainful perhaps, but not unappreciative. He was not a frightening presence,
just a tad supercilious.</div>
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It is true that
the breeze from the open window in the sitting room could have opened the door,
and that William Wissing’s portrait of James Butler above the fireplace was in
direct sight line of my bathtub, but I know the Duke paid me a visit.</div>
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There isn’t a property
in Ireland
more deserving of interesting ghosts than Ballyfin. Nestled at the foot of the Slieve
Bloom mountains in County
Laois, the house is today
one of the world’s best country manor estate hotels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The restored neo-Georgian estate, voted best new
resort in the world for 2012 by the Robb Report, is an hour from Dublin and sits on 610
verdant acres with walled gardens, a large lake, grottoes and riding paths. </div>
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The house has
been ranked as one of the finest homes in Ireland ever since it was first
built, in 1823. It served as the country home of the Coote family until 1923,
when it was no longer comfortable to be an Anglo-Protestant in Ireland. </div>
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The family sold
the property to a Catholic Brotherhood who ran it as a school until they were
no longer able to afford the upkeep. It sat in deteriorating condition until
2002 when American Fred Krehbiel and his wife Kay bought the property and began
a decade long renovation.</div>
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The result is a
sumptuous fifteen room hotel, with public rooms decorated with authentic period
antiques, gilded ceilings, Chippendale mirrors, significant Irish art and
restored parquetry floors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The library,
with a large fireplace at either end, is stocked with 18<sup>th</sup> century
books, as well as today’s Irish Times. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each bedroom is different, with massive
bathrooms, modern amenities and king sized four poster beds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The Butler room where I slept
is decorated in shades of soft rose and cream, with a venerable tapestry above
the marble surrounded bath. The in-room bar is stocked with elderberry water
and Riedel glasses, organic juices, mineral water, and locally made treats.
Stacks of art book sit on the side table. And, I swear, spirits are lingering
comfortably in the corners.</div>
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This is a house
that has seen everything, - from death to deception, from love to betrayal,
from wealth to hardship. There must be ghosts. If not ghosts, then some
lingering fog of character that hangs in the air and gives a night spent here a
haunting resonance.</div>
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Don’t be afraid.
It’s just history, reaching out to tap you gently on the shoulder.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">If You Go</b></div>
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Rates: 2013: from May to September,
from CAD $815 – $2173, per room per night, includes full board, all amenities of the
estate, drinks, laundry, unpacking service and wifi.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Contact</b> </div>
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Ballyfin Demesne</div>
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Ballyfin, County Laois</div>
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Ireland</div>
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Tel: +353 (0)5787 55866</div>
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www.ballyfin.com </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-49920493285634962672013-05-08T15:11:00.001-04:002013-05-08T15:11:46.355-04:00My Newest Endeavor - a Monthly Travel Electronic Magazine, Exploratorrio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h1>
<span style="color: black;">Absolutely Necessary Things to Pack for a Visit to The Falls</span></h1>
<small>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/category/travel-tips/" rel="category tag" title="View all posts in Travel Tips">Travel Tips</a> </span></small><br />
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Each destination has its unique peculiarities, which means when
deciding what you will pack for a visit, there are particular things
that will make your time there easier, or more fun, or more rewarding.<br />
For a vacation in Niagara Falls, you need to pack all of the usual
suspects – er , objects – that you would for a typical trip, but there
are some things that will really make a difference. Add the following
things to your packing list, throw them into your suitcase and you’ll
thank me for it!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/suitcases-from-malias.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-99" height="240" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/suitcases-from-malias.jpg" title="suitcases from malias" width="165" /></a><br />
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1.<u><b>A large clear plastic bag.</b></u> Why? If you own a good camera, you will
want to protect it from the mist that is an almost permanent fixture at
The Falls. I like to have my camera ready, and I often carry it
around my neck, but cover it with the plastic bag to keep it dry.
Sometimes you can use the plastic to shield the camera while you take a
shot. Also bring along some soft dry cloths to wipe any wayward water
drops off the lens. It is particularly important to protect your camera
if you take a ride on the Maid of the Mist. It is such a dramatic occaision for pictures, but the spray is intense.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/M-of-M-sailorbill.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-100" height="160" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/M-of-M-sailorbill.jpg" title="M of M, sailorbill" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
2. <u><b>A folding umbrella</b></u> – not for the rain, but for the spray if you
are going to spend some time at the edge of The Falls and do not want to
get soaked. (Actually, on a 30 degree day, it feels pretty good!)<br />
3. A copy of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Niagara-Region-Complete-Guides/dp/1118100263/ref=dp_ob_title_bk">Frommers Niagara Region Guide</a>
that will tell you the best places to visit, eat and stay, and reveal
insider tips you would never otherwise discover. (In the interest of
full disclosure, I wrote the guide, but trust me when I tell you that it
is a thorough and detailed guide, with lots of useful info.)<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85ww1kIclxk/UXbUk7cxN2I/AAAAAAAAMew/eUHUBEZjvYM/s1600/fromcov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85ww1kIclxk/UXbUk7cxN2I/AAAAAAAAMew/eUHUBEZjvYM/s1600/fromcov.jpg" /></a></div>
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4.<u><b> Your ipod or iphone</b></u> – the <a href="http://www.niagaraparks.com/plan/buy-tickets-packages.html">Niagara Falls Adventure Pass</a>
lets you download a lively commentary for all of the places on the
tour, with the history and lore you need to really appreciate what you
are seeing.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UTMr9Ss385M/UXbU76LmTOI/AAAAAAAAMe4/5dypQk-RqVo/s1600/ip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UTMr9Ss385M/UXbU76LmTOI/AAAAAAAAMe4/5dypQk-RqVo/s1600/ip.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
5. <u><b> Some blank postcards and a good pen </b></u>– for collecting autographs.
