Adventures in the world

Adventures in the World will take you to many places and explore the "feel" and experience of being there. You may have been to some of the places, but this gives you the chance to relive your own experiences and to contrast them with what you see through my eyes. If you can’t get there, it's a chance for some armchair travel! Photography is an important part of this blog. All of the pictures shown are either taken by me or my husband and wonderful travel companion, Julian.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Merry Christmas!!! Buon Natale! Felice Navidad!

I wish you all a very happy Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous 2011.

Thanks for your support and interest in the blog this year.

More exciting destinations await your attention in 2011!

I thought you might like to see the festive season marked on Adventures in the World with a selection of Christmas trees and decorations from around the world …

With jingle bells and bubbles, Sue

No comments:

La Bella Italia 2

This is a magazine-style book that takes you on many different journeys into different parts of Italy and some interesting stories about those places. The stories cover a wide range – from history and art, helpful information about destinations in Italy, how to avoid standing in queues, the less crowded but amazing galleries and museums, useful Apps, the lowdown on some good places to stay, tips on shopping and some authentic Italian recipes.

You can browse the whole book free online at

http://www.blurb.com/b/6378269-la-bella-italia-2

or buy it! The choice is yours.

Street photography in Mexico

Just google the above title and you will get lots of items, but here are some:

fototazo: Emerging Mexican Street Photographers V: Alfredo Moreno

www.fototazo.com/.../emerging-mexican-street-photographers-v.htm...

2nd Street Photo-walk in Mexico: Chapultepec Park 09/02 - alexcoghe

www.alexcoghe.com/2nd-street-photo-walk-in-mexico-chapultepec-...

Street Photography in Playa del Carmen, Mexico: Nikon Consumer DX ...

forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/23077288

Cool Photoblogs around Mexico

www.coolphotoblogs.com/mexico

Street Photographers in Old Tijuana Mexico

www.digthatcrazyfarout.com/oldtj/touristphotographers.html

Information about Greek Island links shown above

Useful links for the story so far …

Azamara Club Cruises

www.azamaraclubcruises.com

Ancient Egypt

www.ancientegypt.co.uk/

Egypt Travel Information and Travel Guide - Lonely Planet

www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt

Egypt, Travel To Egypt

www.egypt.com/

Israel Wonders

www.goisrael.com/

Israel: History, Geography, Government, and Culture

www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107652.html

Cyprus Tourism Organisation

www.visitcyprus.com/

Antalya Turkey

www.antalyaturkey.net/

Antalya Turkey Guide

www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/med/Antalya/

Amawaterways Christmas cruise

You can view the complete story of the Amawaterways Christmas cruise, including a lovely slide show of the photos that have been featured on this blog, at:

www.amawaterwayspr.com

You can also view the story in four parts starting at page 1, on the following links:

http://www.promotioninmotion.net/amawaterwayssuedowneschristmastimerivercruisestorypage1.html

.htm

http://www.promotioninmotion.net/amawaterwayssuedowneschristmastimerivercruisestorypage2.html

http://www.promotioninmotion.net/amawaterwayssuedowneschristmastimerivercruisestorypage3.html

http://www.promotioninmotion.net/amawaterwayssuedowneschristmastimerivercruisestorypage4.html

### I have had some problems copying these links in for some reason, so you may have to copy and paste them into your browser rather than click on them. Sue

Useful links for Miltenberg, Cologne and Amsterdam

APT

http://www.aptouring.com.au/

Amawaterways

http://www.amawaterways.com/

Cologne Germany

Good range of information covering history, arts and culture, events, dining hotels etc:

http://www.koeln.de/cologne_tourist_information

About.com/Europe travel:

http://goeurope.about.com/cs/germany/p/cologne.htm

Miltenberg Germany

http://www.tripwolf.com/en/guide/show/170310/Germany/Miltenberg

Amsterdam Holland

Comprehensive guide covering basic facts, museums, hotels, transport etc:

http://www.amsterdam.info/netherlands/

All destinations:

www.tripadvisor.com

Back stories from Adventures in the World

Missed some earlier postings?

Well, here’s a list of stories and photos posted from April 2010 to February 2011.

Just look at the destination that interests you and the month that it appeared, then scroll down to the Archives in the right sidebar. Click on the month and – voila! There it is!.

