Blogging the Cities of the World
A Canadian Rockies golf vacation could very well be the most memorable holiday you’ll ever take! The Canadian Rockies truly are one of the top natural wonders of the world, internationally renowned for the stunning scenery, the sparklingly clean air, and the quiet of unspoiled wilderness. This is as close as it gets to paradise on earth.
Africa safari lodges in Kenya: African safari in Kenya is chequered with top standard safari tour lodges mostly located in animal parcs. The African safari lodges have distinctive luxury in the wild feeling. The essence of sleeping in an African wildlife safari park lodge in your next safari holidays is to be close to nature in comfort. Top of the range African lion safari lodges also offer distinct service and other extras.
This incredible piece of human engineering, dreamt up by the ambitious King Charles V of Spain, took around 75,000 workers over 10 long years to complete and throughout the construction was beleaguered by a range of problems, from financial bankruptcy, very poor project management and serious outbreaks of malaria that killed many of the workers.
If you are going to travel to the Pittsburgh area and want to plan the best vacation possible you may want to read this article. If you’re looking for things to do to keep in cool and awesome there are a few stops that you must make in order to really enjoy everything. From start to finish, enjoying your Pittsburgh vacation is truly the first priority and these great attractions will help ensure you do.
First stop should be some of the great museums that Pittsburgh has to offer. From the incredible Andy Warhol Museum with plenty of gallery space to the Mattress Factory that is one of the best installation art museums for the United States, you are sure to enjoy all of the culture that you can soak up.
The “rainiest” city in Belgium is Krakow. The second is Leuven. At least that is my idea of it. You might feel a bit uncomfortable if you come here during the rainy season. But then, when you remember walks around this city of exceptional beauty, you will want to return back.
The city was founded by the Dukes of Brabant in XI AC. In medieval times it was renowned for its skilled weavers, and local broadcloth was popular all around Europe. In 1425 there was a University founded here and since then Leuven has been known as a university city.
Motor City, or Motown is revving its engines again. Revitalized and reinvigorated after decades of neglect, Detroit has reclaimed its place as a cultural and tourist capital. Everything in this Midwest city seems new again. The Woodward Avenue theater district boasts renovated theaters and new shows. Downtown, the Detroit Tigers their new stadium, Comerica Park in 2000; the Lions now play in Ford Field right across the street. The downtown upswing has extended to Greektown, now the hot spot for food and nightlife.
New Detroit blends the soul and vision of its pioneers. The Motown Museum is a low-key tribute to the high-energy sound that defined a city and an era. Just outside Detroit, the Henry Ford Museum is a sprawling testament to the spirit of invention that built the city and is refueling it today. Most of Detroit’s best and most notable attractions are just a limo or luxury sedan ride from any hotel in the city or around the suburbs.
Key West is the southernmost point in the continental United States, and it is as well know for Ernest Hemingway as sunset celebrations. It was originally settled by the Spanish, who calle the island ‘Cayo Hueso’, which means Island of the Bones, as the treacherous reefs nearby sank many ships before the lighthouse was erected. When the English came in, ‘Cayo Hueso’ evolved into Key West.
Many famous artists and writers have called Key West home, including Ernest Hemingway, Thornton Wilder, Robert Frost, Tennessee Williams and James Audubon. The island declared its independence as the “Conch Republic” in 1982 to protest a federal roadblock which blocked the one access road – US 1 – to Key West. That certainly raised media attention enough to stop the government, but to this day, many islanders still fly the ‘Conch Republic’ flag.
It’s that old cliche, “a parent’s worst nightmare”. I’m in a rundown shack in rural Australia with my two young sons - aged five and three - when an earthquake hits. Somewhere around 5.5 on the Richter scale, I’d guess. And the whole place is shaking.
First, the radio and electrics fail. Then the kitchen shelves slope like a drunk in a midnight choir, and the fridge door swings open. Finally the kitchen wall cracks wide open.
So why are my boys laughing, along with everyone else in the room? And where is my wife when I need her? Well, downstairs having a coffee, as it happens, while the rest of us explore Questacon, surely the most engrossing and educational children’s adventure playground in Australia.
Perhaps you know it by its alternative name, the National Science and Technology Centre, one of Canberra’s most vibrant attractions, and a touchstone for those who believe the national capital is a wonderful destination for families.
Genoa, if you ignore the debate amongst scholars, is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. But after visiting the famed historic port, you might wonder why the explorer ever left.