Niagara Falls attracts famous people like flies to honey. There is
seldom a week goes by without a notable character showing up Falls side.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/diana-floyd-Nello.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-101" height="164" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/diana-floyd-Nello.jpg" title="diana floyd Nello" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
6. <u><b>a good pair of binoculars</b></u> – that way you can visit the Canadian
side of The Falls, but use your binos to get a close view of the
American Falls, as well as the birds, <a href="http://www.wheretowhento.com/navy-island">Navy Island</a> and the details of the rocks and islands at the top of The Falls.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4ryDvBRGHgw/UXbVTCUfBjI/AAAAAAAAMfA/7IKfOZReP04/s1600/binos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4ryDvBRGHgw/UXbVTCUfBjI/AAAAAAAAMfA/7IKfOZReP04/s320/binos.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
7.<u><b> Motion sickness pills</b></u> – if you stay in<a href="http://niagaratower.com/"> The Tower Hotel </a>– which stands atop a 500 foot tall tower<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/niagara-falls-on/things-to-do/konica-minolta-tower/628257"></a>
– you might need them. One whole wall of each room is all windows, and
the tower will sway slightly if the wind is a bit agressive. Very
exciting, but maybe a bit queasy for a delicate tummy.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/tower-hotel-room.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97" height="168" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/tower-hotel-room.jpg" title="tower hotel room" width="255" /></a><br />
<br />
8. <u><b>Your lucky rabbit foot, four leaf clover, or lucky charm</b></u> – you will want to visit the glamourous <a href="http://www.fallsviewcasinoresort.com/">Fallsview Casino</a>, and with luck you may leave richer than you arrived. (You will have a good time even if you loose a bit of coin.)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DsO5m6lP-0c/UXbV29OpyNI/AAAAAAAAMfI/_iHLuV-HkUg/s1600/slots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DsO5m6lP-0c/UXbV29OpyNI/AAAAAAAAMfI/_iHLuV-HkUg/s1600/slots.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
9. <u><b>Your favourite mantra</b></u> – the <a href="http://accessibleniagara.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=1">Cham Shan Budhist Temple</a>
(aka The Ten Thousand Budha Temple of Peace) is a special building that
you will not want to miss. A little contemplation and some time to
appreciate the truly special architecture here will put you in a Zen
state of mind.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/temple.jpeg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-96" height="300" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/08/temple-223x300.jpg" title="temple" width="223" /></a><br />
<br />
10. <u><b>An easily washed, stain resistant t-shirt</b></u> . Niagara Falls is a
surprising hotbed of Italian cusine, due mostly to extensive Italian
immigration after WWI and WWII. Places like<a href="http://anticapizzeria.ca/"> Antica Pizza</a>, or <a href="http://www.mamamias.ca/">Mamma Mia’s </a>offer up slurpy family-style plates of pasta, meatballs and pizza –
messy but delicious and affordable and not to be missed. Just like
Mamma used to make, – if Mamma was named Gina or Serafina.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-44913243629920829572013-04-22T13:57:00.002-04:002013-04-22T13:57:41.285-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1>
<span style="color: black;">Bargaining eh?</span></h1>
<small>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Niagara Falls for the Bargain Hunter</b></span></small><br />
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Regretably, we are a nation of non-hagglers.</h2>
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Canadians, in general, are not good at bargaining. It’s somehow –
well – not polite to badger someone into cutting their prices.
Bargaining is not a Canadian thing.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ONCKtMKlkF0/UXV5WiFDeXI/AAAAAAAAMeY/zvOqjDQnRMA/s1600/DSC04523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ONCKtMKlkF0/UXV5WiFDeXI/AAAAAAAAMeY/zvOqjDQnRMA/s320/DSC04523.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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But paradoxically, there is no one who enjoys a bargain more than we do. So what we <b>are</b> good at is searching out the best places, best prices and best buys.<br />
<br />
Here’s five of the best buys in Niagara Falls, no bargaining or bartering required. (Now that’s a real Canadian deal.)<br />
1.<b> The Bundled Attractions Pass</b>: <a href="https://inc.ticket-ops.com/AdventurePass/"><i><b>The Niagara Falls Adventure Pass</b></i></a>
is a great way to save money. The pass costs 40% less than if you
bought four attractions seperately. For $46.95 per adult, and $34.95 per
child, between April and October, you get admission to the Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, Niagara’s Fury and White Water Walk,
along with two day’s rides on the Peoplemover, an all day on-and-off
shuttle service along the Niagara Parkway. Also, you’ll receive reduced
price admission to the Butterfly Conservatory,
Sir Adam Beck 2 Generating Station Power Tour, Whirlpool Aero Car, Old
Fort Erie, McFarland House, Laura Secord Homestead and the Mackenzie
Printery and Newspaper Museum. An added bonus of the Pass: visit a
Niagara Parks Welcome Centre and staff will reserve your times to see
several attractions, allowing you to bypass line-ups and feel like a
real VIP. You can buy your pass online and print your own, and you can
even arrange to download a guide to your MP3 player. Great Value!<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t7_82_rtmls/UXV5eKOFIsI/AAAAAAAAMeg/KGlodEk5AjU/s1600/DSC04507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t7_82_rtmls/UXV5eKOFIsI/AAAAAAAAMeg/KGlodEk5AjU/s320/DSC04507.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
2.<b> Free Light Show</b>: The Falls
are illuminated 365 days of the year and they are a spectacular sight.
Smart visitors find a good spot in Queen Victoria Park to sit on the
grass and just enjoy the view. Costs nothing.<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/lightfalls-diego_3336.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164" height="180" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/lightfalls-diego_3336.jpg" title="lightfalls diego_3336" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
3.<b> A Night on-the-town Bargain ( if you are a female) </b><a href="http://www.rumoursnightclub.com/">Rumours Nightclub</a> welcomes all females on Friday night. No cover charge all night for ladies at this popular dance and drinks bar.<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/ladies.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-165" height="100" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/ladies.jpg" title="ladies" width="133" /></a><br />
<br />
4. <b>Gamble on a Great Night Out for 25 cents ( and up</b>): The people watching is great at the<a href="http://www.fallsviewcasinoresort.com/"> Fallsview Niagara Casino.</a>
You could spend a night just roaming through the gaming rooms watching
the action. But you can gamble yourself – you can bet the minimum
amount in one of the one-armed bandits (slots) - 25 cents. If the
stars were aligned correctly, you could go home with more money than you
spent.<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/casino-Hakim_Bey.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166" height="180" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/casino-Hakim_Bey.jpg" title="casino Hakim_Bey" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>5. Even a Bargain Hunter Has to Eat: </b>Dining in
Niagara Falls can be expensive, but if you are willing to go a little
bit away from the Falls area, there are some real dining bargains. For a