2010

April and May: Train trip across Canada and the USA

June and July: Cruising the Mediterranean from Barcelona to Venice

August, September and October: Living in Perugia in Umbria, Italy. Covers learning Italian at the University and doing side trips to places like Gubbio, Spoleto and Venice

November: Cuba

December: Fun; kitchen utensils – the perfect gift; Merry Christmas

2011

February: Cruising around New Zealand

Useful links:

Vienna:

A guide to the extensive Hofburg Palace complex, built over more than 400 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofburg_Palace

The official online travel guide for the City of Vienna, with information on attractions, events and hotel reservations:

www.wien.info

Lonely Planet:

www.lonelyplanet.com/austria/vienna

Online information service of the city of vienna

www.wien.gv.at/english/

Travel guide, maps, transport etc:

www.photos4travel.com › ... › Vienna Travel Guide -

Linz

Good photos:

travel.webshots.com/album/286903356pJxEyY

Passau

Beautiful photos and brief history:

www.galenfrysinger.com/passau.htm

Trip Advisor

www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g187311-Passau_Bayerischer_Wald_Eastern_Bavaria_Bavaria-Vacations.html -

Loneley Planet

www.lonelyplanet.com/germany/images/passau-germany

## Notes: I have used the very good “Daily Cruiser” notes supplied by MS Amalyra and MS Amabella, in preparing this post

Useful links for river cruising and destinations

To tour… or not to tour

The river cruise, as with ocean cruising, has a range of tours available. The Ama/APT cruises have included tours with a local guide (i.e., at no extra cost) in each port as well as some optional tours which do involve additional cost. The choice is yours

I think in deciding on whether to take the included tours, you need to take into account what you know and what you want to know about the particular place. We’ve all walked past or been part of a tour group where you are standing in the one spot for 10 minutes or longer, shifting your weight from foot to foot, while the guide gives you a plethora of historical facts and stories, figures, dates, names and titles and so on. The questions are: do you want to know everything about a place? How much of this will you retain? Does it cover what you are really fascinated by?

Of course on many occasions, you do want to get the comprehensive low-down and often the tour will include admission charges etc, which enable you to enter specific places like museums more easily than queuing up as an individual customer. Also, in a larger city, you have the added bonus of being transported from place to place, so you can actually see more in the same time than if you were going it alone.

But other times, you really want to meander about and follow your nose. Just hang out and have a coffee and people watch. You have limited time, depending on the arrival and departure times for your boat/ship, so you need to allow for what time remains for a more casual and independent exploration of a place after the tour has concluded.

Obviously, you can find out a lot of the factual info about a place, including handy tips, must-sees, best views etc, on the web as you travel and that makes independent exploration more easy and accessible, especially in a small town.

The bottom line for us is striking a balance between the two so that you get a “feel” for the place you’re in.

Fabulous books about "stranieri"/foreigners living in Italy and author web links

Chris Harrison

Books: “Head over Heel – seduced by a Southern Italian”, Murdock Books, 2008, and many travel and sport articles. "Head over heels" is a very witty and charming account of Chris's experiences of living in Italy – richly descriptive of places and people. You also feel his frustrations when trying to organise things, such as getting his Italian driver's license. The book also has one of the most poignant descriptions of the effects of alzheimers on someone close that I have read.

Chris says, “Fancy a trip to sun-drenched southern Italy? Come along for the (bumpy) ride in my new book HEAD OVER HEEL - a comedy of love and hate on the 'heel of the boot'. Whether you're a hopeless romantic or a hot-blooded bloke, jump in the Fiat and fasten your seat-belt! Or, if you're prone to carsickness, you can hang around here and sample my sports and travel writing".

He has a fabulous and fun website:

www.chrisharrisonwriting.com/

Penelope Green

Books: “When in Rome: “See Naples and die”; “Girl by the Sea” (Publisher: Hachette Australia)

Penelope Green is an Australian freelance journalist and author who writes news, feature, food and travel stories for a host of Australian publications. Her accounts of living in Italy are witty and insightful.

http://penelopegreen.com.au/

Carla Coulson – author and photographer

Books: “Italian Joy”, “Paris tango”

A wonderful website full of info and fabulous photos

http://carlalovesphotography.blogspot.com

Marlena de Blasi

Books: “A thousand days in Venice”, “Lady in the Palazzo – an Umbrian love story””, “Tuscan Secrets”, “An Umbrian love story – coming home to Via del Duomo”, “Regional foods of Northern Italy”, “Regional foods of southern Italy” (Publishers, Allen and Unwin, and Algonquin Books)

Marlena, a striking woman from her photos in her books, matches this with an almost voluptuous and lyrical writing style. She says herself that she uses six adjectives where two would probably do. But we are the richer for it.

She doesn’t appear to have her own website, but many sites cover her books and food/wine tours; just put Marlena de Blasi into your browser.

Ferenc Mate

Books: “A vineyard in Tuscany”, “The wisdom of Tuscany”, “The hills of Tuscany” and several others about sailing and life in New England.