Dressed out in all the wealth of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it must have been stunning. Even a half-millennium after its heyday, the Italian port cuts an impressive figure.
This Italian city follows closely behind two of my other favorite cities, San Francisco and Barcelona. Like both, it has lovely hilly terrain and a seafaring tradition. Yet, for some reason, Genoa slips under the radar of many guidebooks. The books we used in two previous trips to Italy carry nary a mention of the city. Our last trip was centered in the Piedmont region around Turin and we decided to add Genoa and the Italian Riviera. I’m glad we did.
A day’s shopping in Los Angeles –home to Rodeo Drive, whose three storied blocks of swanky shops are a kind of shrine to conspicuous consumption–is a fun idea in theory, but difficult in practice. Urban sprawl means there’s really no such thing as a simple walk downtown, and good luck hailing a cab to cart home all your goodies: Not only are they hard to find, but it can cost $40 (all amounts in U.S. dollars) to get to even the most straight-ahead address, once you factor in traffic and divided neighbourhoods. Enter the ladies at Shopanista, a door-to-door shopping transportation service, founded by two former techies in the entertainment business, Camille Alcasid and Sandra Jimenez.
You can’t do Ottawa justice in 24 hours but I made a stab at it.
A flight from London, Ont., got me there in 90 minutes, and by 4 p.m. I was admiring the view of the Parliament Buildings from my hotel.
It was late May. The tulips were finished but Senators flags were everywhere in preparation for the Stanley Cup.
The weather had turned summery, and in a cold-climate city like the nation’s capital that appears to be all the excuse folks need to peel off their parkas and start drinking the patio bars dry.
Every travel publication has its annual list of ‘hot spots,’ as voted by their readers. But Mother Nature has its own best kept secret.
Sitting in a spot named the Boiling River forced me to reflect on the past couple of days. Actually, I was sitting in the Gardiner River, where the Boiling River — and yes, it is almost boiling hot — flows into the Gardiner’s ice cold rapids, making for toasty bathwater conditions along the shore.
Two days earlier I was sitting on a hard plastic bench waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. I could almost feel my butt heat up as a ranger explained that I was sitting above one of the hottest spots on Earth.
Wailuku, Maui - There are two ways to explore the diverse ecosystem of the warm and tranquil waters of the Alalakeiki Channel here on the leeward side of Maui: Don flippers and a snorkel mask and head for the surf, or drive your vehicle along Highway 30 to the Maui Ocean Center.
Offering a virtual immersion in Hawaii’s diverse marine life, the 3-acre complex sits on a bluff overlooking Maalae’a Harbor (pronounced MAH-ah-lie-ah). All told, the $20 million facility, which opened in 1998, is home to more than 300 species - the largest collection anywhere in Hawaii.
The aquarium displays these creatures in a variety of exhibits, including re-creations of a living reef, a turtle lagoon and a tide pool. A separate open-ocean habitat teems with stingrays, eagle rays and six species of sharks. There’s even a new wing focusing on marine mammals, though it does not contain any of the creatures themselves.
What’s larger than New York’s Central Park, once consisted of sand dunes, is now covered with more than one million trees and is bison-friendly?
Golden Gate Park — the ultimate haven away from urban chaos — was deeded
to the people in 1870 out of the prescient notion that San Franciscans would one day feel overcrowded. This foresight proved invaluable, as 75,000 people now visit the park on an average weekend.
Finding the land was the easy part. Someone still had to make grass and trees grow out of sand dunes blasted by harsh oceanside winds.
For the longest time, you feel a little disappointed. You drive north from Gander looking for typical Newfoundland villages and are met with scrub trees, rock and slivers of ocean that look pretty much like Muskoka.
It’s lovely, but it’s not the postcard you’re expecting after travelling three hours by plane and then driving 500 kilometres from St. John’s.
Suddenly, it’s right in front of you: a large bay with white clapboard homes hugging the rocks.
Surf can be seen in the distance and fishing boats line the cove, complete with the requisite docks and lobster traps.
It’s terrific and exhilarating and exactly what you were hoping for. And when you take your first walk to drink in the magnificent scenery, a voice confirms everything you thought about Newfoundlanders.
“Go ahead out on the heath,” says a guy in a beat-up, red pickup.
“Pardon?”
“Just go ahead and go on out. Nobody minds.”
“Sorry, I thought it was someone’s backyard.”
The guy looks at you like you’re crazy, so you figure why not and wander past a car with Massachusetts licence plates and past a large, barking dog chained to a post.