delicious. filling and affordable meal, try the calzones at <a href="http://johnnyroccos.com/">Johnny Rocco’s Italian Grill</a> on Lundy’s Lane. Have a glass of wine, a salad,
one of the best calzones in town, and you’ll be out of there for under
$20.<b> </b><br />
<b><a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/cALZONE-DYANNA.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-169" height="180" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/cALZONE-DYANNA.jpg" title="cALZONE DYANNA" width="240" /></a></b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>So, get set for an affordable visit to the Falls! A real Canadian Bargain.<br />
</b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-49359205662725822492013-04-18T17:56:00.000-04:002013-04-18T17:56:38.665-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b>A Snow Thrill on the Downhill </b></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b>in Charlevois, Quebec: </b></h2>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UbsM61oLHkU/URlVZV698fI/AAAAAAAALtg/yfjpa7JfUDk/s1600/DSC07624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UbsM61oLHkU/URlVZV698fI/AAAAAAAALtg/yfjpa7JfUDk/s320/DSC07624.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
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<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Rodelling at Le Massif </b></span></h2>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eysSr11zoLk/UXBqNavcBOI/AAAAAAAAMdQ/xucJ5XBYtn0/s1600/DSC07597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eysSr11zoLk/UXBqNavcBOI/AAAAAAAAMdQ/xucJ5XBYtn0/s320/DSC07597.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b> </b></h2>
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I stood at the top of the hill, shivering in my helmet and
new Ugg boots. Ahead of me was the first leg of a colossal snow slide.</div>
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“Don’t worry,” laughed Giles, a twenty something kid I’d met
in the snow tractor on the way along the top of the mountain, and who obviously
couldn’t wait to attack the hill.<span> </span>“Your
fear will keep you warm.”</div>
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In a way he was right.<span>
</span>While the fear dissipated quickly, the adrenalin kept me warm.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A47zEgjV4yk/UXBqaT2E_6I/AAAAAAAAMdY/Ulohqhztg_4/s1600/DSC07606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A47zEgjV4yk/UXBqaT2E_6I/AAAAAAAAMdY/Ulohqhztg_4/s320/DSC07606.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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If as a child you experienced a Canadian winter, you will
share the collective memories of sliding down icy hills on toboggans, sleds, flying
saucers or even pieces of cardboard.</div>
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That childhood descent was intoxicating, but would only last ten
seconds, if that, and then you would have to drag your sled back up the hill to do it
again.<span> </span>I remember wishing that the
downhill thrill could go on for ever.</div>
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If you shared that feeling, rodelling is for you.<span> </span>It’s a ‘piste de luge’ experience featured at
Le Massif in the Charlevois, the only place in North
America that offers this winter adventure. It’s a sledding dream
come true, providing a professional hand-crafted sled, a long uninterrupted and
challenging groomed track, and at the end, a gondola to take you back to the
top.<span> </span>The 7.5 kilometre track winds
through natural forest, twisting its way down the mountainside to end at the edge
of the frozen St. Lawrence River. In total,
the rodelling experience takes about two hours, and it is a cool winter thrill,
an exhilarating alternative when skiing becomes old hat.<span> </span>Or old tuque.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JMdYStUVm54/UXBqjVR5M_I/AAAAAAAAMdg/-w8gPduYolw/s1600/DSC07608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JMdYStUVm54/UXBqjVR5M_I/AAAAAAAAMdg/-w8gPduYolw/s320/DSC07608.JPG" width="183" /></a></div>
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<br />
So, now I have snow down my neck, leaking into my gloves and glued to my cheek. My tuque is ascue and the fir trim on my new boots is heavy with ice pellets.<br />
So why am I smiling? Because, even though I was going too fast, missed the turn and ended up inbedded in a snowbank, this is the most winter fun I've had in years.<br />
<br />
The
attraction has proven so popular for the resort that it has expanded its
hours and is often fully booked. Any winter sports' lover, especially
one who is finding skiing and boarding a bit ho-hum, will want to try
rodelling.<br />
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At the end of the hill, you can glide up to the top to the ski resort in the
gondola and enjoy white linen dining in Mer et Mont at the chalet. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5bW3AEgsPa4/UXBq2CRoF8I/AAAAAAAAMdw/CNSj2zbfSfI/s1600/DSC07633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5bW3AEgsPa4/UXBq2CRoF8I/AAAAAAAAMdw/CNSj2zbfSfI/s320/DSC07633.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Afterwards, you can take the train back to Baie Saint Paul, and warm up
with a night in Hotel La Ferme, or return to Quebec City. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BaGrRmnIKng/UXBq50pvM5I/AAAAAAAAMeA/285gzxIb9ro/s1600/DSC07645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BaGrRmnIKng/UXBq50pvM5I/AAAAAAAAMeA/285gzxIb9ro/s320/DSC07645.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jA4hjYcZWQY/UXBq5LHYeXI/AAAAAAAAMd4/x0wCy4qaG7s/s1600/DSC07636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jA4hjYcZWQY/UXBq5LHYeXI/AAAAAAAAMd4/x0wCy4qaG7s/s320/DSC07636.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Rodelling - my idea of a cool winter sport!</div>
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Le Massif</div>
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<h3>
<strong>Le Massif</strong> de Charlevoix Ski Resort </h3>
<h3>
Phone : 1-877-Le-Massif (536-2774) </h3>
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<a href="http://www.lemassif.com/en"><cite>www.<strong>lemassif</strong>.com/en</cite></a><a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=Le%20Massif&pc=conduit&ptag=A693583DD36B1411486F&form=CONBDF&conlogo=CT3210127&ShowAppsUI=1#"><span class="c_tlbxTrg"><span class="c_tlbxTrgIcn sw_ddgn"></span></span></a><div class="MsoNormal">
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<br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Directions:</b></span><br />
<strong>To the Summit (+/- 75 km from Québec City): </strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Follow signs for Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré </li>
<li>From Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, continue along Route 138 for about 45 km </li>
<li>Turn right at the sign for Le Massif, located on the right-hand side
of Route 138, 15 km BEFORE the town of Petite- Rivière-Saint-François </li>
<li>Drive 6 km… You’ve arrived! </li>
</ul>
<strong>To the Base (+/- 110 km from Québec City): </strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Follow directions for Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré </li>
<li>From Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, continue along Route 138 until you see
the sign for Petite Rivière St François, located about 15 km past the
sign for the summit of Le Massif </li>
<li>Turn right, drive to Petite-Rivière-St-François</li>
<li>Continue along Principale St. for about 15 km </li>
<li>Turn right at the sign marking the entrance to Le Massif, onto the access road </li>
<li>Proceed to the parking area… You’ve arrived! </li>
</ul>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-36735212608234741052013-04-18T16:19:00.000-04:002013-04-18T16:19:19.143-04:00Follow The North Star to Freedom: Niagara Tours<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For many slaves fleeing a life of endenturement in the United States,
Canada represented freedom. It was the shining Northern star at the