You can read about the various aspects of this man on his website, from wine, books, sailing, to photography (including a lovely open gallery):

www.ferencmate.com/

Frances Mayes

Books: “Under the Tuscan sun”, “Every day in Tuscany – seasons of an Italian life”, “Bella Tuscany”, “A year in the world”, “Bringing Tuscany home”, and many more. Read about them at her official website:

http://www.francesmayesbooks.com

Annie Hawaes

Hugely amusing books about begining life in Italy with her sister, through to becoming a "local" and partnering with an Italian chap. She doesn't appear to have her own website – but just google Annie Hawes, there are lots of entries.

Books: "Extra virgin", "Ripe for the picking", "Journey to the South". Another on Africa – ""A handful of honey – away to the palm groves of Morocco and Algeria".

Amanda Ferragamo

Book: “Seven years in Tuscany” – a delightful read of her experience in not only restoring a medieval ruin but the whole estate, village and farms, creating once more, a self sustaining community.

Yes, Amanda is the English born wife of the famous shoe man, Ferruccio Ferragamo! But she doesn’t appear to have her own website. As with the other authors above, just put her name into your browser and you’ll get many sites with relevant info.

Useful links for Corfu, Dubrovnik and Venice

Corfu

Travel Guide to Corfu Greece

www.agni.gr/

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu

Photos of Corfu

http://www.corfu-pictures.com/

Dubrovnik

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik Guide

www.dubrovnik-guide.ne

Venice

Virtual travel of Venice

http://www.italyguides.it/us/venice_italy/venice_travel.htm

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice

Hotels, churches, exhibitions, museums, restaurants, la dolce vita and more in Venice

http://www.invenicetoday.com/

1. Identify the destination you want to see eg the Mediterranean; Asia etc. You might find that you need to be more specific, eg South East Asia, East or West Mediterranean because the choices are vast. Basically pick the itinerary that includes places you’re interested in.

2. Research the shipping lines that go there. It’s very easy now with the web; eg just put Mediterranean cruises into your browser and start reading!

3. Pay attention to the ships in the fleet, the staterooms, amenities, ship facilities eg gym, the kinds of entertainment and activities etc and get a feel for the ship.

Also notice the size and passenger capacity of the ship – do you want to be in a 2000 strong crowd, or with 600 people?

Remember, you really only become aware of the size of the crowd when disembarking to go on tours in larger ships, because often it takes a long time to get everyone sorted.

The design of modern ship’s interiors is clever and tasteful; the spaces, even larger ones, use curved lines and essentially break up the spaces to create a greater sense of intimacy; you would never know you are part of a large crowd

4. Take into consideration the age group they appear to cater for eg over fifties, under thirties

5. Look at the dining options on board – is it formal sittings (twice a night, early and late) or is there open dining as well – i.e., your choice of restaurants and times. I like this best as you can try out different offerings, meet different people and not feel that you must conform to a set routine.

6. How much do you want to spend? Bear in mind that, unless otherwise stated, eg fully inclusive tours, you pay extra on board for alcohol, a cover charge for specialty dining and shore excursions (prices vary depending on the excursion).

7. Consider the range of tour options at each port of call. Generally these are very good across the cruise lines I’ve travelled with. There are 8 – 10 choices each day. But you may have a particular interest and you want to make sure it’s covered.

8. Cruise length – how long do you want to be on the ship? I have found 2 weeks to be an ideal time, but that’s just a personal choice.

9. Look at the number of days at sea. Water is water, so you don’t really want to be having 6 days at sea on a 12 day cruise.

10. Think about topping and tailing the cruise with a couple of nights at the departure spot and the final stop. It is a great opportunity to see these places, and it means you are rested when you get on the boat, and you have a break at the end, before you take a long flight home.

11. If you have special needs, eg a person with a disability, check on how they deal with this; facilities on board, what special tour options do they have, etc. Special dietary requirements are pretty straight forward, but you need to let them know.

Shopping in the US

US clothes for men, women and children are a superior quality generally than those available in Australia for around the same full retail price. The prices are very attractive – stores have genuine twice yearly mark downs of high end brands, eg Armani, DKNY, as well as regular mark downs on more middle of the road brands like the GAP, Banana Republic.

Big attraction – outlet shopping! Situated out of town mostly, they are huge complexes that you actually need to drive around to get to each part of the centre! Each outlet with around 100 – 200 brands featured. Mega bargains here, especially end of season – handy for us in the southern hemisphere because old season for US is new season in Australia.