end of the Underground Railroad, the secret network of helpers and
hiding places that aided runaway slaves on their journey.<br />
<a href="http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/underground1.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-216" height="240" src="http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/niagara-falls-on/files/2010/09/underground1.jpg" title="underground" width="180" /></a><br />
Niagara Bound Tours is a tour company that custom designs tours that
will explore the history and heritage of Black immigaration in Niagara,
with particular emphasis on the slaves who arrived here as a result of
their journey along the Underground Railroad.<br />
The tour features several places of interest, including Hariet
Tubman’s church, the crossing sites of freedom seekers on both sides of
the border including the Canadian site of for the crossing of Josiah
Henson (Uncle Tom’s Cabin character), and the Welland Canal Centre –
home of the permanent Black history exhibit.<br />
Tours can be individual or in groups. The customized tours include a
step on guide who is a direct descendant (fifth generation) of a
freedom seeker from Kentucky who came to Canada in 1850 settling in
the Niagara Region. Recently added are tours of the Buffalo-Niagara
Underground Railroad as well.<br />
<strong><em>NIAGARA BOUND TOURS</em></strong><br />
87 Masterson Drive<br />
St. Catharines, ON L2T 3P8<br />
905-685-5375<br />
<a href="http://www.niagaraboundtours.com/">www.niagaraboundtours.com</a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-70325279572978644112013-04-11T11:13:00.002-04:002013-04-11T11:14:58.064-04:00Cruising The Canals of Europe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Sail The Canals of <span style="font-size: x-large;">Europe </span></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">European Waterway's elegant barges, and the independently owned Nooit Volmaakt, sail through the authentic villages of Europe.</span> </span></span></h2>
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BARBARA RAMSAY ORR</div>
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<br />
Published Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 06:00AM EST<br />
Last updated Thursday, Sep. 06, 2012 11:48AM EDT<br />
I spent the night in a room that was once full of sugar beets.<br />
Drifting in through the small open window above my bed is the sound of ducks
circling in search of breakfast. Soon, little white furry legs will scuttle past
the window – Teddy, the barge dog, out for his constitutional – and the smell
of fresh coffee will seep under the door from the galley. I know I can scramble
up on deck with my camera and notebook, take some shots and a quick sketch of
the mist on the river before the sun burns it off, but the bed is warm, and we
were up late last night, lingering over a bottle of premier cu wine from nearby
Chablis, lovely stinky local cheese and old stories from school days.<br />
This is morning on the Nooit Volmaakt, a restored Dutch barge that once
transported sugar beets along the waterways and is now owned by two Canadians
from Victoria,
Mary Koyl and Marc Pakenham, and their dog, Teddy. Over our first bottle of
wine, we discovered that the skipper, my husband and I were undergrads at the
same university at the same time long ago.<br />
Together, we drifted along the canals and rivers southwest of Paris.<br />
Touring on a barge is one of the most personal and intimate ways to explore Europe. The Nooit Voolmakt is only one of many barges
that offer trips through the less populous areas of England,
France, Germany, Italy and other countries. The
small size allows passengers to indulge in their own personal interests while
sailing through historic routes that are still navigable – canals that once
served as the superhighways for commerce, opening trade routes that would
become the foundation on which the Industrial Revolution would be built. Those
canals and waterways still wind past villages, under stone bridges and straight
through the bucolic farmlands of old Europe.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TpIfGDTmg0Q/UWbOpqnhKlI/AAAAAAAAMb4/2wa-OhoZfzM/s1600/IMG_2227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TpIfGDTmg0Q/UWbOpqnhKlI/AAAAAAAAMb4/2wa-OhoZfzM/s320/IMG_2227.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Barge cruises allow guests time to do what they love best. I am a food
writer and an amateur artist, so the twin pleasures of time spent on deck with
a mug of hot tea, continually replenished by Mary, and daily visits to markets,
food shops and fine restaurants, were perfect for me.<br />
In Moret, we moored just below the town bridge that French impressionist
painter Alfred Sisley painted in the early 1890s, little changed today. I
walked and cycled where Sisley and his friends did, ogled his house and sat in
the main square in front of a pretty storefront that was signed, “Les Amis
D'Alfred Sisley.” Perhaps he had no friends left as no one was ever there to
open the shop. But no matter. This town, this itinerary, was ideally matched to
my interests.<br />
Other barge itineraries can inspire the photographer, the cyclist, the wine
lover or the historian. Antiquarians can troll through a <i>vide-grenier</i>,
French for empty attic, the Gallic version of a garage sale.<br />
For the travelling gardener, this spring is perfect for a barge trip: to
witness one of the more spectacular floral displays in the world. Holland will explode with
tulips, hyacinths, irises, scillas, crocuses, muscari – it is visual fireworks
that everyone must see at least once in a lifetime, and one of the best seats
for this show is on a barge. The canals snake through fields that in spring are
striated with bands of vivid colour created by thousands and thousands of
flowers. The expanses of intense colour, in fields that unfold like well
designed quilts, is a wonder unlike any other.<br />
Many of the barge cruises include bike tours, as the terrain is flat and the
scenery compact. If you bike along the paths through fields of flowers, expect
to be ambushed by the perfumes of narcissus or hyacinth.<br />
Some of the tulip barge tours stop at Aalsmeer for the flower auction and
almost all of them, in April and May, include a visit to the Keukenhof,
Holland's famous spring gardens in the town of Lisse, the centre of Holland's
bollenstreek (bulb district). In this 32-hectare garden, bulb growers display
their best and newest along pathways lined with acres of manicured gardens.
There are more than seven million tulip bulbs planted here each year and the
growers strive to outdo each other in the originality and impact of their
displays. Blue muscari spill like rivers, daffodils grow in geometric designs,
blue and white flowers mimic Delft
pottery. I spent a happy afternoon drawing the antique tulips in one small
historic garden, bulbs whose history stretched back to the early 1500s and
whose story is the precursor to Europe's bourse (stock exchange) and North America's stock market.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
While the Netherlands
in spring is always a pleasure, last year was special: Floriade was on. It's the
world's largest international floral show and gardening exposition, held once
every 10 years. It's the Olympic Games of flowers for gardeners around the
world and runs from April to October.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uol3ZDCLPkg/UWbOz9Er_QI/AAAAAAAAMcI/zIZ90T05_9w/s1600/111-1135_IMG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uol3ZDCLPkg/UWbOz9Er_QI/AAAAAAAAMcI/zIZ90T05_9w/s320/111-1135_IMG.JPG" width="320" /></a>Ten years ago, I wandered Floriade for a whole day and didn't see it all.
From landscaped display gardens to flower features to environmental
innovations, there was something to beguile or inspire every few steps. You can
even buy the latest hybrid bulbs for your garden. (I bought an amaryllis bulb
the size of a large grapefruit, which produced eye-popping blooms that summer.)<br />
For this sixth Floriade, held in Venlo,
near the Belgian border, several barge cruisesscheduled shore excursions.
Sure, visitors could do independent trips from several centres in Europe, but one of the best ways, leisurely and easily,
is as a day trip from your barge. (Maybe you should be planning for your tulip barge trip in 2022!)<br />
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For, instead of design details, the emphasis on a barge cruise is on the
quality of the experiences, the interaction between guests and crew, and the
food, which is often larded with local specialties. It is, essentially, a slow
meander down a lovely waterway with many seductive reasons to stop along the
way.<br />
<br />
There are still mornings when I wake up and imagine I can hear Teddy and the
ducks. I can almost see the reflections in the water, and I wonder where Mary
is with my tea.<br />
<br />
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<b>IF YOU GO</b> <br />
<b>Dutch flower cruises</b> <br />
European Waterways runs barge tours in several countries. Spring flower
tours in Holland
aboard the 12-passenger Panache, above, will include trips to Floriade. Prices
start at $4,690 a person and include all meals, wines, excursions and local
transfers. 877-879-8808; gobarging.com<br />
The Barge Company runs the Magna Carta, an eight-passenger barge that
cruises the Thames, including Hampton Court and
stops at the Chelsea Flower Show. From $3,000 a person for six nights.
www.bargecompany.com<br />
River cruise lines such as Avalon Waterways, Azamara Cruises, Scenic Tours
and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises have added excursions to Floriade.<br />
<b>Bike and Barge</b> <br />
Bike & Barge Holland offers 13-night
cruises with bike excursions, including tours to Keukenhof Garden
and the tulip fields, for $3,195. bikebarge.com<br />
Van Gogh tours include six days of barging and cycling from Amsterdam
to Bruges, Belgium, from $1,14.
vangoghtours.com<br />
<br />
<b>Tulip time</b> <br />
Timing is everything if you want to see the tulips at their best. A late
winter or early spring can shift the blooming time. The most dependable time to
see the flower display in full flush is mid to late April.<br />
This year, with a late and cool spring, tulips are delayed and will probably last until mid May. Head to the Keukenhof Gardens from March 22 to May 20 for a
concentrated floral hit. keukenhof.nl<br />
<br />
For more information, visit Holland.com.<br />
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Special to The Globe and Mail<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-55033439483018194182013-03-14T19:23:00.000-04:002013-03-14T19:39:35.899-04:00Doing The Mexican Salsa: Authentic Mexican Cuisine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The journey out to Bucerias was torture - a tedious and uncomfortable bus ride, a possibly dangerous ride with a local, and a long walk caused by incorrectly reading our map.<br />
But it was all good once we arrived at<a href="http://www.mymexicankitchen.com/"> My Mexican Kitchen.</a><br />
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<br />
This small and intimate cooking school is run by two gregarious and knowledgeable young men, Travis and Edgar, who pride themselves on teaching local cuisine as the Mexican mothers and grandmothers would -. basic, local and fresh. We began by making a large jug of agua fresca from fresh pineapple. This refreshing drink is served everywhere in Mexico, and can be made from one single fruits, a mixture of fruits, or a combinati0on of fruits and vegetables, like mango and celery, for example.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I thought I knew salsa - but no, I only knew the ubiquitous and
delicious pico de gallo that is found on every restaurant table in
Mexico.<br />
Travis showed us the basic ingredients - tomatoes, onions, peppers and
garlic - and then explained that by switching the type of vegetable, or
by changing the prep method, you could create many different variations
of salsa.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Switch the Roma tomatoes for tomatillos or change the
jalapena peppers for habaneros and the salsa has a new character. You
can use freshly chopped tomatoes, or you can boil the tomatoes and
peppers, or roast them. Voila, a new salsa.<br />
Some cooks add lime juice to their salsa while others add a bit of
vinegar. It is a versatile sauce that can be made to your own personal
style.<br />
Together we made agua fresca, chilaquiles rojo, homemade corn tortillas, quesadillas with potatoes and mushrooms, and Sopes.<br />
We ended with Mexican coffee, pungent with cinnamon and dark piloncillo sugar.<br />
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<br />
We ate well, learned much about Mexican cuisine and ingredients, and enjoyed good company.<br />
This was a very pleasant way to spend an evening, and I would recommend a
night at My Mexican Kitchen to anyone who loves good food and enjoys
the communal closeness of a shared table.<br />
My idea of a great vacation experience.<br />
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<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>My Mexican Kitchen</b></span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14.4pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">Bucerias Art Walk Plaza</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
#62 Lazaro Cardenas Street, Bucerias
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
Nayarit, MEXICO 63732</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Phone Numbers:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
From the US or Canada
011-52-1-322-159-0069</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14.4pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
In Mexico, from a land line
045-322-159-0069</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14.4pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
In Mexico, from a cell phone
322-159-0069</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14.4pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
Email:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
<a href="mailto:mymexicankitchen@yahoo.com?subject=Website%20request">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-78834738946345190262013-02-22T14:05:00.002-05:002013-02-22T14:25:52.848-05:00Doing Time in the Museum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Art Blooms Behind Bars</b></h2>
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<b> in Quebec City's </b></h2>
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<b>Musee National des Beaux-Arts</b></h2>
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In the mood for a little jail time? </h4>
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The splendid <a href="http://www.mnba.qc.ca/Home.aspx">Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec</a> has one of the most historically interesting positions in Canada -in Battlfields Park, overlooking the iconic Plains of Abraham and the mighty St. Lawrence. From the outside terrace of the museum restaurant, you can sip a cup of coffee while perusing the land where so much of Canada's history occurred.</div>
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And thought the landscape is swaddled in snow and ice when I visit, it is still impressive. On the fields beside the museum, locals are practicing cross country skiing, and children skate on the nearby rink.</div>
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But there is more than location that is brilliant in this museum. The
colleciton is wide ranging, but with a special emphasis on the abstract
artists best exemplified by Jean-Paul Riopelle, whose works are
displayed in a spacious gallery. </div>
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The collection consists of more than 37,000 works dating from 1700 to the present, and represents the largest collection of Quebec art. It gives visitors an opportunity to see works by both the established artists of Quebec and the newly emerging talent.</div>
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I loved this piece by <a href="http://dallaireseries.gatineau.ca/dallaireseries/en/accueil.html?onEnterFrame=null">Jean-Phillipe Dallaire</a>, "Unicorn Rooster"<br />
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In addition to the location and the collection, the architecture of
this museum is exceptional. The entrance of the musem leads to a
sunfilled glass domed lobby. The neo-classical section of the museum was designed by Wilfrid Lacroix in 1933 and was, until 1991, the whole museum. It is an elegant space, with comfortable chairs for the tired art lover, and large exhibition rooms.<br />
Rather than demolish the Old Quebec City prison next door, the
museum annexed it and made it an new exhibiton space particualrly
devoted to the collection of Inuit art donated to the museum. <span id="ctl23_ctl21_moduleZone3_ctl00_Texte"><span class="TexteNormalContenu"> Several of the old prison cells were kept intact to show what prison life was like in the 1900s.According to their website,</span></span><br />
<i><span id="ctl23_ctl21_moduleZone3_ctl00_Texte"><span class="TexteNormalContenu"> "</span></span></i><span id="ctl23_ctl21_moduleZone1_ctl00_Texte"><span class="TexteNormalContenu"><i>On