There are some city based outlets as well – NYC: Century21, Jersey Gardens, New Jersey; Chicago: Filene’s Basement; LA: The Citadel

Plenty for anyone to shop til you drop … !!

Going for a personal best of 10 …

We have been past Hearst Castle, on the One, several times. Don't ask me why, but it's become an "official challenge" NOT to stop at Hearst Castle, and to keep going!

We did see a terrific documentary on the History channel many years ago about it, and I guess maybe we thought that was pretty comprehensive and gave us the feel that we'd been there. Or maybe it's the prospect of large crowds of tourists …

Anyway, whatever the reason, we've set the bar at 10 (good, round number etc) … current score is 6 … and rising!! … … oh, ok. A good link for Hearst Castle is

http://www.hearstcastle.org/

Correction!

I was clearly dreaming when describing the enormous tanks in the Monterey Bay Acquarium. Here’s the real data, from Wikipedia!

“Among the aquarium's numerous exhibits, two are of particular note: The centerpiece of the Ocean's Edge Wing is a 10 meter (33-foot) high 1.3 million liter (1/3 million gallon) tank for viewing California coastal marine life. In this tank, the aquarium was the first in the world to grow live California Giant Kelp using a wave machine at the top of the tank (water movement is a necessary precondition for keeping Giant Kelp, which absorbs nutrients from surrounding water and requires turbidity), allowing sunlight in through the open tank top, and circulation of raw seawater from the Bay. The second exhibit of note is a 4.5 million liter (1.2 million gallon) tank in the Outer Bay Wing which features one of the world's largest single-paned windows (crafted by a Japanese company, the window is actually five panes seamlessly glued together through a proprietary process)” . Source: Wikipedia

An alternative to the Zephyr

Chicago to Los Angeles with Amtrak’s Southwest Chief

About 10 years ago we did this trip, also in winter. It was a fabulous adventure and we thoroughly recommend it too.

Amtrak says the Southwest Chief follows a route ages older than rail-roading. First used by the Indians, then the Spanish conquistadors and fur trappers.

By the time it was officially called the Santa Fe Trail, caravans of pack mules, wagon teams and stagecoaches were lumbering over it daily, carting people and goods between the Missouri River and the Rockies. The Gold Rush brought its extension to the west coast.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ultimately became the iron link between the Midwest and Los Angeles.

Today, the Southwest Chief follows the same route, across 8 states; a journey of 2,245 miles. It travels from Chicago, through Kansas City, Dodge City, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, San Bernardino, Pasadena and ends in LA.

Helpful links for destinations and information

DK Eyewitness travel guides

http://traveldk.com/

Great listing of all destinations covered and how to create your own travel guide – choose your destination, design your cover, list attractions you want to see and you get maps included. You can download your guide as pdf to print

Lonely Planet

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

Packed with info and designed for all budgets, countless destinations

Berlitz Publishing

Pocket guides, maps, online shop, free downloads, language courses and more

http://www.berlitzpublishing.com/berlitz/travel-guides.asp

Choosing hotels and location in NYC

1. Decide which part of Manhattan you want as your base… downtown, midtown or uptown. Simple test – where do you want to be when you walk out your hotel front door? The Bohemian neighbourhoods of SOHO or Greenwich Village downtown? Near the theatres in midtown? Or around Central Park in upper midtown? Or the major museums and galleries on the Upper East side? Or the cultural institutions of the Upper West side?

2. Go for a price and amenities that suit your budget. We find Holiday Inn, part of the InterContinental Hotels Group, very reliable and consistent; good network throughout USA and internationally; different levels of hotel – from Holiday Inn Express to Holiday Inn hotels and resorts, and InterContinental. Rooms are spacious (even in Europe) and tariff includes breakfast if you’re in an Express (very useful and easy way to start the day).

3. Consider location and proximity to metro and bus lines; also convenience to get to the things that interest you most in the city. Car park/garage is also important if you have a hire car.

Packing for an overnight train trip in Canada and the US

1. You need to pack the things you won't need for the train into your large, stowable suit case. This will be checked in and stowed in the luggage hold, similar to what happens when you check in on a plane.

2. Put the things you will need into a carry–aboard size case so it's easy to stow in your sleeper or on the overhead rack if you're in a seated area.

3. What will you need? Toiletries; sleep wear, including flip flops for the shower; comfortable clothing – leisure wear is good. On Le Canadien, people do wear something reasonable to dinner, but we're not talking formal wear. jeans/casual pants and a shirt/nice top are fine. Ipod, laptop (if you must! you'll be looking at the scenery more than likely).

Adventures in the world

Venice!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Merry Christmas!!! Buon Natale! Felice Navidad!

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