the ground floor, block 6, which had housed dangerous criminals and
those sentenced to death, was kept intact along with block 11, formerly
reserved for vagrants and petty thieves."</i></span></span><br />
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It adds an interesting <i>frisson</i> to your appreciation of the art objects!</div>
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<span id="ctl23_ctl24_moduleZone3_ctl00_Texte"><span class="TexteNormalContenu">The
watchtower showcases a visually impressive work created in 1991 by David Moore
under the program to integrate arts into architecture.</span></span><br />
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The Musee National is the perfect destination for an afternoon of looking at fine art that is indiginous to Quebec. An added incentive to a visit is the Restaurant de Musee, a lovely space that serves light meals during the open hours of the museum. In summer, the terrace is one of the best places in the city to dine or to linger over a glass of wine and watch the sun set over the river and the park.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-24625711633905172992012-07-26T14:06:00.001-04:002012-07-26T14:06:32.673-04:00Your Farmers' Market Has More than Veggies!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">So Many Good Things at the Burlington Farmers' Market</span></div>
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You may be quite surprised the next time you visit your local farmers' market. The scene has changed - evolved as it were.<br />
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You expect to find carrots at the farmers market. Not beauties like these heritage varieties that I bought today on the Burlington market, but good local carrots are a consistent staple at most markets.</div>
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And potatoes, like these coloured lovelies.<br />
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It's expected that there will be onions - though probably not always heirloom whites.</div>
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I loaded up on all of these, as well as green beans, corn, tomatoes, and some nectarines. I even got a basket of fat tomatillas. But what surprised me was the wealth of other good things to eat that was available here, made or grown by individual small producers, from numerous little stalls.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Like home made Ice Cream!</b></span><br />
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</b></span><b>Alexa Fraser</b> makes ice cream from fresh milk and cream and local fruits and herbs. Her basil ice cream is a hit, something a bit different to perk up a summer meal.<br />
Her ice cream is pricey, $8 for a pint, $4.50 for a cone, but the ice cream is pure and delicious.<br />
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<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">And Then There's Fresh Flowers</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Millcreek Flower Farm</b>, just outside Ancaster, brings beautiful bouquets of flowers to market each week. They're irresistable.</span></div>
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I bought a bunch of lavender coloured lizyanthus, or prairie flowers, which look lovely on my kitchen counter.<br />
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Need something healthy for the main course? </div>
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<b>Smokeville</b> has smoked rainbow trout that makes a perfect centre dish for a summer meal. They also do smoked salmon, trout, bacon and salmon pate. </div>
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Other vendors offer small batch organic olive oil, home made bread and pies, and fresh eggs and cheese.<br />
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So who needs the supermarket in high summer season when the farmers' market is in full swing?<br />
Not me!<br />
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The Burlington Market is held in the back parking lot of Burlington Mall, corner of Guelph Line and Fairview Street on Wed, Fri, and Sat.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-64786353159985381362012-07-24T11:35:00.001-04:002012-07-24T15:54:53.846-04:00Local Author Celebrates Local Flavours<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Pssst! Want to know who is growing fresh garlic? Gourd zucchini? Micro-greens? Heritage tomatoes? ...</b></h2>
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Ask this lady. She'll likely know. </h3>
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She's <b>Lynn Ogryzlo</b>. Here you see her teaching a class on preserves, and, while she does do many cooking classes, her real passion is for writing cookbooks. Not just your run of the mill cookbooks, but books that are tied so closely to the land they are inspired by that you can almost smell the fresh veggies.<br />
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Her first cookbook, <b>Niagara Cooks - From Farm To Table</b>, won the award for best local cookbook in the world. It is an inspiring chronicle of the people and the farms and producers in Niagara who are growing and making wonderful things for our table. It's a treasure trove of information on where to get the best produce and the hard-to-find ingredients and who to get them from. In addition to that information, she supplies easy to make recipes for the ingredients, with the final products lovingly photographed by her husband, John. Each recipe has a backstory, making it the kind of cookbook that I love, not just a collection of impersonal recipes, but an inspiring read as well as an instructional one.<br />
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Her follow-up book, <b>Niagara Cooks - A Seasonal Attitude</b> - chronicles the bounty of Niagara through all four seasons, again compiling the stories of the growers and producers who inspired her.<br />
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In her next book, she expands her territory and explores the culinary richness of the entire province, in<b> The Ontario Table</b>, again beautifully illustrated with John's photos.<br />
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All three are gorgeous books, and they are particular favourites of mine because of the philosophy that is their context - that we should get to know our local farmers, that we should use and celebrate the wonderful things that grow in our back yards, and that we should, in a simple and joyous way, appreciate theexcellent variety of our (metaphorical and literal) table.<br />
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You can find Lynn's book at many outlets in Niagara or order them from her website <a href="http://www.ontariotable.com/">here.</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">UnimPEACHable Niagara! </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Quiet Acres Presents the Best of Niagara at its Roadside Stand</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've had imported peaches. Nothing special. The Georgia peach is talked about a lot. It's an okay peach. But nothing beats a Niagara peach. Nowhere else can you get a peach that is firm yet tender, sweet but just tart enough, with intense flavour notes of almonds, florals and citrus. A just picked Niagara peach, at is ripest best, is one of life's pleasures worth savouring.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">And right now, the first peaches of the season are ready so it's time to plan a road trip down the Niagara Peninsula to load up on these lovelies.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The early peaches are clingstone, which means they are a bit harder to slice, but the flavour is gorgeous. Eat them in your hand, make a peach pie ( my personal favourite), bake up a peach cobbler, whirl them into a smoothie or slice them over vanilla ice cream. Best dessert ever. And if, by some slim chance, you have some left over, they can be preserved in a simple syrup to be enjoyed on a dark winter's day, or made into jam.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">And according to Maureen MacSween of Quiet Acres in Niagara on the Lake, this is a vintage season for peaches. "The hot weather has been great for the peaches. The high heat units boost the sugar and flavour and since we irrigate our orchards, the peaches have developed superbly this season.The heat not only boost the flavour and size of the peaches, it gives them nice rosy red cheeks. So they look good too." </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> If you are looking for a place to buy peaches, as well as the other fruits and vegetables that are in season right now, head for the Quiet Acres fruit and vegetable stand on Lakeshore Road in NOTL. Plums,cherries, local garlic, zucchini, corn, apricots, fresh dug new potatoes - and many other beautiful fresh local produce is available here. The staff are friendly and helpful - and pretty too!</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> It's a perfect excuse for a drive to Niagara. </span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Quiet Acres is easy to find - here's a map to help.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Quiet Acres</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="672LAKESHOREFORMAT">672 Lakeshore
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-22199812938413433022012-07-04T14:51:00.001-04:002012-07-11T20:20:56.228-04:00Hamilton Just Got a Little Cooler<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Design Annex, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Art Gallery of Hamilton</span></div>
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James Street North, the emerging art district in Hamilton, just got a bit of street cred, and a lot of style. The new Design Annex of the <a href="http://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/">Art Gallery of Hamilton </a>will open to the public on Saturday, July 7th, showcasing local and emerging artists, Canadian designers and edgy and beautiful things to buy.<br />
It's a clean lean space in a heritage building, once a warehouse built in 1860, that was reserected by serendipity. Tim Potocic, founder of Sonic Unyon and the Supercrawl, knew of the building and dreamed of its potential, but couldn't afford personally such a big undertaking that the renovations would entail.<br />
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At the monthly Art Crawl, he was introduced to architect Bill Curran - "Tim, meet Bill - Bill, meet Tim - you two should talk". They talked, discovered that they shared many of the same ideas and from that conversation, the purchase and renovation of 118 James Street North had its genesis.<br />
Now it houses the offices of the CBC, as well as the new Design Annex.<br />
"The Annex," explains Louise Dompierre, President and CEO of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, "is a new branch of the Art Gallery where people will be able to see experimental exhibitions and discover new products, many of which will be made by local artist and artisans."<br />
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It is a "Creativity Lab" where exhibitions will be mounted and intimate musical performances will be held. The Art + Design Store will feature products for home and office as well as rental art.<br />
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The inaugural Design Annex exhibition is a 30 foot exposed brick wall hung with poly curtains informed by the architecture of the building. Created by the artists' collective WE-3, <i>Grand Drape</i> is comprised of curtains lasercut with a pattern inspired by the original tin ceiling.<br />
I'm not crazy about it - looks a bit amateurish, particularly with the limpness of the plastic that allows the curtains to droop and thus makes the design problematic. But I like the idea and the inspiration for it.<br />
Have a look at it here, where Mayor Bob Bratina is delivering his welcome speach with the curtain as backdrop....<br />
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The works in the Design Annex shop are different and exciting, however, and this will be a perfect place to find gifts and design objects for the home that are unique. This will also be a home for local artists and artisans to launch new works and for local and world music groups to perform.<br />
It's a creative addition to the neighbourhood and one that will hopefully encourage more development on James.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Design Annex</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Art Gallery of Hamilton </span><br />
118 James Street North, Hamilton<br />
info@artgalleryofhamilton.com<br />
905-667-6628<br />
Hours<br />
Tuesday-Wednesday, 11 am-6pm<br />
Thursday, 11 am-8pm<br />
Friday, 11am-6pm<br />
Saturday and Sunday, 10 am-5 pm<br />
closed Monday<br />
James Street North Art Crawl (2nd Friday of the month) 11 am -11pm.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-64999379906567509382012-06-06T12:38:00.001-04:002012-06-06T12:38:08.089-04:00Local Gems: Cake & Loaf<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Nickey and Josie are the spirit and energy behind this new bakery on Dundurn in Hamilton.<br />
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If for no other reason, come here for the <b>Nanaimo Bars.</b> They are addictive, in a very good way. Made completely from scratch, including the custard centre which is almost always made from a powder, even by home cooks, these bars are the best I have ever had. (Sorry, Mom!)<br />
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There are many more reasons to visit. These two young ladies, who met at Niagara College while both were taking the Baking Apprentice course, and reconnected on Facebook, opened <a href="http://cakeandloaf.ca/">Cake & Loaf Bakery </a>at the end of August in 2011, and have been local favourites ever since. Their passion is centred on local and fresh ingredients and a committment to connecting with a community of local farmers and suppliers.<br />
"If I had to sum up our philosophy" says Josie, "I would say we believe in local and fresh, without messing it up too much!" They are seriously dedicated to supporting local farmers, and making everything from scratch.<br />
There are several savoury dishes on the menu, prepared by local chef Sarah Guinan, as well as freshly baked breads, vegan specialties, great baked goods and coffee from Detour Coffee.<br />
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The proof is in the eating.<br />
Grab a selection of the delectable desserts for your family, for your friends at work, or for yourself. Everything hs been freshly made, with no pre-made additives, from fresh butter, farm eggs and local flour from Oak Manor.<br />
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A favourite with children is the <b>Ginger Crinkle Cookie</b>.<br />
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Imagine a cup of tea and a slab of the <b>Cake & Loaf's S'mores</b>, - they even make their own graham crackers.<br />
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Pecan bars are loaded with nuts.<br />
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And the brownies are dense, intense and decadent.<br />
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Drop in to this local bakery which is dedicated to the best ingredients, and whose baking is top quality.<br />
And keep an eye out for their summer specials - Ice Cream sandwiches made from freshly homemade ice cream, and individualized picnic baskets for summer excursions, weekend getaways or hostess gifts.<br />
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<b>Cake & Loaf Bakery</b><br />
Nicole Sherman and Josie Rudderham<br />
321 Dundurn St. S.<br />
Hamilton<br />
289.239.6581<br />
<a href="http://www.cakeandloaf.ca/">www.cakeandloaf.ca</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-49543026139243707702012-04-30T13:47:00.005-04:002012-05-24T21:23:02.198-04:00Animals Who Steal The Scene: Part Three<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Cats Around The World</span></h2>
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Full disclosure here - I am a cat person, have been forever. So I notice them when I travel. Like this lovely tabby above - he was the resident cat in a canal house museum in Amsterdam.(<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.willetholthuysen.nl/">Museum Willet-Holthuysen,</a>)</span> He was happy to be petted by any visitors to the canal house gardens, purring loudly and cuddling up indiscriminately. He was a pleasant grace note in that historic garden.</div>
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And cats seem to be everywhere. A new study says that cats outnumber dogs as pets, but many of the cats I have seen on my travels have been more like free spirits than somebody's tame kitty. </div>
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In the centre of Rome I was astounded to come upon an important archaeological dig of historic ruins that was densely populated with cats. <a href="http://www.romancats.com/">Torre Argentina</a> is home to about 250 feline friends, sheltered amongst the oldest temples in Rome. </div>
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Seven days a week, volunteers from different countries feed, clean and look after them. Visitors can help by donating, or even by adopting one of the cats. You can watch a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pihm7f1kFYk&feature=player_embedded">video</a> of one of the cats, Eva, being bathed lovingly by the staff at Torre Argentina. She is a rescued cat who cannot wash herself. Amazing to see all the cats sunning themselves happily in this historic place in the centre of Rome - it is said to be the place where Julius Caesar was stabbed by his friends, with Brutus dealing the first - "Et Tu, Brute?" - and most painful cut.</div>
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In New Zealand, I visited a farm and culinary store, where cats lounged in the sun, greeting visitors with haughty dignity.</div>
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And in Israel, in the ancient ruins of the city of Massada, where I had climbed in the dawn darkness to be on hand to witness the dramatic sunrise over the Dead Sea, this lazy gentleman was there before me, scratching his back on the ancient stones.</div>
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Mexico has its share of cats, and in one of the markets in Puerto Vallarta, I came across a table set up by a group who ran a home for homeless and abandoned cats. "People drive by and throw kittens over our wall into the garden. I guess they know we will take care of them." one of the organizers told me.</div>
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An artsy cat in an art gallery in Jaffa in Israel was intriguing. I loved his coloured face, part orange, part black. He had the artistic temperment to go with his surroundings, too - aloof but willing to accept any attention.</div>
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This is a beloved cat from Rochester, since passed on.</div>
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And these are my girls, sisters who usually get along quite well, unless cat treats are involved.</div>
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They are allowed to roam in the back garden, but only on a rope, as the ravine harbours coyotes who have killed cats in the past.</div>
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It's clear that cats are worldly creatures. But so are dogs - the next post's subject.</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-18456116970972292002012-04-27T11:07:00.001-04:002012-04-27T12:25:08.417-04:00Animals Who Steal the Scene: Part Two<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9zOy3qVyMug/T5qqsgQK8tI/AAAAAAAAJZM/bUXnLOAKz1o/s1600/107-0799_IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9zOy3qVyMug/T5qqsgQK8tI/AAAAAAAAJZM/bUXnLOAKz1o/s320/107-0799_IMG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Reptiles from Around the World: </span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Iguana Hold Your Hand.</span></h2>
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I was admiring the odd spotted bark on an ancient tree in Bermuda when
one of the spots moved. The little guy above was curious and beautiful,
and stayed still long enough for me to take his photo before he
slithered away.<br />
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He was an anonymous reptile, but in Fiji I met one with a
reputation. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8C5R5Ta8W1I/T5qsALqZpgI/AAAAAAAAJZU/n3pGtODMrxs/s1600/Fiji+2011+SATW+pt+2+118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8C5R5Ta8W1I/T5qsALqZpgI/AAAAAAAAJZU/n3pGtODMrxs/s320/Fiji+2011+SATW+pt+2+118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;">His name is Hector and he’s a rare Crested Fijian Iguana found on the
island of Malolo in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji. He was rescued by the people who work at Likuliku Lagoon Resort on the island and he has attained instant celebrity. Guests spend more time visiting Hector than they do the Spa. He’s one of a highly endangered species, and he seems to know
he’s important. He’ll pose, with attitude, for photographs, and there
are many guests who track his exploits on face book. He’s probably the
most famous iguana in the South Pacific.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"> And here's another Fijian iguana, from the nature reserve in Fiji. This British tourist was a bit nervous about letting him climb on his shoulder.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">This next one is a resident of Kaua'i and he was artful enough to pose on a flower of bright red, his exact complimentary colour. Obviously an experienced poser.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">And this fellow with the black tongue lives at the aquarium in Napier, on the South Island in New Zealand.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85jPIsceHOs/T5q1hvzJ0CI/AAAAAAAAJaY/YDqxOjKoXOA/s1600/IMG_4498.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85jPIsceHOs/T5q1hvzJ0CI/AAAAAAAAJaY/YDqxOjKoXOA/s320/IMG_4498.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;">These little guys may be cold blooded, but they sure have a lot of character, and they seem to love the camera.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Keep an eye out for them on your travels.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">Next post - It's A Cat's World! </span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2570841616841752891.post-80699136052828287902012-04-25T19:33:00.000-04:002012-04-25T21:45:38.865-04:00Animals Who Steal The Scene: Part One<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6RRIsdm-qK8/T5gJlScVM8I/AAAAAAAAJUc/j8YVaVlnseQ/s1600/Austria,+Lech+and+St.+Anton+with+Allie,+2009+069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6RRIsdm-qK8/T5gJlScVM8I/AAAAAAAAJUc/j8YVaVlnseQ/s320/Austria,+Lech+and+St.+Anton+with+Allie,+2009+069.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Animals Around The World</h2>
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The cow above was one of the prettiest cows I have ever met - She had big liquid brown eyes, soft brown and cream coloured ears and a deep musical moo. Around her neck was a bell, and we had been hearing its noise for the last ten minutes of our climb to the top of one of<b> Austria's</b> lovely mountains. We turned a twist in the trail and there she was, with her cow friends, eating grass, soaking up the warm alpine sun and just generally being bovine. She is one of my best memories from that climbing expedition to the Austrian Alps.</div>
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Which is not to say that I didn't love the scenery, the people I met, the Alpine culinary specialties, the art - all good, but that sweet cow made an impression. She was a part of the experience.<br />
Listen to her and her friends and see if you don't agree.<br />
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Many of the animals I have encountered on my travels have made their impression. I will never forget the little kitten I found in the souk in Casablanca. He was so tiny and skinny, and one of his eyes was missing. He had either been in a fight, or had lost it to infection, but he was obviously sickly and weak. He was shaking.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yq3ywG6p89s/T5iFS9TeL7I/AAAAAAAAJYY/xzI65EplKxs/s1600/Asian+dinner+and+Casablanca+020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yq3ywG6p89s/T5iFS9TeL7I/AAAAAAAAJYY/xzI65EplKxs/s320/Asian+dinner+and+Casablanca+020.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The souk was awash in what were probably feral cats, and this one little guy probably had no chance of survival. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep2se3HdlQA/T5iIsZD5IZI/AAAAAAAAJZA/1s8lDJfYPFQ/s1600/Asian+dinner+and+Casablanca+027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep2se3HdlQA/T5iIsZD5IZI/AAAAAAAAJZA/1s8lDJfYPFQ/s320/Asian+dinner+and+Casablanca+027.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I couldn't rescue him - I was returning to a ship where I would never get past the security check with a kitten. The poor helpless thing was doomed. I often think of him.</div>
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On Fiji I found two lovely doggies who were having a quiet snooze under the trees on a day that was scorching hot. They seemed totally comfortable.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8eyvVnC7x60/T5iGU3fiUcI/AAAAAAAAJYg/YiDoZAHrmtY/s1600/Fiji+2011+part+3+172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8eyvVnC7x60/T5iGU3fiUcI/AAAAAAAAJYg/YiDoZAHrmtY/s320/Fiji+2011+part+3+172.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In the desert in Israel I met Rhonda, a rather bad tempered camel with awful teeth but lots of character -</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9lCsSq5C98E/T5iG71U_ZbI/AAAAAAAAJYo/K2boPvMdq4o/s1600/DSC01206-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9lCsSq5C98E/T5iG71U_ZbI/AAAAAAAAJYo/K2boPvMdq4o/s320/DSC01206-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And just outside Quebec City, I met these two handsome gentlemen who pulled my snow sled, and were much more attractive from this angle -</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qofopq2Ug5Y/T5iHIIVg2AI/AAAAAAAAJYw/Jmn6-D1CT24/s1600/100K3400-0872_DCP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qofopq2Ug5Y/T5iHIIVg2AI/AAAAAAAAJYw/Jmn6-D1CT24/s320/100K3400-0872_DCP.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Than from this one.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXbZuHjlUKs/T5iHlurwlhI/AAAAAAAAJY4/xY-Tt3DOwaE/s1600/100K3400-0876_DCP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXbZuHjlUKs/T5iHlurwlhI/AAAAAAAAJY4/xY-Tt3DOwaE/s320/100K3400-0876_DCP.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Just a few of the memorable creatures I've met on my journeys. More to come!</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13683636229804638292noreply@blogger.com1